Today we are gathering to celebrate the last Sisters Day of 2023. Where has the year gone? It seems like only a couple of months ago I welcomed us to the start of the new year and next month I will have to do it again.
Those present for our Christmas Sisters Day; Lucy Branson, Mary Jo Crider, Shirley Huffman, Linda Crider, Pam Hale and Susie Kleffner.
This last gathering of the year took place in the country at the home of Pam Hale. Their home is nestled among the cedar trees on a hill side overlooking fields and woods full of wildlife for Pam and Darrell to watch from their deck.
Speaking of Darrell, he was on watch to assist all of the aunts into the house. We had packages and bags to get into the house, and Darrell was ready and willing to help us up the stairs with our Sisters Day offering.
Pam’s roomy farmhouse table was all dressed up for the holidays. We got our coffee, tea for me, and chose our spots at the table. Breakfast was light fair: cinnamon rolls and our choice of four kinds of cereal. Darrell joined us and we were glad to have a man to pick on. Breakfast was tasty and filling, but not too filling. We were saving room for our Christmas dinner.
We talked about traveling and passports. Do you need a passport when you go on a cruise? We couldn’t agree on that one. We also talked about how much it costs to get a passport nowadays. They cost about $75 when Lucy and I went on our Alaskan cruise. Now, they cost $200/$250. I think I’ll just stay in the United States.
I learned something I didn’t know this Sisters Day: the Pope can fire a cardinal. Seems like he just did. I didn’t get the whole story, but I’m sure you can find information about it on the internet.
Men going to women doctors and women going to men doctors was another topic. Apparently, it is worse for men than it is for women (according to Darrell anyway). Needless to say, he didn’t get much sympathy for us girls.
Lucy wanted some input about how to set together the quilt she is making for the historical society. It will be something to see when it is finished. She is researching all the businesses in Maries County since about 1900. Of course, we all had an opinion about what would be best; my idea was best even if Lucy doesn’t pick it. Ha Ha.
We decided to exchange our gifts before lunch. Pam passed them out one at a time and it was open before the next person got theirs. I like this way because you get to see what everyone got and how the person you drew liked what you got. I got assorted teas in small canisters and loved it. Everyone seems to enjoy their gifts too. It is easier to get a gift for someone you know as well as we all do each other.
We each got a small gift for sister Betty who lives with her daughter. Pam packed them all in a box and mailed them to her in South Dakota. We called her and got on video chat. We got to watch her open them all. She opened one and cried and opened another and cried. And she could see all of us. Kami called back after Betty put on a the Sisters Day T-shirt Pam sent her. It matches the ones she gave all of us a couple months ago. Pam took individual pictures of us in front of the Christmas tree to send to Betty.
Pam and her daughter Jane just finished a T-shirt quilt. It was fabulous. The design they used to set the blocks together was creative and artful. The blocks were all different sizes and some just had a saying on them. The quilting was lovely and set the whole thing off. Good job, girls.
It was time for lunch. We cleared the table and placed a solid red cloth on it then place a white lace topper. It was squares with religious pictures in them. We then set the table (with the good dishes). This was a community meal. We each brought a dish. Pam - fried rabbit, Linda (me) fried potatoes and onions, Mary Jo – green beans, Shirley – coleslaw, Susie - dinner rolls and cider. We had some wine brother Harold gave Lucy. One was some he made himself; it tasted good. OMG, now do you understand why we had a light breakfast? Darrell joined us for our Christmas feast.
We decided to play a game of Greed (the dice game) before dessert. It was a hoot. We laughed and laughed. Imagine six women rolling dice, we each had our own set of six dice. In this game you have to roll 750 points to get on the board. Until you do, you can’t count anything. Well, Shirley, bless her heart, didn’t get on the board until the 12th individual roll. I’ve been in that fix several times, and it is not fun. Shirley made the best of it. She said she was going for the world record for not getting on the board playing greed. She was so disappointed when she finally got on the board. Lucy got to 10,000 first, so she won. Shirley had 2,200.
Lucy brought pumpkin and apple pie. Lucy’s pies were delicious as always. I’m so glad we waited until after the dice game to eat it because I was too full to enjoy it right after the meal.
We cleaned off the table. I was carrying the dish with several pieces of rabbit to the kitchen. Darrell walked in. I said, “Would you please take this to my car?” His eyes got great big and just for an instant there was a “what the” look on his face. I started to smile, and he realized I was teasing him, and I wasn’t going to take his rabbit.
Eating the delicious rabbit that Pam fried got us talking about how much of it we ate while growing up. During the winter the guys would go rabbit hunting and come back with dozens at a time. They would hunt all day and get home after dark with all those rabbits to clean. We didn’t have lights outside, so they took them to the basement by the outside entrance. The guys cleaned them, and Mom would put them in the refrigerator for the next day with the excess in the freezer for later. There was a rule at our house: You kill it, you clean it!
In the summer, they hunted squirrel. The guys got quite a few, but it irked them that Lucy could outshoot them all. One time she went hunting by herself with her trusty shotgun. When she got home, she had six squirrels. All six squirrels had a total of seven pellets in them. Our dad said that was the best shooting he had ever seen or heard of -- that girl Lucy “Oakley!”
We began to realize how long ago those memories were. That reminds us of how old we are… Pam and I just smile when we think of that stuff because we know that no matter how old we get we will still be younger than any of them. Ha Ha.
That about wraps up this year. Thank you for sharing another year with us. See you in 2024.
Thought: Someone will always be prettier. Someone will always be smarter. Someone will always be younger. But they will never be nicer.
