Christmastide 2021/2022 - 1st Day of Christmas: Dinner with Mom & A Visit with Sam and Fam

 Saturday, December 25, 2021

Mom came over just before the 2 pm Google Meet I'd set up with Sam. We had a nice conversation with Sam, Becky, and the boys. At one point the boys told us about the presents they got this year. Sam mentioned that Cairic got a helmet because he had been hitting his head a lot recently. Cairic looked quite excited and jumped up to fetch said helmet. We were a little concerned and Mom asked why he was hitting his head lately. Before anyone could answer Cairic came back with a medieval type helmet that looked something like a knight might wear. We were relieved Sam had been joking about Cairic hitting his head and had a good laugh about how funny it looked as he tried it on. 

The meet lasted just about an hour. By the time it ended it was 10 pm in Sam's part of the world.

Mom brought us a funny gnome as a Christmas present. I love it!

We had beef stroganoff for dinner which Dale and I made together. It was quite delicious. Dale also made his famous Brussels sprouts with bacon and maple syrup. So yummy. 

Shortly before Mom arrived I tried on my kilt for the first time since last year. On Christmas of 2020 I realized how much lockdown weight I had put on when I couldn't get the main snap of the garment any closer than about two inches apart. This year I was able to snap it. It was tight but I was able to snap it. I like to call it a Christmas miracle but much more sensible eating in 2021 than in 2020 was the actual reason. 

Sylvester did great with Mom. He was outgoing and very comfortable being next to her on the couch. 

After we all had some pumpkin pie Mom decided to call it a night at about 7 pm as she was starting to wilt a bit. Overall she did really well considering she sang at the 9 pm Christmas Eve mass at her church last night. So good to spend Christmas with her. She's the only one on the planet I've celebrated every Christmas with in one way or another. As I look back I can only come up with two or three times I haven't been with her on the actual day. Each of those times we made up for it by celebrating on one of the other 12 days of Christmas. Merry Christmas, Mom!

Christmas 2005

 

Pictured is Mom and Dad's Christmas card for Christmas 2005. Here is the text of the circular letter included with that card:

"Another year has gone by way too quickly it seems. I'm sure it has something to do with aging which makes it seem that time goes faster."

"The most exciting news is that we will be blessed with two grandchildren in 2006. Becky and Sam are expecting their second baby, another boy, whose name will be John Cashel (that is at this writing) who is due toward the end of January. Peter and Stephanie will become parents in late March. The first ultrasound revealed a girl baby but no name has been decided upon yet."

"Sam and Becky are still in Germany and have a little over a year and a half left to go on this assignment. Becky keeps us up to date on little Calvin's accomplishments, she sends pictures almost every day. They were home for a week in April so we got to see Cal. He is a quirky little guy, much like Sam was as a youngster."

"Peter and Stephanie will be moving to Germany in August '06 to their new assignments there. So the two families will be in Germany at the same time for about a year. Pete and Steph will be at different Air Force Bases which are only 40 miles apart so they hope to find housing some where in between those two locations. We are a little diappointed that they will be leaving the States but it is a good time for them to do it. Sam and Becky have really enjoyed their time in Germany and have taken advantage of the opportunity to visit quite a few European countries and I would imagine Pete and Steph will do the same."

"Joseph is teaching at a new school this year but is still [in the same district]. Joe's partner Dale works for [a music camp]. He spends two months of the summer up at [the camp] and this summer I went with Joe to visit him. I had never been [there] so it was really fun to see [where Dale works]. After Christmas('05) Joe, Dale and I drove to Chicago to meet Dale's parents who came in on the train from Colorado. We had a very nice visit and took advantage of the good restaurants in Chicago."

"We were suppose[d] to go to see Peter and Stephanie for Thanksgiving but David became very ill and was hospitalized for two and a half weeks in November so we were unable to go. David had diverticulitis which moved into the blood stream (sepsis) and decided to make a home in the liver forming three abscesses there. They put a catheter in the liver to drain the abscesses and he was on high doses of antibiotics. He came home the day before Thanksgiving and was on home IV therapy for three more weeks. He is getting better but it is a slow process, he tires very quickly but is up and around and being as busy as his body allows."

"I am still working for [the hospital] but started a new job [there] in April. I am doing emergency room coding and charging which is a nice change. I work with a five person team and we moved out of the main medical record department and are now located near the ER. The plan is to have us housed in the ER so we have access to the doctors and nurses for documentation issues. Our new place will not be ready for at least a year and by then maybe I will retire....can't quite see myself not working however. I will have to start visualizing me as a "not working person" to try to get used to the idea. I have started singing with [the choir at church] this year and have found it to be quite enjoyable. I also am playing in a recorder group, there are five of us. I also have a recorder partner and we play together twice a month. I do like the recorder group but like duets the best."

"So with that we wish you well as we continue this Christmas Season and hope that you will have a happy and blessed New Year!"

Christmas 2006

In the fall of 2006 we found out that my dad had later stage lung cancer and that he only had about 7-8 months to live. The holidays were very bittersweet that year. On the one hand I remember feeling so thankful that we'd have him with us for another Christmas. On the other hand I felt so sad that it would be the last Christmas I'd ever spend with him. I remember going over to the house on Stevens to visit shortly before Christmas. He was in the basement working on putting together some photo albums. Another project involved assembling collections of the state editions of the U.S. quarters to give to the grandchildren. My partner Dale remembers that the two of us spent Christmas Eve with my Mom, Dad, and Uncle Dale. We did fondue and opened presents. One little present that Mom got Dad was a booklet about tying knots. Dad laughed when he opened it and joked that tying knots would give him something to pass the time after he passed away. We actually interred him with it. It was placed in his shirt pocket.

This Christmas is notable because it was the first Christmas for Cashel (Sam and Becky's second child), and Abby (Pete and Stephanie's, first child). Both were born in 2006.

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2007 was the first Christmas Becky was here in Minneapolis with the three boys as Sam was in Iraq. Calvin was 3, Cashel 1, and Cairic was just months old. I remember they joined Mom, Dale, and me at Mom's house for fondue on Christmas Eve. This was my first Christmas without my Dad. He died in February of 2007 and his presence was very much missed. On Christmas day we went to Becky's house to watch the boys open presents and did they ever get a lot! It was really nice to have kids around to watch open gifts.

Christmas 2008

My brother Sam was deployed to Iraq in mid-2007. He wasn't able to be home to visit his wife Becky and their three children, Calvin, Cashel, and Cairic until mid-2008. His family stayed in Minneapolis and lived not too far from my mom. Dale and I lived quite close to them as well. Sam was home again from Iraq for Christmas 2008. Becky prepared the whole fondue shebang starting with cheese (bread being the dipping item), then meats (mostly beef and scallops) in oil, and finally chocolate fondue with fruits. I think this was the first time my nephews got the whole fondue experience. The tree in the picture is at Becky's house on 54th Street in Minneapolis. The sign above the tree says Welcome Home Daddy. Sam being home brought new meaning to me for the song I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Christmas 2010

Dale and I sang together at the 4 p.m. Christmas Eve service at Gethsemane Episcopal Church in downtown Minneapolis. Mom and her friend Lynne attended. Before the service began I had a small glass of champagne. After the service we went to Mom's where we started dinner with cheese fondue.

Following the fondue we had spinach salads with Mandarin oranges and walnuts. Dale and I brought the dressings, namely Annie's brand raspberry vinaigrette and Annie's papaya poppy seed. Both went very well with the Mandarin oranges. Mom broiled steaks after we finished the cheese fondue. Dessert was Baba Dessert which I named for my baba, Jean (Driscoll) Wagner, because I could never remember the name of the dessert itself. It was a very lovely dinner and evening and nice to continue with our traditional Christmas Eve foods!

Dale and I had a lovely and quiet Christmas morning. We spent time relaxing and enjoying each other's company and looking at our beautiful Christmas tree. We also spent some time getting ready for having Mom over for Christmas dinner. We made the crock pot beef stroganoff recipe that we've been using for years. I'm pretty sure that this is the first year we've made it for Christmas dinner. It's one of our favorite winter recipes and this is the first time we've made it this season. It's also extremely easy to make.

Mom came over at 3 p.m. and we had drinks and appetizers (crackers and hummus). We watched the ending of Ben-Hur on Turner Classic Movies while Dale got the egg noodles for the stroganoff and the broccoli ready. We were eating by about 4:30. It was all very delicious. Dessert was a Buche de Noel from Kowalski's and coffee.

We then spent some time reminiscing about how Mom celebrated Christmas as a child. I've recently been doing a lot of geneology research into the French Canadian branch of my family tree. My great-grandmother Cora (Alma) Driscoll (Fugere) was from French Canada and I was curious to know if she had passed any French Canadian Christmas traditions down to my grandmother Jean Wagner (Driscoll). Mom said she didn't think so. She told me that my Great-Grandma Cora had never taught any of her children French and that Grandma Jean (hereafter referred to as Baba) resented that. Mom said she didn't think my great-grandma passed down any specific Christmas customs to Baba.

Mom talked a little bit about how her own Christmases played out as a child. She said they never did anything on Christmas Eve but that she and her siblings opened their stockings on Christmas morning. She said she always got an orange in her stocking. They would go to church and then come home and open presents. Each child got only one present because money was very tight when she was younger. She said that one year she got a slip as her Christmas present.

I remember quite clearly my own Christmas traditions while growing up. Christmas Eve day was usually pretty relaxed (for us kids at least). Mom I'm sure was getting ready for Christmas Eve's fondue dinner and doing last minute preparations for Christmas Day. Dad always did his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve day. I remember going with him to the Southdale shopping mall one year when I was probably 12 or 13. I was surprised how quiet it was as the mall that day. I had supposed more people would be doing last minute shopping but that was not the case. I don't know if that was an anomaly for the time or not. It sure isn't that way today. We'd start the fondue dinner at about 5:00 pm with the cheese fondue. I remember helping to stir the cheese on the stovetop while Mom slowly added more cheese the pot. It would then be added to the fondue pot on the dining room table. We'd then dip chunks of stale French bread into the cheese. It was delectable!! We'd move on to the meat in oil fondue after the bread in cheese. Mom always had beef stew meat for the oil fondue. She'd mix together a special ketchup-like mixture for dipping the fried meat in. In maybe the late seventies or early eighties she added scallops to the oil fondue. She made a special herbed butter to dip the scallops in after they were done in the fondue pot. After the meat fondue she would get the chocolate fondue ready. I remember dipping strawberries and bananas in the chocolate. It was divine! I remember being amazed at how much I could eat when we'd do fondue. It was easy to pack it all in due to taking breaks between the courses to get the next course ready and because we had to eat slowly during each course. That's just the nature of fondue. It takes time to prepare each little morsel!

Christmas morning began with opening stockings once everyone was awake. Stockings were always chock full of good stuff. We'd go to mass at Annunciation Catholic church after opening stockings and eating a light breakfast. After mass we'd open the presents from underneath the Christmas tree. At about 2 p.m. we'd have a Christmas feast. The meal was usually a repeat of Thanksgiving dinner but some years we had ham instead of turkey. Dessert was usually Baba Dessert. After dinner I'd call whoever my best friend was at the time to wish them a Merry Christmas. We'd then talk about everything we got as a Christmas present. The evening of Christmas day was usually spent recovering from the food and excitement by watching Christmas programming on T.V. Once the VCR came along we'd spend the evening watching Christmas movies.

Sam told me that his Christmas in Leavenworth with Becky and the boys was very nice. They did fondue on Christmas Eve and had about 16 friends and neighbors over. According to Sam it was 'high adventure'. They started with cheese fondue and continued with meat. Becky bought a chocolate fountain and they had fruit to dip in that for dessert. Christmas day was "low key." Sam said the boys opened presents, had 'a big haul and were pretty happy'. I asked Calvin over the phone if Santa paid them a visit and he said 'maybe'. He told me he got a robot from Santa. Cashel said that Santa came and left him an Imaginex. I have no idea what that is. Cairic confirmed that Santa had indeed stopped by and wanted to get back to playing with toys.

Pete has been in Washington D.C. for the past year going to school for the Air Force. He, Stephanie, Abby, and Xander spent Christmas there this year. They hosted Stephanie's mom and step-dad and one of Steph's sisters along with her husband and two kids.

Compared to Sam and Pete I feel like I had a pretty low-key Christmas this year.