HOLIDAY NEWS AND UPDATES

I haven't written here in a long while. Mostly, due to the events happening in our country politically. They put a damper on my enthusiasm for the holidays, and for writing anything other than emails and Christmas cards.

Thanksgiving was held at my daughter Carajean's home on Lake Travis. Her daughter Ashlyn came from OKC with her cat, Olive. Olive had recently undergone surgery and needed medication a couple of times a day. Carajean's dad, BOB BURTON and his wife Ann were also there. Ann is highly allergic to cats, so I volunteered to keep Olive over here. I sent my sweet potato/apple casserole (which I'm now discovering very few in their family like sweet potatoes), was glad I didn't have to lug an oxygen tank over, and was delighted to get plates full of all the turkey and trimmings and desserts brought to me!  Meanwhile, Olive made herself at home.  She explored most everything she could jump on, and even slept on my bed briefly. I held my breath as she decided to check out my totem table (this is a little blurry). I really enjoyed this furry little companion! However I missed the domino games with the BURTONS.

**********************************************

DENNY HILL usually spends the Christmas and New Year's holidays in Warsaw, so I asked if he planned to do so again this year. As usual, I got what I asked for -- interesting news from DENNY.

"Marilyn, you asked if I was spending Christmas with some Polish family?  

"Christmas in Poland lasts effectively for 3 days:
  24th is Vigilia
  25th is first day of Christmas
  26th is second day of Christmas

"So, for example, tonight, the 24th, I am invited to spend Vigilia with Aleksander Wysochi(*)...it will be the 3rd consecutive time I have spent Vigilia with him. He cooks a special dinner for us, which consists of a number of courses, starting with the mandatory shot of cold vodka, before the special marinated herring with his 7 spices which he has prepared 3-days before...then a soup most likely with mushrooms and small pierogi...likely a cup of borsch, then of course the carp, salad...and who knows what (there have to be 12 dishes...for the 12 disciples)...and one empty place setting for the unexpected guest...that is their tradition, even if you are an atheist.

(Me: I think most of us will agree that we prefer the traditional holiday dinner of turkey - or bird of some kind - and all the accompanying side dishes like dressing, mashed potatoes, and even green bean casserole! I freaked at the idea of carp!)

"Thankfully on the 25th I have a day to recover from the Vigilia. Then on the 26th it begins all over again, with a more or less normal Christmas feast, and I am invited to the Nurowski's along with the Trautmanns. Ewa and Kasia, Pawel's wife and daughter are already working on it. 

"There is a little interval to rest up to get ready to survive New Year's eve, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. (Thankfully, if you recover from New Year's eve, then it sort of is over, January 6 being the next time to worry.)

"(*) He lives a few blocks down the street from me. Aleksander is a 67-year-old Polish actor, mostly on stage, but also in some movies. Now he is retired from acting, and makes his living by sometimes dubbing movies or computer games, but actually has his own business training people in the business environment who need to become better at presenting themselves or their products. He uses his stage acting skills to teach them how to get their message across. Interesting and nice guy, who helps me with my Polish by speaking very carefully and not too fast, so I can understand."

DENNY later told me he spent an enjoyable New Year's Day watching commercial-free concerts of classical music and operatic tributes to Pavaroti on Polish TV. He neglected to say how he survived New Year's Eve.

*********************************************

JUNE HASH CURRY Family - Christmas '19

JUNE (the lovely silver-haired lady in the front row) celebrated Christmas with her family. Even sons Kevin and Michael, who have been living in Mexico for the past year. Kevin was kind enough to write an article last year about their experiences moving there for my other blog: "To Take or Not to Take". 

As some of you may know, JUNE has experienced back pain for many years, having surgery and many attempts by doctors to relieve the pain with no success. In December she wrote the following regarding a new device her doctor wanted to try:

"I have such good news concerning the device for my back. I am scheduled to have the wires inserted for the testing part of the procedure done on New Year's Eve. Then after 8-days of seeing and feeling whether or not this device will help my spine with the enormous pain relief I need from it, I will either go back for the full surgical procedure of installation, or we will know after the testing whether or not to take out the wires and call it a no-go. If this doesn’t work I will have to go back to the last surgeon and have more drastic surgery further up my spine, which he doesn’t want to do at my age and I really do not want to have." 

This past Saturday I asked her how it was working, and was delighted to get this: "I am nicely wired up and in the fifth day of testing the device. It is working beautifully and I cannot wait for the permanent surgical procedure."

Please keep JUNE in your thoughts and prayers that this is the relief she needs so badly. There might be some of you who experience back pain as well, and therefore, will benefit from knowing about JUNE's new device.

************************************
Not everyone had the best of times during the recent holidays. A few days ago, NANCY THOMPSON BAKER called me and told me she had 14 family members for Christmas dinner. She then went on to tell me that since then, her and Jake's son Russ and his wife Kathy had a house fire that destroyed or damaged nearly all of their belongings. What a blessing no one was hurt. Thankfully, they had rental insurance. In the meantime, they are staying in a motel and wearing temporary clothing NANCY and daughter Phyllis picked up for them at Goodwill.

****************************************

While we all have counted our blessings in recent weeks, we must turn our attention and our prayers to the horrific wildfires going on in Australia. The devastation, loss of lives, homes, and wildlife should make us more and more aware of climate change; and urge our lawmakers to pay attention and do something in the way of laws or regulations to help the worldwide effort to curb it.

Our prayers must also be continuous for the thousands of U.S. military who are being sent to the Middle East to join others in protection against the terrorist organizations and the Iranian government's threats due to the recent attack carried out against their top General by our current president and his administration. 

May God bless us all in this new decade.

Peace and love,

Marilyn

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This time of year, DENNY HILL looks forward to his annual winter vacation in Warsaw, where he has a flat in an historic building. He spends his time there between semesters at Stony Brook University and every summer. He left last week and will return to teaching January 18th. Before he left, he sent me the following videos.

"This is what it is like now...some of these scenes are from my neighborhood:"

"And this is what it is like at night, when the Christmas lights are on:"

I remember one year GENE ROUTH sent some beautiful photos of the snow around his home at Christmas in Colorado. As the high temperature today in Austin will reach 75 degrees, and tomorrow 76 degrees, our Christmas pictures to share would be a little depressing.. dying leaves or bare trees amid all the sunshine. (Definitely not some tropical island.) They do have Christmas lights on Zilker Park's Trail of Lights every year. Minus snow of course. The city skyline is also pretty spectacular. Cooler nighttime temperatures and darkness hide the fact that one is in Texas.

However, it does snow in Amarillo, where my daughter Carajean and family live. (Carajean is also the daughter of BOB BURTON). Here is a picture of CJ and her husband Branch taken in February of 2013:

Lots of snow in their courtyard! I remember one Christmas, I believe it was in 2001, we all woke Christmas morning to a snowfall that rivaled the one in this photo. 

As the years pass, we might not be making the memories of holidays past that bring us such delight to recall. Maybe it's a good idea to make it a point to do something special with those special people in our lives...and capture those moments to remember by filming them. And share them with us, please.

Merry Christmas, and as Tiny Tim would say, "God bless us everyone."

Love and Peace,

Marilyn

ADDENDUM:

NEIL BROUSSARD sent some lovely photos of his place in San Marcos. I'm not certain when these were taken. Parts of the Hill Country had a light snowfall recently, but these look like a heavier snow.