Christmas and Easter Memories (Jeanne)

Eileen always had us set up the manger scene at Christmas time with all the figures except baby Jesus. He was usually on her dresser in the bedroom, awaiting Christmas morning. When we were kids, she would allow us to put in a piece of straw each time we did a chore, or something kind, or generally had a positive attitude. I remember loving to "get" to put straw in the creche and kept busy with different jobs around the house to earn the privilege.

On Christmas morning, we would make a procession throughout the house. I got to be in front since I was the youngest. (In later years, it was one of the grandchildren in front.) We sang "Silent Night" and held candles as we walked to get the baby Jesus and bring him to the manger.

During Lent, she would cut a branch from the lilac bushes and "plant" it in dirt in a vase that Louise still has - green and antique-looking. She would hang purple colored empty eggs from the branches. They had the symbols of the crucifixion story on them. On Easter Sunday, she would change to the brightly-colored eggs with symbols of Jesus' resurrection. It seemed to me that the branch bloomed out (in leaves) overnight!

I've tried replicating the Easter egg tree, but I keep killing my lilac branch with inattention between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday! I will try to do a better job next year. My mom rocked this!

Comments

Emergency Contact (Jeanne)

This is a sad story. I'm not 100% what year it was (2011-2013?) but I had to fill out the same old paperwork for work. Every year, the same stuff! Phone number, address, blah blah blah. (I was super tempted to write "Nothing's changed.") But on the section where it asked for a secondary contact in case of emergency, I paused. And cried. Louie is always my first contact. But my mom had always been that second one, just in case. And it must have been the fall of 2011, because I remember the struggle I felt knowing she wouldn't have the mental acuity to take an emergency call on my behalf. The realization that her role in my life had changed and I needed to be strong for her . . . rather than me being able to lean on her . . . that was hard. I asked Morgan if I could put his name and number down in case of an emergency if they couldn't reach his dad. Of course, he said yes. I am incredibly blessed that I had my mom around for 48 years of my life and that ...

Earthquakes (Jeanne)

With the news of the earthquake that hit Morocco last Friday (Sept. 8, 2023), I was reminded of a conversation I had with my mom many years ago. We were talking about things that scared us. She said she was most frightened of earthquakes. That surprised me, but as we talked she shared about her time living in California in the 1950s. She said it was a terrible feeling to be going about her day and have things suddenly start shaking and rattling. She told me she never wanted to live in an earthquake zone again. I asked her if it was more frightening than tornadoes and she said absolutely. We talked about how we'd never experienced hurricanes or volcanoes. It was an interesting conversation that I just recently remembered. Actually, I think she may have been on the gulf coast during a hurricane after that conversation . . . but I wasn't there. That's a Louise story to tell!

Music! (Jeanne)

I've often said that I didn't grow up with much singing . . . but that's not entirely true. Recently, I started singing Alouette ( Canadian version ). It got me thinking about why that song was in my brain and what triggered me to start singing it out of the blue. I remembered back to when we were singing it in French class (8th grade?) and I was very familiar with the tune. I had not known, however, that it was about plucking a bird's feathers! And further, the verses have us plucking feathers from the different body parts INCLUDING THE BEAK! If you're curious but don't speak French, here are the lyrics in English. It was fun to learn about this song my dad had sung to me. Besides Alouette , we grew up singing Frère Jacques . I guess my dad was more into singing (and playing piano) than my mom was. I wish I had recorded him singing when I had the opportunity. I could probably add more to this entry (and perhaps I will later), but I need to work on more pr...

Eileen and Larry Somers

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