The Doll

I'm rerunning a couple of my favorites Christmas posts from a year or two ago. This is the first one from 2007.

****************

My grandmother passed away in November of 1982. She spent a couple of weeks in the hospital prior to that and on one of those days my mom and I went to the cafeteria for lunch. Being so close to losing her mother made my mom open up about a few things I hadn't known. My mom was always a bit of a tomboy, and her older sister was very much the "girl". Plus my aunt has a heart condition so she needed more attention. Turns out my mother spent much of her life feeling less loved than her sister and trying to do whatever it took to win her mother's love.

One especially sad story she told me was about a little porcelain doll she had gotten for Christmas when she was eight or nine years old. She loved that doll. My parents grew up during the Depression so having a gift like this wasn't taken lightly. Several months after she got the doll a little boy from the neighborhood was teasing my mom and took the doll from her. During the scuffle, the doll fell down the stairs and the porcelain shattered. Mom was heartbroken, but her family could not afford to replace it. Plus, my grandmother figured that since my mother was such a tomboy, she probably didn't care that much about the doll. How wrong she was. But my mother didn't want to cause any trouble so she never mentioned it again.

I remember so vividly sitting there with my mom hearing this story, seeing her eyes well up, and seeing a side of her I had never seen. My grandmother passed away shortly after that, about three days before Thanksgiving, and I made it my mission to find another porcelain doll for my mother. Not an easy thing to do! I wound up buying three of them until I found the perfect one and returned all the others. The one I finally found was in a box in a back corner of some small gift shop. It had an old country look about it, and even had dark hair and leather shoes.

I wrapped the doll and hid it in my bedroom. I had told my dad, brother, and kids about the present and begged them to not say anything so it could be a surprise. On Christmas morning we were all gathered in my apartment opening presents. Finally there was nothing left under the tree and we started cleaning up the papers. I went into the bedroom and came out with the box. "Hey, here's one that didn't make it under the tree. Looks like it's for Mom." She started laughing about not needing anything else but I plopped the box in her lap anyway. They rest of us got very quiet waiting for her to open it. When she pulled the doll out of the box, her face changed dramatically, she looked at me and then started crying. Which of course made all the rest of us cry (I'm tearing up just writing and remembering this). It was truly an emotional moment and one that I will never forget.

Mom kept the doll on her bed from that day forward. She also had an old rosary from her mother which she wrapped around the doll. When Mom died in 1994, the I kept the doll. She now lives happily in our home.


It's too bad this little doll doesn't know what an impression she made or what a special Christmas she made for my mother. Some day when I'm gone the doll will live with my daughter, Jenni. Hopefully the story of how she became part of our family will live with her.

My Babushka Tote

I love the Internet - actually all things high tech. But mainly the Internet. In addition to having more information than I could ever want or need, it has given me an avenue of communication that has totally enriched my life.

Like my cousin, Cookie. I did a blog post about her in 2008. She and I spent a lot of time together when we were growing up, then lost touch and only saw each other occasionally at family funerals. Not as morbid as it sounds - they always say Italian funerals are like Italian weddings but with one less person. Then last year we reconnected - first by phone and primarily via my blog, Facebook, and email. It's become a relationship that I cherish and would probably not have were it not for the Internet (I'm not much of a phone person and haven't hand-written a letter since the invention of the keyboard!).

Yesterday, I received the coolest gift from Cookie. Apparently she got a new embroidery machine and thought of me because she wanted to try a non-traditional name. First of all I LOVE any kind of tote bag. Second, it's personalized!! Here's the result.


How cool is that? Thanks, Cookie! A very special gift that I will use for a long time. Love you, Cousin.

My morning

I suppose you're wondering why I'm sitting here with a glass of wine at 9:00 am! Okay, it's really only coffee but it SHOULD be wine!

And let me make this clear from the get-go, I was a good Mom. I was able to take care of my kids, make them dinner, get them ready for school, etc., and fit it all comfortably in to a fairly hectic life.

Grandkids - now that's another story. My son-in-law called me a few weeks back and asked if I could possibly pick the kids up today because he had a conference in San Francisco, and Jenni works until 3:30pm. It's early release day (a new thing in California because of budget issues) and the kids get out at 1:15 instead of 2:35. I agreed since I didn't have anything scheduled for this afternoon. And then I decided to be a really good Babushka and offer to keep them Tuesday night and take them to school the next day, too, so he didn't need to stress about that. Of course, he agreed.

Vika and Eamon were dropped off around 5:30. This is when I learned that Vika gets out at 1:15pm today, but Eamon doesn't get out until 2:15 because of a reading class that he attends. Two trips to the school. Now, mind you, Ed and I had just spent 4 hours with the installation man from AT&T U-Verse. By the time the kids arrived, the place was a mess with extra tivo and DirectTV boxes everywhere along with vast quantities of cables and cords that we no longer needed. Ed was in total clean-up mode, and try-out-the-new-toy mode. I started working on dinner. Fire was going, Christmas lights were on - a very nice, cozy evening. Since the kids have a 7:30 bedtime, we needed to get the chicken on the grill so we could have dinner. Ed managed to get that done - but he set the timer for a few minutes too long so he'd have more time to clean up and play with U-Verse. (He'll probably deny that) Watching the kids saw through the slightly dry meat was amusing (for us, anyway) but Vika did manage to eat twice as much as I did. Then it was bedtime.

Bedtime with these two is never smooth. But usually they're here on a weekend so if they get to sleep late, no big deal. This, however, was a friggin' school night and I could feel my daughter watching. Got them to bed with a stern (although apparently not stern enough) warning - no talking, fighting, getting up, or anything. Kissed both of them, closed the door, went into the kitchen, only to find Eamon right behind me. I forgot his cold sore medicine. We solved that one, then Vike got up and said she needed some chapstick. Done. Now, back to bed. By the time Ed and I decided to head to bed to read around 9pm, I could hear the kids talking. Then Vika said Eamon was talking and wouldn't let her get to sleep. Eamon said Vika was being mean to him. Blah, blah, blah. So Eamon slept on the couch and all was finally quiet.

Then came this morning. Jenni said they usually get up at 7am which is good for me. I got up at 6:45, started the coffee, opened the curtains, and kissed the kids good morning. Oh, by this time Vika had gone into the living and was curled up on a recliner. She informed me that she went in there at 6:26. I got them up and told them to brush their teeth and get dressed while I made breakfast. Eamon's request was eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy. Wrong. Vika wanted pancakes or waffles. Wrong again. I told them I was making scrambled eggs and some cranberry/orange muffins. A little eye-rolling but not too bad. They went off to get ready.

I started making the muffins, and turned on the news. The kids immediately broke into a chorus of "We want to watch cartoons." I ignored them. Tried to work the new remote but had some trouble. Tried one of the other rooms, still trouble. Finally, after wasting precious time on remotes I got back to the muffins but I was off schedule. They would be done at 7:35 instead of 7:30. PROMPTLY at 7:30, Vika said, "Where's breakfast?" I told her it would be in about 5 minutes. Then she said, "But we have to leave for school in 5 minutes!" No, you don't. We have until 8am. More eye rolling.

The eggs had just hit the pan when Eamon says, "Babushka, we need a lunch and a snack!" WHAT?!?!? I didn't know about that. Vika said they could buy lunch and when I asked her how much they needed, she said $15-$20! Had a feeling that wasn't right so I called Jenni who hung up on me the first time trying to connect her speakerphone, but she finally got through and said lunch was $2.50. And only Eamon needed a snack because he was staying longer. The eggs were starting to overcook so I slapped them on a dish with a muffin, poured some orange juice and set the kids down. Then went off to find the money for their lunch and to pack Eamon a snack. I also took this opportunity to put on my shoes and get ready to bolt. Never did have a chance to have a cup of coffee.

Finally they were done eating so I dumped all the dishes in the sink and we headed out the door. I was still in my sweats, had not yet taken my shower, no makeup, hair looking pretty pathetic. I NEVER leave the house like this so my mantra the whole trip was to not get pulled over for anything or have an accident. When we got to school I got in the "drop off" line. Vika informed me that they were now late and only had 10 minutes to play instead of their usual 20. Big Whoop! She also tried to tell me that she knew a quicker way for me to get to their school and a faster way for me to drop them off. Way too confusing so I just stayed in the mini-van line. When I got to the curb, I stopped the car - apparently not in the right spot. The kids shouted "No, no, pull up" and at the curb was a 4th grader with an orange vest telling me where to stop so the kids could get out. But the kids couldn't get out. "Babushka, you have to unlock the doors!!" AAACCCCKKKK! Where is the dang unlock button ?!? Finally found it, the 4th grader (after completing her eye rolling) opened the door for the kids and off they went.

I drove home quickly, but safely. Soaked up the quiet when I walked in the door. And grabbed that cup of coffee that really should be wine.

Change of Seasons

This was our "change everything from Autumn to Christmas" weekend and we're almost done. Right now Ed's vacuuming and I thought it best to get out of his way so decided to do a quick post. Aren't I the most thoughtful wife?!?!? We never quite made it to the outside lights and decorations, those will have to wait a bit. But Ed did manage to ditch the pumpkins and cornstalk from the front porch.

One of the more interesting challenges this year was to add three new stockings to our grandkid wall. I had 10 stocking fitting on the wall pretty nicely and it took a little maneuvering to add three more. But we did it!

Now little Tyson, Jacob and Faith have taken their place along with 10 others ranging in age from 20 to 4 months.

Each year I say I'm not going to buy any more stuff, and each year I buy more stuff. But, in fairness to me, I do throw a few things away. Mind you, I don't throw away as much as I buy, but what the heck.

We got our wonderful artificial trees (with lights) down from the rafters and assembled and decorated it. The ornaments on our tree are all memories. We buy an ornament any time we travel to a new place. The kids and I exchange ornaments each year. And Vika and Eamon made me two ornaments a couple of years ago. So opening each little package brings back a memory which makes decorating the tree special. Tiring, but special.

And all my fake poinsetta is in place! Jenni goes nuts when she see all of it - I think it gives her a rash or something. But I love it.

I think the vacuuming is over so I can safely leave this room now. Bye, bye/.

Thanksgiving then and now

Well, Ed and I made it through another Thanksgiving - a few pounds heavier, but pretty good nonetheless. This was our 10th Thanksgiving together and our family has grown so much since that first one. Our crowd was a little smaller this year - only 18.

But the three new babies were all in attendance and doing what babies do best - cry, eat, poop.

The older kids (ages 6-8) spent much of the time outside playing with some new scooters Ed bought, having light saber battles, and watching Spiderman. I did a terrible job this year of photo-taking but managed to at least get a picture of the three newest family members.

Thanksgiving when I was a kid was the typical Italian event. More food than many people eat in a week! We would often have non-family members join us and we tried to convince them to pace themselves. Dinner was early, around 2:00 pm.

First course was pasta. Big bowls of pasta along with several bowls of meatballs and other meat that had been cooking in the sauce (gravy to us) all day. And salad and Italian bread. People would eat until their eyes bulged and then the plates and leftovers were taken back into the kitchen. A few minutes later the turkey arrived! Along with mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce (the kind from the can that still has the can marks on it and it cut in perfectly even slices), sweet potatoes, stuffing, corn, broccoli and hot rolls. This was the fun part. Watching all those people who did NOT heed our warning sit their with their mouths open. This feeding session went a little slower because everyone was pretty full. But we managed to do a pretty good job on the turkey.

As soon as we all went into a food coma, the turkey remains and dishes were again cleared. By now no one could even move. So we just sat and tried to talk without burping or nodding off. The women were in the kitchen rattling dishes and pots and pans. You could smell the coffee brewing. Suddenly the table was set again with pumpkin pie, cookies, nuts, fruit, cake, anisette for the coffee, more red wine for the adults. We would dawdle over dessert for quite awhile and then my dad and uncle would head for the couch to watch football. My cousins and I grew up thinking that watching football required having your head thrown back, your mouth open, and loud snoring.

Once football was over the menfolk woke up and headed back to the table where we would play a rousing game of Put and Take. Two dice, one had either a P or a T on each side. The other had numbers. If you got a P you had to put the number on the second die into the pot. With a T, you took the amount out. My grandfather would dump out his huge can of coins and we would all take a share for our kitty.

While we were playing the leftovers started coming out. The table was soon covered with smaller dishes of pretty much everything we had earlier in the day. My dad would always grumble that the food was getting in the way of the game. I don't think he really cared, but it was his little traditional grumble.

Nani Gene's house was small and we spent 90% of the day sitting around her large table. And enjoying every minute.

How I miss those days.

The way to a man's heart

Last weekend we went to Chicago for a few days to visit with my aunt and my brother. All in all it was a very relaxing and fun weekend. Only one small glitch. The morning of the day we visited my brother he had just installed a 55" LED, LCD tv in his family room. Now, this may not seem like such a big deal. Unless you're married to my dear Ed. When he saw the size of the screen (and yes, Virginia, size does matter) and the nice clear picture, the game was on. On the way back to my aunt's house the next day we had to find a Best Buy (thank you Garmin) to look at the tv's and try to get information on Comcast services because there was no way Ed was waiting until we got back home in 48 hours.

By the time we did get home, Ed was hyperventilating over the whole project. Now, he'll tell you it wasn't THAT big a deal to him and I'm being overly dramatic. If you wish to believe that, it's fine with me.

Currently we have three TVs, 2 PCs, 2 laptops, 2 phone lines. Our services include Direct TV, Tivo, AT&T for phones, Comcast for cable. I know, that's so 20th Century. So we decided to look at the package deals out there. The major focus of our next two days was Comcast vs AT&T U-Verse. Ed was totally in the Comcast camp because of some "less-than-pleasant" experiences we had with AT&T DSL a few years ago. But with Comcast you can't transfer recordings from one room to the other which is a biggie for me. Comcast has On Demand (which AT&T only has a weak version of) and that was big for Ed. I called AT&T, got all the information, and was offered $100 in cold, hard cash if I signed on right then! But we weren't ready just yet. Ed got the scoop from Comcast and then he called AT&T with a few more questions. This time he was offered a $100 VISA card if he signed on immediately.

Finally we did a Ben Franklin balance sheet and listing pros and cons for both - with lovely highlights for the winning entry in each category (yes, we're OCD) and decided on AT&T U-Verse which will be installed in early December. First, it will save us around $100 a month vs the piecemeal system we have now.

And it might prevent Ed from buying that really big tv he wants if we can get a better picture on our itsy bitsy 46" screen!

Grout and Music

Today we are having Wendy's baby shower at our house. It was initially scheduled for mid-July, but she had to go on bed rest so we postponed it until the twins were 3 months old (which happened on November 3rd). So, this morning I was rushing around to make two loaves of pumpkin bread, and a batch of Ceviche before we have to head to Costco to pick up additional food. Ed thought that would be a fine time to clean the grout on the kitchen counter!!

He started with Comet then switched to Soft Scrub - in the process splashing some on his new sweatshirt which immediately went into the washer.

The point is (and I do have one), for some reason when he pulled out the Comet I thought about Ajax. When I was a kid, that was the only cleanser there was. As others came on the market, they were all labeled Ajax in our minds. Sort of like Kleenex and Xerox machines. Then, being me, I started recalling the Ajax jingle

"Use Ajax, the foaming cleanser (badda, bom, bada, bom, bom), [something, something] the dirt right down the drain!"

Then I started humming the old Pepsodent commercial "You wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent."

And Lucky Strike cigarettes: Be happy, go lucky. Be Happy, go Lucky Strike

Chevrolet: See the USA, in your Chevrolet (followed by a big air kiss from Dinah Shore)

Texaco: You can trust your car to the man who wears the star, the big, bright Texaco Star!!

Brylcream: Brylcream, a little dab'll do ya, Brylcream, you'll look so debonair. Brylcream a little dab'll do ya. They'll love to get their fingers in your hair.

Do you have any favorites from the past? By the way, our grout looks lovely.