My mother, Maria Anna Geierhofer (Mary Annie Gierhofer in America) was born in the vicinity of Eberschwangen, Austria, to Franz and Franza Geierhofer, December 8, 1886.

Mom

        Other December birthdays are for my brother Jack’s wife, Marye (Curnew) Pfister, and two of Paul and Liz’ children, John-Robin and Molly.

Happy Birthdays!

        Some time before Christmas, John brought our little “pretend” Christmas tree up from its hiding place in the basement, so we have the lights to brighten our evenings for several weeks.  It is small and bright and just right.

        Russ, Jana, and Marley (dog) made an early Christmas visit to the family here.  They will be spending Christmas with Jana’s grandparents at Crested Bluff, Colorado. 
Jana and Russ made dinner for us one evening.  Wonderful food. Vern really enjoyed playing with Marley… and she seemed happy, too.

        Vern’s story about getting his Apprentice Certificate from the Boeing Company is now up on www.HistoryLink.org   Also, just up on that site is my story of climbing Mt. Si at midnight in the rain… when I was about 19.

        Ryan flew to Monterey, California, to scope out a place to live while going to school to do his graduate work.  That is a beautiful area. He should enjoy his time there. We teased him about becoming a beach boy.

        Sadly, I learned of Margaret (Bavin) Medley’s death in November.  Miggs and I were best friends from the time we met at Roosevelt High School as sophomores, until we both married within a year of each other and moved to homes too distant from each other to make visiting very easy.  I have written a mass of stories about our adventures with my Model A which encompass about 10 years. 

Miggs & Dixie

        I can't remember when we last had a power outage. Never, I think, like the one that struck our part of Washington State early this month.   Luckily, we have a fireplace and some wood for it, so were able to keep a couple of rooms warm.  Also, we used the top of the fireplace insert to heat food.  2/3 of our house was like an ice box..... the bathroom and our bedrooms and this office room are in that part.  The hardest part for me was trying to get around at night using a flashlight with the walker. 
        Hildy and Dan, Paul and Liz  got their power back after a few days.   I think the others were out for most of a week.  John and Nan did some volunteering at Red Cross, answering phone calls and getting cold people lined up with warm places to go. My nephew, Gordon Pfister, (brother's son) wasn’t home much as he was busy setting up refuges for Red Cross and seeing they were stocked. I understand he has been doing volunteer work for them for about 50 years, according to information from his wife, Bunny.
        Our home overlooks Green Lake in Seattle.  From our front window, we can see much damage done to the parkland across the street.  Today, I noticed where half a tree was hung up in the branches of another... an accident waiting to happen if the wind blows again.  I left voice mail on the Parks Department's phone, hoping someone would have time, among all the other blow downs, to come and lift it down.    

        The Family Christmas party, hosted by Suzie, was held December 17, at The Fremont Studio.  It is quite a place.  Huge, with enormously high ceilings.  The building contains a movie theater with the usual components of big screen, folding seats, and a projection room.  They do filming inside the building… making commercials, etc.
        In the room where we partied, there was an area with a bright red carpet and red leather sofas and chairs set right under a blast of warm air making a cozy spot in that cavernous building.  Round tables with six chairs each were spaced here and there around this central area.  Two huge, decorated Christmas trees made a bright spot under a curving stairway that leads to the second floor and more rooms.
        Atop a very real looking rock fall was an impressive Troll’s head capped with a Santa cap.  His brilliant blue eyes stared down over the party goers.  I didn’t notice his scariness bothering any of us in the least.

Note from grandson Russ:

“Hope all is well up there after the blackouts and crazy windstorms. Jana and I just got off a freezing cold week in the field - it got into the negatives at night and snowed about a foot in 2 days north of St George. We're up in Crested Butte, Colorado now for Christmas with Jana's family and we're gonna get some skiing in and go ride my friend Jaret's new snowmobiles. Our other friend Dave lives in a cabin that is only accessible by snowmobile or skinning up to in the winter time - so we're going to try and make it up there while we're here as well. Should be a great week - they have a torchlight parade of skiers come down the mountain on xmas eve every year. Temps are in the low teens though! Then we're back in the field for a long 11 day shift before things go back to normal. Its so cold out there that Marley has her own sleeping bag!”

        (Marley is their much beloved dog.. a Red Heeler… a cow herder.. the only one I have ever met.)

Note from Ken, Vern’s cousin from International Falls:

“It sounds like you folks out there are really getting some bad weather. We feel for you and hope it all goes away. Sometimes the weather seems to be getting weirder and weirder.  The weather here is also weird, but it's weird in a good way. We have very little snow and the temperatures are in the 30's during the day and upper teens to lower 20's during the night. We normally have 2 or 3 feet of snow and the temperatures are way below zero by this time of the year. As I get older it seems like it's getting harder and harder to put up with the cold and snow  so it's a good thing we’re getting a break, up to this point anyway. Kathy has the house all Christmasy with decorations everywhere. She has Christmas figures all lit up in every window and we have a lot of windows. She does most of the decorating. I help with the tree but usually I stumble around stepping on my canula hose and rip it of my ears and out of my nose. Ha ! Ha!. All the kids will be over tonight so we're looking forward to that.  With such a busy schedule We very seldom get a chance to visit any more so it's really a treat when these holiday's come, at least for that reason. Hope Vern is doing alright with his c-pap. I've been using one since Dec, 1997 and in the last 20 months I've been on oxygen, but it doesn’t bother Me that much anymore because I never go anywhere anyway except to the Library once in a while and then I pull a tank on a cart. Well I guess I better quit and help Kat get some things done for tonight.  We sure hope your weather gets better and we want to wish You, Vern, John, Nancy and all the rest a     MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR”

          Our Christmas was a very mixed box this year.  Paul had a "small"  heart attack, if there is any such thing.  He is fine now, but had to go into the hospital and have a stent put into an artery.  (Same kind of thing Dave had a few years ago.  I have one, too, dating from quite a long time ago)  Not the kind of thing you want for Christmas, but the good thing is, he is okay and there was no damage to his heart. 
        I got up from bed too quickly on Christmas morning, and blacked out... falling down and bruising a lot of places on my left side.  My wrist swelled up pretty bad, but these old bones must be strong.  Didn't break anything. 
        Other than those weird things, we had a good time.  Made pot roast dinner on Christmas Eve for Nan and John, who had been working long hours for the Red Cross, helping people still suffering from the huge power outage in our area.  We saw the rest of the crew on Christmas Day, before and after my visit to ER
        I will say one thing!  It was memorable!! 

(ps - Link to John & Nan's online Christmas Card)

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