Christmas 2018 in Jefferson

Update - December 23 to December 29

-- Christmas Week 2018 at home in Jefferson Mass.

Santa spotted overhead

We knew there wouldn't be any significant snow for Christmas, so we had made some visits to the north where we could crunch through the snow and build up our holiday spirit. But, when it got close to Christmas day it was nice to be home and enjoy the decorations, the family visits, and the quiet of life in Jefferson. On Christmas Eve (afternoon) we had the family over. Baby Olive and her sister Lucy brought their mother Corinne and kept everyone entertained and on alert. Also, among the younger set were Leela and her brother Louis who also brought their mother, Kari.

Also visiting were my nieces, Paige and Lily. The other adults in the room included my brother Stephen and his wife Marna; Patti's brother John, and her sister Mary, plus her son Steve and her mate Ira. They had come down earlier and spent a few nights with us to enjoy the holiday. Patti's other brother, David, joined us for Christmas dinner. Nephew Steve took over the kitchen and was the head chef on the pork loin served on Christmas Day. Patti handled the potatoes and I handled the bar.

-- Gift Exchange on Christmas Eve

Leela, Lucy, and Papa as Artists

The sound of shredding wrapping paper filled the playroom, especially where Lucy was in action as she tore open gift after gift with an immediate eye toward which present was next? It was a lively event as the television played a Christmas movie, the children kept pressing the buttons that made the snowmen toot their horns, Baby Olive serenaded everyone with her crying, and everyone else tried to talk over the rest of us. It may have appeared to be nothing but bedlam, but it was a lot of fun too.

Fine China for Christmas Dinner

In more quiet moments, when Leela and Lucy wanted to do some drawing, we brought out the markers and the paper so they could be creative. Lucy has a current fascination with drawing monster faces. She indicates it's a monster as it has a down-turned smile. Happy people (not Monsters) have an up-turned smile. If Papa tries to be creative and add teeth, he is disappointed to learn that teeth are not part of the scheme and must be removed. There's more to being a Papa than I realized.

The featured player, no doubt, was the youngest, Olive, who everyone wanted to hold, feed, and cuddle when given the chance. Here are some more pictures from the holiday with an emphasis on the little ones.


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Scenes of Christmas: (Starting from top left) Patti is feeding Olive, Olive enjoys a brief nap, Richard and Patti pose in the living room, Lucy stockpiles some of her gifts and Lucy embraces Olive after nap time is over.

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READ my Blog "The Books of Richard F Wright" (Books, Bookstores, Writing)

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-- Olive and Lucy Visit on Thursday

Paige gets a smile from Olive

A few days after Christmas we had the chance to watch Olive and Lucy, so the nieces Lily and Paige joined us in the afternoon. Olive has been having a lot of distress after feeding with getting that big burp needed to smooth out her gastro tract. This has led to some uncomfortable crying spells in the past few weeks. But, today she seemed a bit less in distress and we got some big smiles from her.

It occurred to Lily that she had an urge to bake, so she set about making brownies. She pulled everything together in the kitchen and seemed pleased that I would know it was a 13 x 9 pan she would need. The brownies were delicious, or as Lucy has been quoted, they were "A delicious taste sensation." I believe she picked up that expression from Sponge Bob, but I'm not sure.

-- Not Your Average Joe's 

Not Your Average Patti

During the holiday week, Patti and I did some shopping and returning items to the stores. We took the opportunity to have a lunch break at Not Your Average Joe's restaurant in Westborough. We like the place and have found the food to be reliably good with helpful service. Patti is always aware that the large serving of complimentary bread tends to make her full before the meal arrives. Plus, if she has an exotic drink, it tends to fill her up before the entree too. So, as predicted there was a lot of leftovers; which is now something that she plans on at Not Your Average Joe's.

The food was delivered quickly by the manager, who could be spotted clearing tables and checking with guests. The waiter stopped by frequently to be sure all was okay. When we asked to wrap up the food he suggested that he could add some bread and oil if we would like it and to be honest, it's the bread and oil that gets Patti to come each time in the first place! We left a nice tip.

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Reading Update: I seldom have difficulty reading books as I do, in short bursts with a lot of interruptions, because I seem able to pick up where I left off not losing any of the momentum that the author has built into the narrative. For those of you who find it difficult to read a book unless you can go right through it without interruption, you might like to read something like, "I Wish I'd Been There," Edited by Byron Hollinshead. This book is a collection of essays by 20 different historians commenting on significant (and sometimes insignificant) historical events that they would have like to have witnessed first hand. In all cases, the historian knows as much or more about the topic as anyone but can certainly imagine what more they could learn if they had been there.

 Events such as Harper's Ferry, the Assassination of Lincoln, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the Scopes Trial are examples of persons and events that these historians would love to have witnessed. As there are 20 chapters, you could treat each as a separate topic and even skip one or more if you felt little interest in it. This makes it a perfect travel book, where you want to read something but know you will be constantly interrupted. I learned a lot about the events, even those I had some familiarity with, so it's definitely worth reading when you have the time.