PreHoliday -- Bumgardner,Bouldron,Hiles&Nelson

Don't you just love this time of the year chestnuts roasting on an open fire the warm sunny days so reminiscent of summer, that's pretty much the way our days have gone these past several days. It is a real bummer for the skiing industry near Tahoe, no school holiday crowds heading for the slopes. We can only hope that it will change. In the meantime we make up for it by decorating the inside and outside of our home to remind us of Christmas Holiday:

This floral arrangement specifically made to enhance the holidays was sent to us and we are really appreciative and will enjoy it throughout the next couple of weeks -- thank you Aura.

But we have done other things around the house to make it feel "Christmas-y". We struggled with whether or not to downsize the tree to fit the downsizing of the home this year and opted to go in the mid-range. Gail decorated the tree mostly with all her hand-made needlepoint ornaments that she has worked on over the years (mostly while watching NFL games).

And of course how could we not include some photos of our "Christmas Puppy" (everyone should have one).
Dino was very patient with us as we adorned his head with a "Santa Chimney Patrol" hat. That lasted for several seconds. But if you click on the photo you can see the ornaments I mentioned earlier. I have to wonder what happened to the ornaments that I remember form childhood -- who in the family has them. And of course one wonders what will become of the above ornaments and who will get to enjoy them.

Just for the record, Dino turned 12 weeks old today and he has gained over three pounds in the two weeks that we have had him. He is definitely fun and hopefully will make a great guide dog one day.

Maybe Interesting . . .


The other day I was thinking about our ancestors and how they prepared for the holidays. Poor souls, how did they do it without the Internet . . . then my mind drifted to how things have changed just in my lifetime and the things and routines that have gone by the wayside.  So I did what people do these days -- I noodled around the web and found some interesting (or I thought so) ideas on that subject:

If you click to enlarge you can see a list of just a few of the things that are not in common usage today. The very first item -- dialing a rotary phone and especially dialing those really great numbers which were started with letters and words like -- Faculty-FA, Fleetwood-FL, Capitol-CA -- my last phone number growing up was FA 3-6866 . . . but even thinking back another generation, they did not even have a dial to dial, they picked up the phone and were addressed immediately (sometimes) by a live operator, "Number Please" . . .

Check out the above site -- they have a lot more of the obsolete things that bring back so many interesting thoughts.


Social Security


Several weeks ago I sent away for the original application for Social Security that each of my parents filled out. For a fee and a lengthy wait period anyone can retrieve this type of record. For some it may reveal things that were maybe forgotten about their relatives and for others it is just a nice record to have -- especially since they usually have original signatures.

The above are my folks' applications. I recognize both signatures -- my Mother's very carefully done, my Father's more "whimsical" than I remember. But it was interesting to see where and when each applied. My Father applied shortly after SS was started (1934) in 1936 when he was a Cab Driver for Yellow Cab at the age of 29.  My Mother applied in 1949 -- I am not sure of the reason for her application as she at that time did not work outside of the home.

Never-the-less it was interesting to study the facts in detail of their applications.


A possible solution for "last minute" gift ideas


I'm sure for some of our ancestors things like "carving" something special or "sewing" something personal for loved ones was done sometimes "at the last minute" just as we do last minute shopping. So I have scoured the web for some ideas:

The above represents some "really good" stuff and where to find it. There are a couple of things that I wouldn't mind "receiving" -- hint, hint . . .


Anyway, that is how our week went -- hope yours was "good" too. And now since we had a luncheon today with friends (actually relatives) at our house -- we have leftover things that we are going to have for dinner. So it is going to be Slider Sunday Night this week.

See you in a few!