December 8 was my Mom’s birthday.  This is my Dad’s favorite picture of her.  She was 16.  Do you wonder why he fell in love with her?  They met  when she was 15 and he was 17…

Mom at 16

     Also born in December, Marye Curnew was my sister Florence’s girl-friend at Roosevelt High School. She went with Florence to a dance where our brother Jack was providing the piano music and Jack and Marye were married soon after.

     Two of Paul’s children, John-Robin and Molly, were born very close to Christmas

John Robin, 1989

Molly, 1989

     Early in this month, we had a very heavy downpour, which left several inches of water in our basement.  John, Nan, and Paul came to help us deal with it.  Hildy and Dan were on their way but the storm had made it impossible for them to get here.  Thank goodness for cell phones so we could tell them we were okay and had help.  John and Paul rigged up a wonderful siphon system out of two long hoses directed down the long front stairs and it drained the flood out of there like magic.  Of course, a few things got soggy so had to be jettisoned…..
We were very fortunate.  So many folks lost everything.  Pictures of the flooding around Chehalis and Centralia are enough to make your heart ache for those people.  Twenty miles of I-5 were impassable for several days.
     Nan’s Mom, Carolyn, went down and volunteered to help with the cleanup and sent us links to some amazing photographs of where she was.

Carolyn's co-volunteer took the above photos in the
Boistfort Valley, where the house had been filled to the
rafters with muddy water. Carolyn said the mud left
was thick and sticky, like chocolate frosting

More picture links at the Seattle Times:

• Returning to the flood's aftermath
• Images of the storm
• Chehalis River flood
• Flooding in Southwest Washington

12/11

     From Carolyn to Nan, who forwarded it to me:
     "I left here quite early and drove to the farm near Rochester, WA.  They are in the flood plain right next to the Chehalis river.   Their farm buildings are on the highest ground there, and still got about 4 feet of water – judging by the high water marks.  The house has a 4 foot high foundation so came through just fine.  There were about 20 volunteers, but they didn’t get there until late morning.  I spent most of my time raking up dried beans (in the pods – sort of) that had gotten soaked with the polluted flood water, putting them in empty milk crates and hauling them off.  There were quite a few that had stayed dry so I put them into big bins for next year’s seed.  They were a lovely mix of lots of different types and colors.  Then I cleaned out a very muddy chest freezer that they are trying to save – it runs, but the insulation is pretty soaked.  By that time it was 2:30 so I decided to come on home.
M"

     From Ken and Kathy in International Falls.  I do not envy them their weather.

     "Guess winter is here!!! Weather advisory from 10 tonight until 10 a.m., -22, wind chill -50, AND for several days the same. How ever by Tues. could be 32 degrees, go figure.
We have had enough snow also, already tired of shoveling. We're almost ready for Christmas, got to make bon-boons tomorrow and have two more gifts to buy, the ones Kathy forgot to buy. Goes with age this forgetting stuff. Heard your weather is also horrendous, hope things get better.
We are doing good.
     Kathy is traveling 112 miles to an eye specialist. A macro aneurism. Went to see if cataracts were ready and found this out. Shoot, wanted to be all over cataracts by Christmas, now who knows?"

     The family Christmas Party was Sunday (16th) at History House.  Lots of family and food. Kirby had asked those who played musical instruments to bring them and some did, so one of the highlights was a jam session of Christmas Carols which was great fun.  I have a wonderful picture in my mind of John huffing and bug-eyed trying to get a convincing note of music out of Paul’s English (or was it French) horn.  Paul did better… actually getting a recognizable run of notes out of it.  Liz and her new daughter-in-law, Leslie, made some pretty music on their flutes, and John-Robin’s oboe playing was good, although he claimed not to have done anything with it for several years.  Kirby held it together with the piano and some of us did the best we could with kazoos and penny whistles and our voices.  I don’t care how it sounded to the spectators.  Those of us willing to try had a wonderful time.
     Jack’s, Florence’s, and my offspring have grown into a considerable crowd

What a crowd

Jack, John & Dan

Ryan & Dave

Leslie & Molly

John & Kirby

Musicians & singers

Me, singing along

Chris & John

Anne & Paul

Music

Paul

John & Liz

Paul & John - a bad note?

I'm enjoying this!

     Christmas Day was very good.  Gwen fixed our breakfast and got Vern ready for the day.  Nan and John came early to help set up the buffet table. Paul’s family (most of them) came about one o’clock, then Dave, Anne, and Ryan.  Then, Hildy, Dan, Jack, Jeremy, and his dear friend, Teresa. Lots of good food and lots of laughter.  I’m glad to say our family seems to have a good, good time together. 
     At the end of the day, I was so tired I couldn’t see straight, but I was a very happy Mom.  Love that family!

Yummy

Paul, Dave, Ryan & Anne with Vern

Liz watching it snow

Vern

John & Megan, goofing around

I'm having fun!

We had a white Christmas

     Nan and I had a great time with the “I’ve been elved” clip at elfyourself.com on the Internet.  We added my kid’s faces to the four dancing elves and sent it to several folks we thought would enjoy it, plus we showed it to our gang here on Christmas Day.  If any of you got it and weren’t able to get the clip, it was, unfortunately, pulled off a couple of days after we sent it.  Sorry if you missed it.  I loved it.

     New Year’s Eve!  Another year comes to an end with many great expectations for the future.  Top among the many is for Peace on Earth.  I would love to see that even once in my lifetime.

     Think about this:
     “The voices of the past are like leaves that settle to the ground…they make the earth rich and thick, so that new fruit will come forth every summer.”

                                              -Chief Dan George, 1980-

Dixie-Dorothea, Senior Editor

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