Throwback Thursday - One of my favorite toys in the '50's

When Miriam was here the other day we were listening to The Farmer in the Dell song.  I told Paul about a metal Farmer in the Dell toy that I had as a child.  The next thing I knew he found a picture of it on the Internet.  I used to love that thing!

Merry Christmas

What a great day today was. After about a month of planning, Christmas came and went so fast. Even though I still wasn't as organized as I would have liked, I really enjoyed today. You would think that since I have been out of work since November 1st that I would have been super organized. Not so. I'm using the excuse that it has been a crazy two months and hoping that next year will be calmer and not so hectic. We'll see.

Anyhow, this year we had Mark, Janelle, and Mason; Janelle's parents Stacia and Joe, and sister Amy; Big Baba and Dot. My Dad and Marge were not feeling well and weren't able to be with us. Kris, Toby and Marley were with Toby's family for dinner but came for dessert.



Here are some pictures of the day.

Amy and her dad Joe.



Mark, Dot, and Big Baba.



Could this be Santa coming down from the chimney?



I guess it was just one of the grandpas.



Stacia, Mason and Janelle. Mason started off the day with cute little tan corduroy pants but didn't seem to want to keep them on!





Opening presents was chaotic as usual.







One of the gifts that Mark really wanted Mason to have was this football helmet and jersey. He said Mason "needed" it because he kept trying to get his Build-A-Bear's helmet on. Someone said he looked like ET running around with this on! The helmet was big so half the time he couldn't see where he was going.



Izzy kept getting into the bag of wrapping paper. Minnie kept her distance all day.



***About the first picture, the Nativity...

A few years ago, my friend Liz from work drew my name for the gift exchange for our Christmas party. She gave me a Willow Tree figure, the angel holding a ball. I loved it, and believe it or not she drew my name the next year and gave me the figure holding a lamb (the tall one with the green robe on the left). At that point I decided that I loved these Willow tree figures and I wanted to collect them. Over the years the kids have given me several of them, some of which I recently found out are actually part of the whole Nativity set.

Last year I thought it would be nice to collect the Nativity, maybe one figure a year. Kristen checked into this and found that you could only buy the starter Nativity as a whole. She asked Toby, Mark and Janelle if they wanted to go in with her and get it for me for Christmas. I absolutely love it. I think that I am going to keep it up all year! Thanks, everyone (including Liz).

Merry Christmas!!

The end of an era?

Today we took a ride to Swansy, NH (near Keene) to look at a Ford Escort wagon for sale. Paul has had a love-affair going with Escort wagons. We have had one, and sometimes two, (not to mention his parts cars that we don't talk about) for the last 18 years. Paul's father saw one in New Hamphshire about a month ago that he thought looked perfect. We went up there last Saturday to check it out. It really did look perfect; one owner, 60 thousand miles, no visible rust. It was in a real small-time used car lot; the guy who owned the business lived down the street. Today Paul called him and made plans to meet him at his business. He brought the car down the street to a garage and they put it up on a lift - the frame had rust holes.

So....Paul has decided that his time with Escorts is probably over. We are not sure what is next. We stopped at a couple of car dealers on the way home - Mazda, Hyundai and Honda are some options. We'll see!

Bickford's

Paul is finally feeling better and tonight he had a hankering for an apple pancake at Bickford's. Bickford's is in a different location now. It used to be on Riverdale St. in West Springfield, but now it is in the old Abdow's Big Boy restaurant in Westfield. We actually go way back with both restaurants. Quite a few years ago now, before Kris and Toby moved to Ohio, we used to meet every Tuesday night at Bickford's on Riverdale St. They had buy one pancake meal, get one free. Sometimes Paul's parents would meet us there too. Mark used to come when he was around (I think he was still in college). We also used to take the kids there when they were young. Paul ALWAYS, ONLY got the big apple. He has never had anything different at Bickford's. (He's weird like that, he has only ever had tacos at Taco Bell)

As far as Abdow's goes, we used to go to the one on Riverdale St. (that is now torn down) when the kids were young, probably elementary age. Sometimes we got the soup and salad bar (it was kind of a new phenomenon then, a salad bar) and sometimes we got a Big Boy hamburger. They also had the best strawberry pie. It was always a treat to go to either place. How weird that Bickford's is now in the Abdow's building in Westfield. Actually, the new Bickford's looks a lot like the old Abdow's. There is a long cushioned seat along one side of the building. I can remember when it was so crowded and people used to sit there until their number was called (tonight there were hardly any people there). A couple of things have changed. They switched the Men's Room and the Women's Room. It seemed funny going into the old Men's Room. Also, the glass cases at the front of the restaurant that used to hold all of the Abdow's pies - cream pies and strawberry pies, just holds some decorations. We hadn't been there in a long time and tonight it brought back a lot of good memories. Just thought I'd share.

Just a little addition, I took these pictures on my way to work this morning. The sun was shining through the clouds and it just looked pretty. I guess taking a picture every day last year is still with me!

349/365 - Pewter Nativity

This is another one of my favorite nativity scenes, also given to me by Paul's mother. She loved nativities.

348/365 - Children's Nativity

My mother-in-law gave me this nativity scene years ago and it is one of my favorite Christmas decorations. The characters are children as in a children's Christmas pageant.