"...Soon It Will Be Christmas Day"

“A pair of Hop-a-long boots and a pistol that shoots is the wish of Bonny and Ben.  Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk is the hope of Janice and Jenn…”            
(It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas written by Meredith Wilson, 1951)

Christmas is the season of gifts.  The ultimate gift, of course, is God’s gift of His Son to the world.  But on a more plebian level it is a time that we humans take pleasure in giving and receiving gifts.  I recall years ago when Mike and I both spent hours on the phone (the internet hadn’t been invented yet) trying to locate Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon for the boys when Star Wars action figures were the “hot toy” one Christmas.  Much later, as an adult, Matt commented that he should have kept the Star Wars figures, as they had become worth more as a collectible than they were new.  (Hmmm... wonder what will become collectible from his kids' generation?)

There was also the monkey with the velvet jacket.  As a kid, I received a stuffed monkey as a gift from my maternal grandparents.  The monkey was wearing satin trousers with red suspenders and a black velvet jacket that my grandmother made for him. Years later, my cousin Karen confided to me that she had really wanted that monkey, not the doll that she got from grandma and grandpa that year.  It took us a couple of years of looking, but in an antique store in Cape Girardeau, high on a top shelf, Mike did, indeed, find another monkey (Ouch!  A toy from my childhood should not be in an antique store…not yet, anyway.) and we gave it to Karen for Christmas several years ago.  The monkeys are not exactly alike – Karen’s has a banana in his hand and doesn’t have a black velvet jacket, but, hey, you didn’t think I was going to give her mine, did you?  You know I would still have mine.  I mean, I love my cousin, but Mr. Monk has been with me for…well, for a very long time.

My monkey, styling in the outfit that my grandma made for him

For some households, the aroma of warm freshly baked cookies signals Christmas.  Not so at our house.  Mom doesn’t bake.  (One year she called me and wanted to know if I was “warped” because she never baked cookies.  I assured her that if I was warped – and I’m neither confirming nor denying that I am - it had nothing to do with her not making me cookies.)  What she does, however, is knits, and she knits beautifully.  Indeed, I have a treasure trove of wonderful hand-made ski sweaters.  Each year, I receive a “brown paper package tied up with string” containing a new sweater. Mom’s hand-knit sweaters are beautiful, they are warm, and they are a tangible expression of a mother’s love.  (And, of course, they are some of my favorite things.)  Even as I sit and write this, I’m wearing a sweater knit in a pattern with sheep on the front.  Mom made this sweater from the pattern for a sweater owned by Diana, Princess of Wales, at the time she married Prince Charles.  I’m burrowed under an afghan knit in a gorgeous aqua shade, and I feel like I’m wrapped in love, because I know that each stitch was created with unconditional love, and I’m warmed inside as well as outside. 
 

Mom made all of these sweaters.  This one is made from the pattern of one of the
sweaters owned by Diana, Princess of Wales, when she married Prince Charles

 

Reindeer in a wonderful winter pattern

Irish Fisherman's Sweater.  Imagine the hours of time
and effort that went into creating this piece by hand.  

The earth and the sky, another hand-knit sweater from my mom

 My dad’s traditional gift to me for a number of years has been a piece of handcrafted turquoise jewelry.  Years ago, my folks met a Navajo woman at the train station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she was selling her jewelry creations on the station platform.  For many years after that meeting, dad designed (OK, designed might be too strong a word – let’s say “envisioned” or “imagined”) a piece of jewelry.  Betty Yellowhorse would craft it out of silver and turquoise and mail it to him.  Over the years, while I was still teaching, I always wore one of those pieces when I would have to attend a conference or meeting that had the potential to be difficult or tense.  I could simply touch my bracelet or necklace and feel a sense of calm from the smooth stone.  For no matter how adversarial that moment might be, that piece of jewelry was more than just silver and turquoise.  It was a touchstone that transported me to a world where I was loved.

 

One-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry that dad had Betty Yellowhorse create for me
over the years.  All are sterling silver and turquoise; many include U.S. coins.
The large necklace above features one coin from each year that I taught school.
 

Over the years, Mike has given me many thoughtful gifts, from a pretty sapphire bracelet to the grandfather clock that stands guard in our living room.  But the most important and lasting gift that he has given me is laughter.  He has a gift for puns, a quirky sense of humor, and the ability to see humor or irony in the most unlikely moments or situations.  He has always teased me about “saving me” from being a “spinster schoolmarm.”  I would never admit it, but perhaps there is a bit of truth to that.  (But don’t tell him.)  Thanks, honey, for the patience [no, I still haven’t found the three pairs of scissors I lost last week], love, and laughter.

December is a gift of love, and I would be remiss not to congratulate my parents on nearly seven decades of love as they celebrate their 65^th wedding anniversary this month.  They were married on December 18, 1948.  Happy anniversary to a couple who are still holding hands after all these years.

Happy anniversary to my parents, Dorothy and Tracy,
still holding hands after 65 years.  We love you!

So, as we travel – and we do love to travel – for me, all roads lead back home at Christmas.  From our home to yours, we wish you a blessed Christmas and the hope that 2014 will be your best year yet.  We’ll be back in the new year with more Road Stories.



Home for the Holidays

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from
Yvonne, Mike, and Sophie, the little white dog

 

"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas..."

“City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style; in the air there’s a feeling of Christmas…”                (Silver Bells written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, 1950)  

For each of us there is likely some significant moment or special object that signals the beginning of the Christmas season.  For me, pulling out my musical angel says “Christmas.”  I can clearly remember getting a package in the mail early in December the first Christmas that I was in college.  I rushed to the pay phone to call home to ask if I could open it right away (yes, the musical angel and I both go back to the age of pay phones.)  Since that moment, when she comes out of her box and plays “Silent Night”, Christmas has officially arrived. 

My angle says "Christmas is here" to me

Small town Christmas - Elm Street in Washington, MO

 

Washington's municipal Christmas tree at Elm and Main Streets

To help herald in the holiday, Mike starts with the outside decorations, usually right after Thanksgiving.  He takes great pride in creating a slightly different look every year.  Some years, all white twinkle lights; other years, a profusion of color.  Blow-up “Frosty” has presided over our lawn at times, and at other times, serene grapevine deer have grazed peacefully in the yard.  One year, the lights “danced” and blinked to the rhythm of Christmas carols.  This year, “icicles” drip off the edge of the roof while lighted candy canes hang in the branches of the trees in our side yard.

Our house, decorated for Christmas

As a kid, Christmas trees came in a variety of styles and options.  Sometimes we would cut down a cedar tree at the farm, or buy a tree from the local Boy Scout lot.  Some years our tree would be a “stylized” version that my mom created.  One year our “tree” was a wood frame covered by chicken wire, to which my mom attached all my dolls and stuffed animals.  Now my folks’ tree is a cute, petite metal tree to which my mom attaches all of her 1950s-vintage “Dancing Santa” figurines.


One of mom's "Dancing Santas" from the late 1940's or early 1950's



The "Dancing Santas" adorn a small tree in my parents' house

Mike and I have typically gone to a local tree farm to cut a fresh tree.  As the grandkids arrived, it turned into a Saturday-after-Thanksgiving tradition to go to the tree farm.  Agreeing on the perfect tree is a monumental decision.  Our favorites became the white pines, for their soft texture.  Over the years we’ve added artificial trees as the Christmas ornaments proliferated.  On more than one year, we’ve had four or five trees decorated.

Success!  In this picture, Allison is about 3 or 4, the same age that Abby is now

Pulling out the ornaments is a daunting and time-consuming task.  I keep everything because of the memories attached, so there is a lot of “Christmas” – and everything else – in our house.  The family room tree, typically the freshly-cut white pine, is decorated with family ornaments – ornaments from childhood, gifts from friends, and fun finds over the years.  My very favorites, however, are the hand-knit dolls that mom made me for me over the years.  I love these hand-made little people that adorn the tree each year, and have for decades.

Family room tree, 2013

 

Our daughter-in-law, Becky, made this cross-stitched ornament for us in 2005

 

The doll ornaments that my mom made are some of my very favorites

Close-up of one of my "little people" that my mom made for me

As our need for additional trees grew Mike convinced me to add pre-lit artificial trees in other rooms of the house.  I don’t remember for sure, but it could have been after I destroyed a section of the hardwood floor in the dining room (seems I had been watering the floor as well as the tree that was in there) or if it was a decision made after putting lights on the live trees.  I’m convinced that Santa keeps the elves busy during the off-season by having them tangle strands of Christmas lights.  I don’t know about your family dynamics, but two to three hours un-tangling lights sure stretches the “good will among men” (and women!)  So, artificial trees were added to the décor. 

The dining room tree became the one that changed with our interests.  Some years, Thomas Picone hand-blown glass ornaments adorned that tree.  They were fun to put up, but a pain to take down.  Not only are they extremely fragile, but they came packed in boxes, each ornament nestled in a cut-out space perfectly shaped for that piece.  Packing them away after Christmas was akin to putting together a jigsaw puzzle.   During another period of our lives, the dining room tree was decorated in a “lake” related theme, with glass fish, ring buoys, lighthouses, and snorkeling Santas. 

Thomas Picone ornaments, all hand-blown glass, all "snug in their beds"

A “tiny tree” holds miniature ornaments and from year to year, moves from room to room, though most often it ends up sitting on the dining room table.

The "tiny tree" includes Winnie the Pooh and many of the Wizard of Oz characters
In all, almost 100 tiny ornaments, about 1" tall, hang on this tree

The living room tree is a white artificial tree that holds the newest of my collection, the White House Historical Society Christmas ornaments that Mike started giving me.  It also features the “pear” ornaments that mom started giving me.  (The Northwestern U.S. Pear Growers’ Association started selling limited-edition ornaments many years ago, all with the theme of “a partridge in a pear tree” but all slightly different each year, and dated with the year of issue.)  The twinkle of gold is intensified by the brass “scene” ornaments that we’ve gathered over the years from our travels.  The tree is finished with delicate-as-a-soap-bubble clear glistening hand-blown glass ornaments.

Living room tree

 

The White House Historical Society's 2008 ornament depicts the first Christmas tree
set up in the White House, in 1889, during the administration of Benjamin Harrison

 

The 2012 Partridge in a Pear Tree ornament is die cast and covered in antique
silver.  It features a pair of partridges and beautiful, decorative pear tree leaves
accented in 24-carat gold. 

The most impressive tree of all, however, is the one that God is decorating with snow outside our window right now, as I sit and write this blog.

 

Crabapple tree covered in snow, December 2013

Christmas traditions…special moments from childhood…even things like a family outing to the Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving with the kids - and now the grandkids - can create wonderful memories and great Road Stories.



(L to R)  Becky holding Abby, Matt, Yvonne holding Allison, Mike.  Thanksgiving 2011



 

When Cotton Was King

Amazon made news recently when it announced that in the future, it planned to deliver customers’ orders by unmanned drones.  In every generation there is a breakthrough in technology that changes society.

In 1794 Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin which would change industry and society.  Following the development of the cotton gin (short for cotton engine) cotton production increased over 800% in the next ten years.¹   By 1845 the U.S. was producing 7/8 of the world’s cotton.²  Cotton was only profitable if there was an abundant supply of cheap labor.  Eli Whitney believed that the cotton gin would reduce the number of slaves but that proved to be incorrect as the number of slaves rose from 700,000 in 1790 to 3.2 million in 1850, even though the importation of slaves from Africa was banned in1808.³  Some historians even believe that the cotton gin was a factor in the Civil War.  Certainly the motto “Cotton is King” reflected the importance of this single crop.

In 1914 a group of enterprising farmers built a cotton gin in Burton, Texas to process their crop for market.  From Burton the cotton travelled by rail to Galveston for export.  In 1914 the Burton cotton gin produced 82 bales; in 1923, 1,600 bales; and in 1953, 1,680 bales, more than 60 per day.  But by 1974, only 7 bales of cotton were ginned, and in 1975 the Burton Cotton Gin closed its doors.⁴   Fortunately in 1987 Operation Restoration revitalized this historic gin and it is now designated a National Historic Engineering Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Today it is the oldest operating cotton gin in the United States.

Postcard from the Texas Cotton Gin Museum in Burton, TX

Postcard (c. 1909-1914) from private collection

Postcard (c. 1909-1914) from private collection

Postcard (c. 1909-1914) from private collection

For the first 11 years following its 1914 construction, the gin was run by steam engine.  In 1925, the steam engine was replaced with a Bessemer internal combustion engine, which operated for 38 years.  Finally, in 1963, the gin was “modernized” a final time and the Bessemer engine was replaced with an Allis Chalmers electric motor.  The Bessemer engine, the largest internal combustion engine of its vintage still operating today, sits in a side building at the Burton facility.  During the cotton festival, when the gin is operated, the old Bessemer is also fired up.

 



The Gin as it looked on our visit in September 2013

The waste products from ginning are dumped through this chute

Cotton wagon.  The gin had a vacuum system to "suck" the cotton out of the wagon.

The Bessemer engine as it looks today.  It weighs over 15 tons

Before visiting the Texas Cotton Gin Museum in Burton I never gave much thought to the growing of cotton.  Until I had a firsthand view of the ginning process, I only thought of cotton as a label in a piece of clothing or the thread count in our sheets.  The growing of cotton, a cousin to okra, is really interesting and there is a plethora of uses for each part of the plant. 



Cotton is typically planted in April, and picking season lasts from August to November.
First stage of ripening is appearance of a pale yellow flower.

Within 12 hours, the yellow flower turns bright pink

The cotton boll just prior to opening

One boll is now open.  The second, just below the first, is about to open

One 500 pound bale of cotton can produce any one of these groups of products⁵

               215 pairs of jeans                             409 men’s sport shirts
               249 bed sheets                                  690 terry bath towels
               1,217 men’s t-shirts                          1,256 pillowcases
               3,085 diapers                                      4,321 mid-calf socks
               21,960 handkerchiefs                       313,600 U.S. currency bills ($1, $5, etc.)



A standard 500 pound bale of cotton in the Texas Cotton Gin Museum.
Note the tags on the bands holding the bale together.  They identified
the grower, the "lot" number of the cotton crop, and the gin which processed it.

What were once considered the “waste” by-products of the ginning process are used extensively today.  The first one that comes to mind is the cotton seed.  Cotton seed oil is used as a healthy cooking oil alternative, but cotton seed oil is also used for making cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and explosives, and in the manufacture of paints and finishes, insecticides, rubber, plastics, and waterproofing materials.  The linters (fine, silky fibers that adhere to the seeds during the ginning process) are used in everything from automobile upholstery to dynamite to x-ray film to mops to hot dog casings, and literally thousands of products that we use every day – and never think that they contain a by-product of cotton.⁵  When cotton was king?  Cotton may still be king today!



What was once "waste" is now a valuable by-product

Driving through Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas and the Missouri boot heel, there were fields of cotton as far as the eye could see, with monstrous bales in those fields that had already been picked.  The road sides were so white it appeared to have snowed. 



Large bales of picked cotton in the field, waiting to be transported. 
This is just south of Tunica, MS in October 2013

There are two types of pickers in use today.  One is the "stripper" picker, primarily used in Texas, but also found in Arkansas.  It removes not only the lint from the plant, but a fair amount of the plant matter such as unopened bolls.  Later, the plant matter is separated from the lint through a process that drops the heavier matter before the lint makes it to the basket at the rear of the picker.⁶

The other type of picker is the "spindle" picker.  It uses rows of barbed spindles that rotate at high speed and remove the seed-cotton from the plant.  The seed-cotton is then removed from the spindles by a counter-rotating doffer and then blown up into the basket.  Once the basket is full the picker dumps the seed-cotton into a "module builder."  The module builder creates a compact "brick" of seed-cotton, weighing approximately 21,000 pounds (the equivalent of 16 un-ginned bales) which can be stored in the field or in the "gin yard" until it is ginned.  Each ginned bale weighs between 480 to 500 pounds. ⁶


Case IH Cotton Picker

In 2008 the Case IH Module Express 625 was designed in collaboration with ginners and growers to provide a cotton picker with the ability to build modules while harvesting the crop.  An industry-exclusive on-board round module builder was offered by John Deere in 2007. ⁶

We went to Texas to find antiques at the Round Top Antique Festival.  We never gave a thought to cotton or cotton gins until we discovered the Texas Cotton Gin Museum in Burton and learned about the cotton industry.  That led to the start of a new collection:  Antique cotton bale tags from the Burton gin, complete with the story from a vendor in Round Top who had actually once worked at the Burton gin.
 



Examples of cotton bale tags.  These are no longer used.  Today, baled cotton is bar-coded



It’s funny how you sometimes just stumble across the most interesting Road Stories.






Visit the Burton Cotton Gin on line at www.cottonginmuseum.org     Open daily for tours.  There is an admission charge for the tour of the gin, but not to visit the museum.

¹  www.apstudynotes.org/us-history

           ²  www.about.com.inventors
           ³  www.boundless.com/u-s-history
           ⁴  www.cottonginmuseum.org
           ⁵  Burton Cotton Gin Museum handouts
           ⁶  Wikipedia

 

If You're Going To Break With Tradition...

After forty-eight years of Thanksgiving at my parents’ farm we decided to change things up this year.  My folks enjoy traveling but tinkering with Thanksgiving tradition - - that was a gutsy move.  Mike came up with the idea of a trip to Nashville, a fun spot within a reasonable distance.  We got my mom and dad hotel reservations at Gaylord Properties’ Inn and Suites.  This Thanksgiving would be the Rockettes in Music City instead of a hayride and card games at Hidden Valley. 

Thanksgiving week saw the Midwest in the grip of a cold wave with Nashville in the teens and twenties instead of the more typical 56 degrees.  I suggested to Mike that we opt for a hotel, too, instead of the RV but Mike is a diehard or an optimist (depending on my frame of mind) so we packed up, de-winterized, and headed south.  With Sophie, the little white dog, and her array of winter sweaters ensconced between mom and dad in the back seat, we took off on our Thanksgiving adventure.

Sophie, decked out for a holiday trip to Nashville

Our first night was spent at Duck Creek RV Park, a nice, friendly little family-owned RV park near the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky.  It was also mom and dad’s first night ever in an RV.  We had water on board and with the heated tanks thankfully didn’t have any issues with frozen lines.  We did enjoy having our little electric fireplace on board in addition to the propane furnace.  Despite an overnight low of 14 degrees, we stayed warm and I think they were pleasantly surprised, although I don’t believe we made converts of them.  The next day, Wednesday, was an easy drive into Nashville, check-in and setup at Two Rivers Campground on Music Valley Drive, and getting my folks checked into their hotel.  A reminder of the cold snap were the notices in the campground office that you could be liable for up to $200 if you left your water hooked up on a frigid night and the hose bib was damaged by freezing. 

That evening we moseyed through Opry Mills Mall, doing more window-shopping than buying, and had dinner at the Rainforest Café.  There is nothing like having an animated gorilla as your dinner companion to keep the evening interesting. 


Thanksgiving morning dawned bright and sunny, albeit brisk, after an overnight low of 11 degrees, but the weather-guessers promised moderating temperatures for the rest of the weekend.  In planning the trip, Mike had researched possible venues for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  He focused on the menu and restaurant reviews while I looked for the “cute factor.”   We selected a restaurant called Ellendale’s.  We were encouraged when both the campground manager and the desk clerk at mom and dad’s hotel told us we had made a great choice, and Ellendale’s did not disappoint in any category.  The variety and quality of the selections on their extensive buffet was outstanding.  And as for the “cute factor” – the turn-of-the-century two-story house was a fitting setting for our first not-at-the-farm Thanksgiving.



Mom and dad in front of Ellendale's, where we had Thanksgiving dinner

Ellendale's menu for their Thanksgiving buffet

Of course, in true Thanksgiving fashion we ate way too much.  We decided to take a leisurely walk through the atrium and indoor gardens of Opryland Hotel.  Always a lovely setting, the Christmas lights and holiday decorations added a festive touch.  Having the option to stroll through orchids and poinsettia trees made the cold snap outside irrelevant.  There were enough people to make it cheerful but not feel overly crowed.


The atrium of Opryland Hotel, decorated for Christmas



Another view of the hotel atrium



The water jets in the fountain "dance" to the beat of the music
- right now, Christmas carols for the holidays - and change colors

 

Dad, mom and Mike watching the dancing waters fountain



Mom and dad with their own version of the "March of the Toy Soldiers"

 

A Christmas tree made entirely out of live pointsettias



Of course, after a big meal on Thanksgiving, you have to take a nap in front of a football game

Black Friday!  The term evokes either excitement or trepidation.  Friday morning Mike and I decided to brave the mall while my folks choose the less hectic pace of a boat ride through the lush vegetation and old-world charm of Opryland Hotel. 

Friday evening found us at the Grand Ole Opry, enjoying a fantastic showcase of precision dancing at the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.  Among the numbers they performed was the wonderfully choreographed “March of the Toy Soldiers.”  The glitz, the singing and the dancing were enhanced this season with a 3-D movie of Santa and his reindeer flying over New York City.  (Put on your 3-D glasses – it really was an amazing journey.)  A staple since the show’s initial production 80 years ago is the finale of the “Living Nativity” scene.  Seventy three million people have enjoyed the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular since their show debuted on December 21, 1933.

A visit to Ryman Auditorium, the long-time home of the Grand Ole Opry, is a must.  We spent Saturday in the historic district visiting the local shops.  Dinner Saturday evening was at one of our favorite Nashville eateries, Cock of the Walk Restaurant, for catfish and shrimp accompanied by pitchers of sweet tea.  (You can tell when you are in the South.  You don’t have to ask if the restaurant has sweet tea, and breakfast always includes grits.)  Evening entertainment means holiday lights.  Holiday lights include the massive outdoor display at Opryland Hotel and at Jellystone Park, the drive-through display at one of the three campgrounds along Music Valley Drive.


The entrance to Ryman Auditorium after a complete restoration / renovation of
the building in 1994.  The building was originally built as a church.

 

Sign outside of Ryman Auditorium

 

Store along Broadway in Nashville, in the historic district near Ryman Auditorium

 

Ernest Tubb Record Shop, in the historic district of Nashville

 

The name says it all.  Downtown Nashville historic district

 

Dinner Saturday night was at Cock of the Walk, one of our favorite Nashville eateries

 

Although we didn't go this trip, when we were in Nashville last April we visited Antique
Archeology, the Nashville store owned by and featured on the TV show "American Pickers" 

 


The Hermitage, the home and plantation of President Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson.  We visited The
Hermitage on our last trip to Nashville, but it was too cold to take the tour on this Thanksgiving trip.

 

Sunday morning, after collecting our passengers and their luggage at the hotel, we were back on the road.  On our return home we made an overnight stop in Sikeston, Missouri, checking in at Hinton RV Park.  For anyone who has the occasion to stay at this campground, one big plus is the shuttle service from Lambert’s Café, a.k.a. “The Home of Throwed Rolls”.   Their van picked us up at the campground.  The driver led us in the “exit” door and immediately seated us at a table (the wait time on this Sunday evening was about a half-hour, although waiting times of up to two hours are not uncommon during peak hours.)  When we finished our meal, our driver was right there, waiting to take us back to the campground. 

 This iconic and “homey” spot is a must for “country fixings” with an attitude.  Generous portions of “pass-arounds” and hot rolls are their hallmark.  Each day, they bake 520 dozen fresh rolls.  They are closed only three days each year – Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Last year they baked a total of 2,246,400 (yep, more than two million) individual rolls - each of them hot and tasty and most of them “throwed” across the restaurant to a waiting customer.

On our return home on Monday afternoon, we lucked out and caught a sixty degree day to re-winterize the trailer.  Good thing – as I type this on Thursday evening, it is in the low 20’s, the wind is howling, and the snow is falling.

If you’re going to break with tradition, do it up right!  The four of us had a fun, if not traditional Thanksgiving in Nashville.  Or maybe, we’ve started another tradition.  In any case, we’ve added another episode of our Road Stories.