Letters for George: A Christmas Dream

Monday, December 24, 2018

A Christmas Dream

Last night I had a perfect dream

The doorbell rang on Christmas Eve

And there on the stoop

Were my mom and dad

I couldn’t believe it

They were just as I remembered from my childhood

Young and healthy, loving, fun

My mother full of laughter and high spirits

My dad with his shy grin and quirky jokes

Then right behind them

My brothers Steven and Peter

My brother-in-law George

All home to visit from far away

Overjoyed to be together after so many years

Vicki and Katja came in

And Margie and Faith and Gayle

All of Vic’s and Doris’s grandkids with their families

The first time everyone was together at once

My dad and I went across the road

And chopped down a handsome white pine

We hauled it back and took it to the auto body shop

Where Vic had it spray-painted white

Soon to be covered in home-made ornaments

The children frolicked in the foot-deep snow

Making snowmen and snow angels

Throwing snowballs at the Norway Pines

Our Irish setters, Mike and Micki, racing about

Our NOLA grandchildren, V and L, had never seen so much snow

Steven made us all Manhattans and Old-Fashioneds

We munched on sardines and creamed herring

And traded memories of Christmases past

Peter, of course, remembered more than anybody

Steven teased Vicki about her childhood

And she gave him a stiff punch in the arm

Doris was busy cooking a turkey in the kitchen

Katja made the stuffing

Margie, the sweet potatoes and green beans

And Doris, of course, her beloved Schaum Torte

I played the Hammond Chord Organ

Everyone sang “Silent Night”

And “We Three Kings of Orient Are”

(My terrible singing voice actually sounded much better than usual)

Soon my grandfather, aunts and uncles, and cousins arrived

Uncle Ralph brought perfume samples from the drugstore

Uncle Karl, elegant gifts for the ladies

Family friends too

The O’Haras, the St. Peters, the Worths, the Caleys

So warm, so thankful

We opened family gifts

Steven got a BB gun

Vicki, a baby rabbit

Finally we all drifted off to sleep

Ready for Santa’s visit

It was the best Christmas ever

1 comment:

UnknownDecember 29, 2018 at 9:45 AM
I am right there with you. Thanks!
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BLOG POSTING SCHEDULE, CONTENT, SOURCES, FOCUS, ETC.

-POSTING SCHEDULE

-Larger main posts at left: usually a new addition every one to two weeks.

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-SOURCES: Personal photos (e.g., family) are by myself or sometimes by another family member. Nonpersonal photos are usually obtained through Google Images. Nonpersonal factual info most frequently comes from Wikipedia and external links available there or from Google searches. Typically I cite sources at the end of the post. If you want to know a source and haven't located it through info I provide, Wikipedia, Google, or Google Images, please let me know at lundgrdc@gmail.com, and I should be able to help.

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MARCH 2024 HOLIDAYS

MARCH 2024 HOLIDAYS

Sun., Mar. 10. Daylight Saving Time starts. Clocks move forward one hour at 2 a.m. // Sun., Mar. 17. St. Patrick’s Day. Celebrating one of Ireland’s patron saints and Irish-American culture in the U.S. // Wed., Mar. 20. Spring Equinox. One of two annual equinoxes in which the length of night and day are nearly equal. // Thurs., Mar. 21. World Poetry Day. Promoting linguistic expression through poetry. // Sat., Mar. 23. Purim starts. A Jewish holiday which commemorates Jews being saved from extermination in Persia. // (Source: wincalendar.com)

CINCINNATI NEWS

CINCINNATI NEWS

According to ratings by the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, Cincinnati ranks 4th best in parks among the nation’s 100 largest cities. 88% of Cincinnati residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. Neighborhoods where most people identify as a person of color have access to 4% less park space than those in predominantly white neighborhoods. Park amenities ranked high for Cincinnati in categories of basketball hoops, playgrounds, bathrooms, recreation, senior centers, and splash pads. Dog parks were much lower, only 1.6 dog parks per 100K people. Cities ranked higher than Cincinnati were Arlington, VA, St. Paul, MN, and Washington, D.C. (wcpo.com, 5-5-22)

EVERYDAY FOIBLES

EVERYDAY FOIBLES

I have one pair of prescription glasses for reading, one for distance (driving, movies). I also have a dozen $1.00 reading glasses from the Dollar Store so I can keep my prescription pair permanently on our dining room table. Of course I lost my distance glasses two years ago. I’ve been sure they was somewhere around the house, but I’ve scoured everywhere. Last week I got ready to go to my writers group and picked out a pair of reading glasses from my bedside table. One had orange and purple rims, one green and yellow, and one dark brown. I chose the conservative dark brown pair. At my group I tried reading with them, but everything was blurry. I was sure they weren’t Katja’s glasses, but they certainly weren’t my reading glasses. Back home Katja suggested that maybe they were my distance glasses. I looked out the window, and the house down the block was in clearer focus. So my lost distance glasses have been sitting next to my bed for the past two years.

FAMOUS POETS

FAMOUS POETS

Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1888. His father, a prosperous businessman, sent him to Milton Academy and Harvard where he excelled. At Harvard Eliot studied philosophy, earning a master’s degree under George Santayana. He then studied linguistics, poetry, and philosophy at the Sorbonne and at Oxford University, settling in England after his studies, working as a banker, and writing poetry. Eliot published his first masterpiece, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, in 1917, and he followed it with “The Waste Land” in 1922, a long poem that had tremendous impact on Western literature. Andrew Lloyd Webber adapted Eliot’s 1939 children’s book, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” into the stage musical “Cats”, one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1948, Eliot died in 1965. (Tessitore, Extraordinary American Writers, 2004)

MY WEEK (Mon., 4/15 - Sun., 4/21/24)

MY WEEK (Mon., 4/15 - Sun., 4/21/24)

Katja had appointments with her primary care physician and pain doctor. She had a fall at T.J. Maxx, banged her head, and was taken to emergency by ambulance but turned out o.k. We toured the new Clifton Cultural Arts Center, complained that they didn’t have our name in the wall of donors. I put most of my academic library out for graduate students in preparation for moving offices at the university. We had dinner out at Longhorn Steakhouse, chop steak for me, lamb chops for Katja. I shed a tear at Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office on PBS.