Thanks for joining me! As we go along, I expect the categories to be:
- Family Research
- Interesting History Tidbits
- Just Thinking
- Out and About
- Photos
- Travel
- What’s For Dinner?
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
Author Bio- Update July 2025
Resisting the Pumpkin Spice Invasion
My posts from 2018 and 2019 hold on through today.
I still stand in defiance against any pumpkin spice flavored items this early in the year. Yes, I know millions of people love it. My daughter is one of them.
I really enjoy the taste of pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice when the weather turns cooler, like in October! I am still in iced tea or lemonade mode.
This obsession bothers me almost as much as seeing Christmas decorations for sale in the stores in August. Yes, we put a Christmas tree in every room of our house, at the end of November.
I firmly believe we really do not need to skip over the end of summer and Halloween and Thanksgiving to rush to Christmas. Let’s enjoy the season as the year unfolds.
Until next time…….
Resist the Pumpkin Onslaught!
My post from 2018 still stands true to how I feel. This year the push to rush the end of summer and race into fall started two weeks earlier.
I am sorry but I cannot enjoy a pumpkin anything when it is over 90 degrees outside. Talk to me again after Labor Day!
Maybe you too will join me in resisting the push for early pumpkin season. Read all about it in p-is-for-peach-crisp-and-not-pumpkin-spice-latte. The link is included below.
https://rosej.home.blog/2018/09/03/p-is-for-peach-crisp-and-not-pumpkin-spice-latte/
In Honor of Mother’s Day…
May 8, 2020
Mom’s Recipes Cookbook Update – May 3, 2020
With Mother’s Day coming up this Sunday, May 10, 2020, I wanted to honor my Mother, Bessie Lee King Yankulic, along with all of my female relatives by sharing an updated version of Mom’s Recipes which was first compiled in 2015. Besides text corrections, I have added Rest In Peace notes to recognize those relatives who have passed since the cookbook was created. I also added comments throughout the book based on observations of life in 2020 during the pandemic. Finally, I added a new section at the end of the book about Miller’s Restaurant and the Main Diner in Masontown, PA (starting on page 116, including photographs and some family history). This is the restaurant that Guy and King and Miller extended family members should all have heard about for many years.
My Mom has been in my thoughts a lot lately. I believe that many of us miss our Mothers who have passed, and we wish they were here in both bad and good times. If you are lucky, as I was, when you were growing up, you had a Mom whose steadfast presence cradled you into adulthood and beyond. During this pandemic, I see the stories of all of the medical first responders and I admire their courage and fortitude in unprecedented circumstances. It makes me think also of all the family caregivers out there, trying to hold it all together. You see, my Mom was not a trained professional, but she was a caregiver for several family members, sometimes all at once.
Anyone who knows me understands that I am constantly thinking about history, our family history and the places we may fit into the history of our country. That is another reason I wanted to complete the cookbook update. Our parents and grandparents lived through dire circumstances. They had to cook food and conserve supplies and be self-reliant. It seems like we may all need to follow their example because of the Coronavirus, Covid-19 outbreak which is changing many aspects of our lives. I believe those same family stories we shared in 2015 can be an inspiration now in 2020, or at least I hope so.
I have been having very deep thoughts lately as I feel I had an awfully close call. It is motivating me to look at all of my unfinished projects and consider what I want to leave behind me. I encourage you all to follow the practices to Stay Safe and Stay Well. Hold your loved ones close and make sure you tell everyone that you love them. It is a scary time in the world, and we are all extremely vulnerable. I know that first hand as I was extremely sick from late March to Mid-April. Think of me when you are asked to practice social distancing or wear a face mask. I am an example of that person whose life you may save.
I have underlying conditions which have rendered me disabled since 2012 and I was already not feeling well. I had not completely recovered from an illness in late January and I was congested. I am at a point in life where antibiotics are prescribed sparingly for continued effectiveness. I tried to power through with preventative measures I have been taught to use. By the time I did call the Doctor, my illness had become asthmatic bronchitis and possibly pneumonia. On top of that, a virus ran through our home. (We have not been diagnosed as having the coronavirus. We will have to wait for future antibody tests to figure out what illness we did have. It may sound counterintuitive, but I can only hope that I did have the coronavirus and developed some immunity since I was so sick. I hate to think of going through that again). Of course, as usual, my husband recovered within a few days, and my daughter was a little sicker but did recover quickly.
I had only left my home twice since Christmas, once in December and once in March. I am typically home about 95% of the time since I became disabled. Self-quarantine is mostly my existing life status. My husband and daughter followed social distancing and CDC safety protocols. They had only left home for work, for groceries, or to pick up medicine for me at the pharmacy. I got sick anyway.
With my call to the Doctor, I did receive a dose of antibiotics and prednisone to treat my lung infection. I got treatment via telemedicine because my Doctor (whom I have seen for more than 20 years, thank goodness) does not feel it is safe for me to leave the house in the current circumstances. I am sure the virus added to my sickness. I spent about 10 days where God did not want me yet and I successfully hid from the Devil. I had no appetite and was seriously out of it. I lost 30 pounds (some of which I have regained as I can now eat solid foods) partly because of a side effect of the antibiotic which left sores in my mouth and throat. So that meant a medication adjustment and another two weeks of healing.
So it is six weeks later, and I am moving along on the road to recovery. My lungs are pretty clear, and my asthma is back in control. (I really feel my breathing is better than it has been since January). As many of you know, it is a constant effort to manage the asthma anyway. The Doctor says it will take some time and rest to just recover. I know I need to rebuild my strength, so I am taking things at a slow and steady pace to make sure I rest and recover, rather than relapse.
I am so lucky to have a wonderful daughter and husband who helped nurse me. I really felt if I were taken from my home, I would not see it again. I am happy to have a home where I feel safe as we are in lockdown in my State. I actually am simply happy to be here to share this update!
Mom’s Recipes is not a traditional cookbook with nutrition information per serving as we see in other cookbooks. It is meant to share stories of another time and how those family experiences and traditions still influence us today. That being said, there is some good eating to be had from using those recipes!
My wish, as I have said before, is that this book will be shared and discussed among ourselves and with future generations.
Until next time…..
Rose
5/11/2020 Updated link below to correct pages 127-130 out of order
Link to Mom’s Recipes 3May2020 https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApS69oUvGNKugf4UCYZWTPx9i7SPRw?e=zKUaZm
Family Stories – Filling in the Details for Katie Yankulich
We all have family lore. Those stories that are vaguely remembered by your parents, grandparents, or aunts & uncles. Stories that they mentioned from time to time. Sometimes shared at family gatherings or birthdays, or weddings, or funerals. With the New Year and the focus on resolutions, I am suggesting that everyone resolves to save family stories. Just make a list of topics and flesh them out later, if needed, but it is worthwhile to document those family memories. The icing on the cake regarding these stories and family research is when you find a record that corroborates an event in a family story.
In building my family tree, the US Census has been a resource that I have been able to use repeatedly. Vital records like birth, marriage, and death records along with census records help to fill in details about the life of a family member. Often, the most readily available record online is the US Census Record. But, what happens when you know of the existence of a person and they do not show up in any census records? It can be a real puzzle. When you do find a record, such as a death certificate, it really feels like you solved a mystery.
I am sharing a family story I think I first heard when I was in grade school, at about that time when we had social studies class, maybe in fourth or fifth grade. That was the point when the homework was to ask about your family, how many members there were, and where the family originated.
The story shared by my Dad was a tragic one. In naming his sisters, I left one out. So, I learned he had eight siblings rather than seven. Four brothers and four sisters. I remembered that there was John, Charlie, Pete, and George. I knew also that there was Mary, Annie, and Julie. But I was reminded that there was also a sister, Katie. Katherine or Katie was the sister I would never have met or seen. Katie died young. My Dad, who was born in 1925, remembered the story of Katie’s death from his childhood.
Years later, after my parents has died, as I was creating my family tree on Ancestry, I could not quite place when Katie would have lived. She did not appear on the 1920 or 1930 or 1940 census when various siblings were included in the household. So, in the beginning, I included her in my family tree with a vague birth year range of 1920 – 1929. The point about research made here is to not dismiss a name or story if the person is not included in a US Census.
Various records have helped me to fill in basic family details. The family lived in rural Fayette County, Pennsylvania at a place I remember visiting which was called Little Cleveland, which was located in Edenborn, PA or also referred to as German Township, PA. My grandfather, Charles Yankulich, worked in the coal mines. My grandmother, Mary Klucenic Yankulich, had immigrated to America from Eastern Europe in 1914, just like my grandfather had in 1905. He was born in 1888 and she was born in 1896. We were always told they were both Czechoslovakian, but I learned that he came from Rokosno, Czechoslovakia, and she came from Turjavagas, Hungary. They got married in America in 1915 at New Salem, PA. I do not know if they knew of each other or knew each other from the “old country.”
They started their family in 1916 when Uncle John was born. Every few years, more babies followed: Charles (Charlie)-1918, Mary-1919, Katherine (Katie)-1920, Anna (Annie)- 1924, Paul- 1925, George-1927, Peter (Pete)- 1929, and Julia (Julie)-1930.
My father, Paul, shared the story about Katie from his youth. (He certainly would have heard about it as he grew up. He easily could have heard from some of his older brothers and sisters as direct witnesses to the event). His sister, Katie, was standing too close to the coal stove and her nightgown caught on fire. His father ran for miles, holding her in his arms, to get her to the doctor but she died.
Per the PA Death Certificate, she was 6 years, 1 month, and 13 days old. The precision in the record on the death certificate moved me. I can even add 21 hours and 10 minutes to that timeline. (Time of death was 9:10 pm). This was a tragic event, to be sure. Seeing the precise notes on the short amount of time she lived just made me sad.
What I remembered of the story appears to be slightly different from the record that I found. I thought my Dad said he witnessed the event. He was born in July 1925 and this accident occurred in October 1926. As a one year old, he may have remembered it, but it does not seem likely. Dad also said that Katie died on the way to the doctor, but the death certificate indicates the doctor first saw her at 4 pm and the time of death was 9:10 pm.
In fact, the record shows she died at the Uniontown PA Hospital. I do not know where the Doctor was located or how many miles my grandfather ran, carrying his injured child. I do not know how Katie was transported from the doctor to the hospital or if my grandfather ran all the way to the hospital. I expect that Grandpap ran since they did not own a car. The note of “No Conflagration” on the Death Certificate does confirm what my Dad said that it was an action isolated to Katie and not a whole house fire.
So the death certificate confirms the details of the story my Dad shared and lets us glean a little bit of information on the short life of Katie Yankulich. I would still love to learn more about Aunt Katie and maybe even see a picture of her someday. I’ve even been told I look like her. Maybe someone will share a picture of her headstone if one exists. The New Salem Greek is listed on the Death Certificate, but I could not find a cemetery with that name on an internet search.
Another research lesson is regarding the spellings on the Death Certificate. It helps to consider alternate spellings when conducting research. Many times, when searching for records, I will type Yan* to include the wildcard symbol and try to find records with a variety of spellings. To date, I have found Yankulich, Yankulic, Yankulie, Yankulics, Yankovich, Yankovitch, among others.
The errors can occur at various times from when the original record was created all the way through the transcription of records in this digital age. One error can come from the person making the record not understanding an accent, as I suppose with my grandfather giving details to the doctor for the death certificate. Another example is that census takers gave their best guess in the spelling of names. A third example I have seen is when someone was typing up a transcription and could not clearly read handwriting, and assigned a different letter to a name, e.g. Yankulie rather than Yankulic.
The record I found which I used to complete my story about Katie Yankulich and the source information for the record follows.
Until next time…..
Rose
Katie Yankovitch Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1967
Saved To
Kathleen (Katie) Yankulich Kathleen (Katie) Yankulich
Detail Related Source
| Name | Katie Yankovitch |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | White |
| Age | 6 |
| Birth Date | 28 Aug 1920 |
| Birth Place | Pennsylvania |
| Death Date | 21 Oct 1926 |
| Death Place | Uniontown, Fayette, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Father | Chas Yankovitch |
| Mother | Mary Klyvenices |
| Certificate Number | 107867 |
Add Additional Information
Source Citation
Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1967; Certificate Number Range: 106001-109000
Description
Certificate Number Range: 106001-109000
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1967
. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Source Description
Pennsylvania’s Department of Health started keeping statewide death records on January 1, 1906. Now you can find them in this collection.
Resist the Pumpkin Onslaught!
My post from 2018 still stands true to how I feel. This year the push to rush the end of summer and race into fall started two weeks earlier.
I am sorry but I cannot enjoy a pumpkin anything when it is over 90 degrees outside. Talk to me again after Labor Day!
Maybe you too will join me in resisting the push for early pumpkin season. Read all about it in: p-is-for-peach-crisp-and-not-pumpkin-spice-latte. The link is included below.
https://rosej.home.blog/?p=294
Viva la resistance!!
Until next time……
Dad’s Memories of VJ-Day – Aug. 10, 1945 to Aug. 14, 1945
Cleaning out old papers yielded a bonus this week. I rediscovered my Dad’s notes from WWII and the steps my brother and I took to share them back on the 50th anniversary of VJ Day in 1995. The attached document takes you on a journey with our family from Aug 10, 1945 to Aug 14, 2019.
This one’s for you Dad, and it’s a salute to each of your brothers for their service: Uncle John, Uncle Charlie, Uncle George, and Uncle Pete.
Until next time…stay cool. Rose
Author update: Typo- Uncle Pete was born in 1929 not 1927. Thx.
Another update: Picture of Uncle George in the Navy. I do not yet have a picture of Uncle John or Uncle Pete in uniform.
How a 112 year old photograph really can add to a family story…..
Check this out. I’ve been working on the King Family Book and came across this in a hint to my tree. The year must be 1906 or 1907 as Caroline Guy is noted as an infant in the picture. Records indicate she was born in 1906.
Just the fact that we can place this photograph in a specific location and date it to over 100 years ago is awesome. It was shared to http://www.ancestry.com, by member stacibbw, on 12 Nov 2016.
Standing Left to Right: Hunter (Guy); Blanche (Loser) Guy; Lucetta (Paine) Loser… Blanche’s Mother; Annie (Fugitt) Guy… Hunter’s Mother. Seated Left to Right: Helen (Guy) and Caroline (Guy).
This is Great, Great, Grandmother Annie (Fugitt) Guy with the Hunter Guy Family at the High-Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument at Gettysburg National Military Park. I do not see the year of the picture anywhere in the notes. I recognized the monument in the picture right away. Monument Notes below are from Wikipedia.
Name Image GPS Designer Year Comments
| High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument | The Angle 39.812467°N 77.23573°W |
John B. Bachelder, designer Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, foundry |
1892 | Honors the dead and wounded of Pickett’s Charge, the deepest penetration of Confederate forces into the Union line. |
Of course, I recognize 2x Great Grandmother, Annie (Fugitt) Guy from the Photograph of Annie and Charles Wesley Guy, shared by cousin, Laura Schaffner, several years ago.
I found in my research that, from 1901 to 1937, Hunter Guy and family lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The visit in the High -Water Mark Monument picture could just have been an afternoon outing to Gettysburg. It was not that far away from Harrisburg. (I learned during my research that taking the train from Harrisburg to Gettysburg was the way to travel back then.)
I wonder if Charles W. Guy or Jonathan W. Loser is with the family, maybe taking the picture. It certainly is possible that is was taken by a photographer, like the picture of the couple directly above.
Just look at the clothing in the Gettysburg picture. Those long dresses and hats. It seems like warm weather clothing. Maybe it is dress up clothing, like that to be worn for church or a special occasion.
Would both Mothers have been routine visitors to the Hunter and Blanche Guy household? Did this family get together to just visit the Battlefield that day? Between 1900 and 1910, Charles and Annie Guy lived in Berkeley County, West Virginia and then Fayette County, Pennsylvania. They were not too far away, but it would take at least several hours to travel to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Records indicate that Jonathan and Lucetta Loser were living in the Harrisburg area.
I feel like the choice of location for the picture connects to where Annie (Fugitt) Guy grew up. Annie (Fugitt) Guy grew up in Fredericksburg, Virginia, pretty much at the heart of the Confederacy, as it was an hour north of Richmond, Virginia. Annie’s Dad, George Fugitt, brother George Fugitt, and brother Scott Fugitt all lived in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area. We know that the Georges, father and son, were Confederate Soldiers. We could presume Scott was also, but he was only twelve when the War started. Annie’s other brother, Jerry Fugitt, had a farm in Winchester, Virginia in 1860. Jerry Fugitt was a Confederate Soldier too. His tombstone in Rock Creek Cemetery, Seneca County, Ohio, is marked as such.
Jerry Fugitt was a member of the famous 5th Virginia Infantry, the Stonewall Jackson Brigade. At Gettysburg, our 2x Great Uncle, Jerry Fugitt fought at Culp’s Hill at on Day 2 of the Battle (July 2, 1863), almost directly across from our Great, Great Grandfather Benjamin Franklin Miller, who was a Union Corporal in the 3rd Maryland Infantry by that time. (I wrote up a family article a few years ago about tracing their footsteps at the Gettysburg Battlefield).
For that matter, Hunter Guy’s father, Charles Wesley Guy, also grew up in the heart of the Confederacy in Winchester, Virginia, an hour and a half north of Fredericksburg, Virginia. My research indicates there were no male direct relatives of Charles Wesley Guy of the right age to be in the Civil War. I am not sure about the husbands of his sisters. I have not found enough detail yet about them. Charles Wesley Guy married Annie Fugitt after the War years, and so far, I have found no records linking him to the Civil War. Charles Wesley Guy would have been 14 at the start of the Civil War, so it is possible he was kept at home. (His father, Branson Guy had died in 1850). The whole Guy family history I find for that time is in Frederick County, Virginia, where Winchester is the County seat.
What must Annie Fugitt have been thinking and feeling to be at Gettysburg? I feel like it is no coincidence that this specific monument was selected for a photograph. Were they paying respects to those Confederate soldiers in the family? Was this a special occasion at the park to celebrate all of the Veterans?
As you can see from the monument information included, the High-Water Mark Monument in the Gettysburg picture was placed in 1892. Quite a few monuments were placed in the park by the turn of the Century, by 1900. The High-Water Mark monument pictured is nowhere near Culp’s Hill, where Jerry Fugitt would have battled across from Benjamin Franklin Miller on Day 2 (July 2, 1863) of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863.
The High- Water Mark monument is located at the end of the current auto tour route and was located very close to the former Visitor Center. A new visitor center was built further out of town more recently. Action at the spot chosen for the monument would have taken place on Day 3 of the Battle (July 3, 1863). It marks the end of the famous Pickett’s Charge. Visiting this monument could simply have been a short walk rather than a planned nod to the Confederate family members. It may be a romantic notion on my part to attach a connection to those who fought at or near that spot.
It could have been just a tour stop at that time. I have been researching what someone would have experienced when visiting Gettysburg Battlefield back in the early 1900’s. I have learned that an Electric Trolley operated from 1893 to 1916. The research is interesting and lends itself to a separate post at a later date.
Another thing that sparks my curiosity is if automobiles were easily accessible at that time. I would think maybe but I do not assume so. The people in the picture do not seem to be dressed for a long walk. The babies could not have walked that far either. Considering how spread out the site is, I wonder if they traversed it by walking, trolley, auto, or horse & buggy. I wonder even how much of the Battlefield that visitors in 1906-1907 would have been able to visit compared to the twenty-three miles of countryside we would travel today.
I also have to realize that many of today’s Gettysburg Battlefield features seen in my experience did not exist back in 1906-1907. The auto tours by which Dave and I explored the Battlefield have even changed a few times in the decades we have been going to Gettysburg. Several monuments on Confederate Avenue did not even get donated to the National Park until the 1960’s to the 1980’s.
I believe a moratorium on adding more monuments to the Battlefield went into effect between 2000 and 2010, so no more monuments will be placed there. With something like 1300 monuments placed on and near the Battlefield, it is no surprise that books have been written about the Monuments at Gettysburg Battlefield.
Dave and I had a conversation about the picture and the Battlefield as it would have looked at the turn of the 20th century. This High-Water Mark is certainly a spot we have visited every time we have been to Gettysburg over the last 40 years. It is such a crisp picture that it makes you see the spot in your memory. The landscape is a little different now. The copse of trees is much older and larger. You do not see off in the distance past the monument as you would in the left side of this picture. The last time we were there was in the fall of 2013, it was so crowded at that tour stop that you would not be able to take that High- Water Mark picture. You would have had to get past a whole line of cars and a lot of people to get close to the monument.
One last note is that Gettysburg National Park spent several months last fall cleaning the bronze on the High- Water Mark Monument. The giant book from the monument is now a bright and shiny copper. There are pictures all over the Gettysburg National Park Facebook Page that you could look at to compare it to older pictures.
There are definitely a few more things to look for on our next trip to Gettysburg, including the perspective that more family members walked the same ground that we have walked. We can even place them at a specific spot. We can also look forward to comparing the picture and the monument as it looks now, having been cleaned in 2018.
So, look closely at those photos shared on family research sites. They may help you discover an interesting story like this one has shown me.
Until next time…….
Rose
The Chaos of Christmas
I should really have made the title the Chaos and Joy of Christmas.
With each week that we move toward Christmas, a different aspect of Holiday preparation begins at our house. Each step of making new memories can be bittersweet as we recall good times with those loved ones we have lost. This is not a sad post. Having those memories means we have had more good times than bad, and we have had good people touch our lives.
We kick off the decorating by finishing the leftover turkey on Thanksgiving weekend. Then we pull out the boxes and bins of holiday decorations that we have accumulated over the years. From those boxes and bins, we pick out what we will use this year. A little clearing out of broken, outdated, or unwanted items happens when we unpack items and then repack the items to put them into storage.
Along with the boxes, out comes the artificial tree. Some people will only use a live tree. For those that do, more power to you. We decided years ago that we prefer the tree we can use again from year to year. I know the argument. You miss the fresh pine smell. No, we do not. We have found the perfect candle, and we make sure to get a new one before the old one burns to nothing. Some years, we bought a fresh wreath for the front door so that we had the evergreen tree smell. We did not need the tree to get that. Besides minimal maintenance as no watering is needed, we have a lot less work cleaning up after the season. The years of finding pine needles somewhere in the house on the next Fourth of July are over. For us, artificial trees are also cost effective.
I digress. The tree must be up by December 1st. It does not get completely decorated by that date, but it is pulled out of storage and assembled in the living room. One downside of an artificial tree is having to fluff out the smushed branches. Fluffing the tree must happen before anything else is added.
We also make sure to get the outside decorations together as there is usually better weather for that task early in December. The amazing thing about Christmas lights is that we can check them on a Wednesday and they all light up. By Saturday, some of them do not work and we have to pick up a few new strings of lights. So, the tree is up, and the lights are tested.
The wreaths are put up. Santa and the Nutcracker and the Wooden Reindeer (made by my daughter’s friend, Twig. The irony does not get lost on me.) go on the front porch. This year the front porch crew are joined by a new character, a light up snowman. Santa is a family heirloom. He was purchased, by Dave’s Mom and Dad, from Sears, for my husband’s first Christmas back in 1959. Santa has traveled from Dave’s childhood home in New Hope to our house in Doylestown to his new location at our daughter, Courtney’s house in Quakertown. He looks pretty good for being almost 60 years old as he has been repainted a few times. He recently got a makeover with new paint, a new led light, and a new cord. He’s ready for another 60 years.
Light testing was completed with supervision by Buster the cat, so the lights are strung on the tree. Picking out ornaments comes in the next 10 days or so. The very next item to be completed is bringing out the collection of singing plush characters that have been purchases and gifts over the years. My husband and daughter will line them up and then press all the buttons in a row. The Hallmark Snowmen and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and the Abominable Snowman and Snoopy all sound like they are trying to out sing each other. I really am not a fan of the singing over top of singing, but I am a good sport. My husband and daughter play this game all season as they know it is not my favorite thing. Hearing the guffaws or the mischievous giggles right before the wall of noise hits, is however, well worth any minor assault on my ears.
The advent calendars are brought out. We typically have several. One of these is a homemade wall hanging, crafted by my daughter. Each year, it is different as we choose different Jingle Beanie Babies for each day, reserving Beanie Rudolph and Beanie Santa for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
The stockings are hung. The crocheted, granny square stockings I made for Dave and me 40 years ago still get hung every year. The hand sewn stockings for our son and daughter, that I made when they were babies, get hung again too. Added to the group is the stocking I customized for my daughter-in-law, Leah. On Christmas day, the emptying of the stockings is as much fun as opening other gifts. It is fun to find quirky little items to add to each other’s stockings.
The shopping for gifts is finished. It starts selectively back in October and then the watch for sales happens along the way to December. By early December, most items are already purchased and stashed until wrapping, or they have been ordered. With each package delivery, the dog goes through a range of expectations, excitement, and disappointment within a few minutes. He’s convinced every bag or box that comes in to the house contains presents for him.
Over the first few weeks in December, the ornaments are brought out, perused, and selected to be hung on the tree. We have had trees in every room in the past and still have different sized trees in different rooms again this year. If I could get away with it, I would even have a decorated tree on the front porch. The ornaments have much sentimental value, as they were picked out on vacations, made as kids school projects, received as gifts, given as gifts, and family heirlooms passed down over the generations. So,it is a serious process to look them over and pick out those special ones to go on the tree each year. It is different every year, just as it is with my homemade Beanie Baby advent calendar. They do not have to be parts of special collections like the Hallmark Ornaments we like and have bought for each other over the years. One of the family favorites is a clothespin reindeer, made in elementary school by my son or daughter, who lost a glued-on eye. I felt inspired one year and gave him an eye patch with black marker. So, the pirate reindeer always get a place of prominence on the tree.
The tchotchkes for the season go out on every available ledge and shelf. Watching Christmas movies and shows, mostly from the Hallmark Channels, becomes the daily routine. Christmas mugs come out to be used with daily coffee or even hot chocolate. The grocery list for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is completed as menus are planned and confirmed. A final run to the store to get fresh fruits and veggies will happen late in the week before the company arrives.
The planning of the Christmas baking begins. The tradition of giving cookies or other baked goods continues in our family. I remember vividly my Aunts, my Mom, and my Grandmother getting together in early December to make nut rolls for the holiday. This was a two-kitchen operation. One Aunt lived across the street. The ingredients, preparation, baking, and packing continued seamlessly from one kitchen to the other. Then, at our house, the nut rolls or apricot rolls or poppy seed rolls were frozen until the days before Christmas. I continued holiday baking with our children. We switched to cookies and brownies and pastries for entertaining and to give as gifts. From an early age, our children were taught to make something for others and to value handmade items. If we were not making cookies, we would be making ornaments to give to friends, relatives, teachers, etc.
My daughter, the pastry chef and chocolatier, goes through her collection of holiday magazines and cookbooks and makes her choices. Ingredients are pulled out and lined up on the kitchen workstation. The shopping for missing ingredients occurs and then the baking begins during the week before Christmas to have the freshest possible baked goods. No matter what Courtney makes or buys for someone, the inevitable question is, where are my cookies? So, the holiday baking traditions continue. It is a joy to watch her bake, and to help out when asked to do something. I do like taste testing the latest items as they come out of the oven, too.
Of course, today I was reminded of the chaos that goes with joy. It was a long evening of baking after work for Courtney to make shipping deadlines to send packages to friends in Florida. Fresh cookies are always included in those packages. Courtney was too tired to complete her usual clean up after baking. When I went into the kitchen this morning, I thought I had wandered into a fight between the Pillsbury Dough Boy and the Keebler Elves. There was flour on every surface. Parts of baking appliances were stacked in the sink. The bowl from the stand mixer joined the plastic container from the food processor and various pots, pans, spoons, and spatulas. Pot holders and baking pans were on the floor. Cookies and bars were stacked on every other surface. I smiled as I cleaned up the kitchen. I am very happy to help out as these delectable creations will make their way to different households for Christmas gifts.
So, it is back to working on homemade gifts for the rest of the week as we wait for the visit from our son and daughter-in-law. Then we will all have Christmas Dinner with Dave’s Mom as another family tradition.
The joy amid the chaos is that every step of the way this month had been done as family time. The last week of preparations continue, and it is back to reminiscing about events from Christmas past as we enjoy Christmas present. Along the way this week, one of my cousins had a baby boy, so there is a nod also to Christmas future.
May you be blessed with the Spirit of the Season, which is Peace; the Gladness of the Season, which is Hope; and the Heart of the Season, which is Love.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Until next time…….
Rose
Five Generation Photo Story
Two very different things prompted me to create this photo story.
One of these is the beginning thoughts of how to create an ancestor profile for the two Civil War era lineage societies to which I belong. The historian for these groups is trying to create an ancestor directory for the members which includes photos, if we have them. Benjamin Franklin Miller is the grandfather who served for the Union in the 3rd Maryland Infantry, Company A. He is one of many ancestors who served in the Military, and he is the ancestor I used for my initial application to the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, Tent 58, Philadelphia, PA. He is also the initial ancestor that I submitted to apply to as a Charter Member of the newly formed General William W.H. Davis Circle #232, Doylestown, PA of the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic.
The other item which I have been slowly working on is an edit of my cousin’s book, Our King Family History, Past and Present. My cousin Brenda has been collecting data for well over a decade. She sent me her initial draft in August 2016 as one volume. Since I received it, she is reminded that I write as much as I talk, as I have expanded her creation into four volumes. I have been collecting photos and stories to supplement the genealogy she compiled. I am two-thirds of the way through Part 3. She has seen the most recent draft and continues to approve my efforts.
As I work on the book and I am thinking what I want to include in my Civil War Ancestor profiles, I realize we are quite fortunate to have photographs of quite a few people rather than just a photo of their headstones. Anyone who does family research knows that we can find facts fairly easily but not always pictures or stories to accompany those facts.
I pulled together a group of photos with the theme of couples. This group of family photos show couples in the direct line from myself to some of my two times great grandparents. The dates of the photographs range from about 1900 to 2012. This exercise reminded me that we should fill in all the details we recall or can obtain when we add a photo to our collection.
The story for me today in this group was that each couple was married for over 30 years and one couple was married for over 50 years. There are other details about the group that tell stories like the change from black and white to color photos. There is a difference in the formal standing studio photos to the standing candids at home to the seated pictures. If you think about it, there is a story about how prevalent wallpaper was in home decorating in the past. There is also a change in how weddings and anniversaries are celebrated at outside venues rather than at a small family gathering at home. There are visible differences in the styles and formality of clothing and hairstyles. There is even a difference in the practice of not smiling for photographs that changed over time.
I hope you will enjoy this photo story. Maybe it will stimulate your thoughts about the similarities and the differences in the different photos. Maybe you can see the family resemblances that I see down the generations. At the least, it will give you an idea of why I enjoy writing about family research. As I find facts, stories, and photographs, I start thinking about the life and times of those relatives. Then I think about how fortunate we are to live in a time where technology makes it possible and fairly easy to obtain and share such information.
Until next time……..
P is for Peach Crisp and not Pumpkin Spice Latte
As I watch the onslaught of media attention announcing the arrival of Pumpkin Spice drinks, I realize I am not yet ready for fall. I want to savor the last weeks of summer.
I really do enjoy fall. As I was born in late September, this season is the one which I have experienced the longest in my life. I love the scenery and the changing colors of the leaves that you can see take place day by day. I love the dip in temperatures that signals the change in the seasons. I love decorating for Halloween in early October and enjoying the whole month of preparation up to the day. We put up all of the silly and spooky decorations inside and outside. We watch Halloween themed movies and tv shows for the whole month. My daughter plans out her costume, and I still help her make what she will wear to the parties hosted by her friends. (Being thirty this year does not stop their celebrations. After all, why should they stop enjoying those childhood rituals that they all celebrated together? Marking the year with various celebrations keeps all of us young at heart.) In September and October, we make fall dishes including those treats to be shared at the Halloween parties. The house is filled with the lingering scents of apples and cinnamon and pumpkin.
But the autumnal equinox is not yet nigh. September 23, 2018, is the first day of fall. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, founded in 1792: technically, the autumnal equinox is due at 9:54pm on Saturday, September 22, 2018.
https://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-fall-autumnal-equinox
What is the Autumnal Equinox? The autumnal equinox—also called the September or fall equinox—is the astronomical start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. The word equinox comes from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). During the equinox, the Sun crosses what we call the “celestial equator” (just imagine the line that marks the equator on Earth extending up into the sky) from north to south. Because of this, Earth’s two hemispheres receive the Sun’s rays about equally. The Sun is overhead at noon as seen from the equator, so at this point, the amount of nighttime and daytime (sunlight) are roughly equal to each other.
Another definition of fall is nights of below-freezing temperatures combined with days of temperatures below 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21°C). From here on out, the temperatures begin to drop, and the days start to get shorter than the nights.
So, back to Peaches. I plan to enjoy every minute of the three weeks that we have left of summer. Now is still the time to revel in the sunshine. Have lemonade or an iced tea and a slice of the peach crisp we just made. Have some fresh garden tomatoes or cucumbers and some corn on the cob.
The peach crisp today was made by peeling and slicing a half dozen or more fresh yellow peaches. The peaches are so ripe that some needed to be just thrown away. I added flour, spice, and sugar to make the filling. Then I created the crisp topping from flour and oats and brown sugar and butter and spice. We use cinnamon but you could also add nutmeg if you like the taste of it. This delectable dish bakes for a half hour and the whole house smells of summer. We serve this homemade dessert with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
My peach crisp should last for one more evening’s dessert. We will savor it as we will savor the next several weeks. Then I can turn my thoughts and taste buds to pumpkin, and pumpkin spiced coffee or latte or ice cream or pie. You get the idea…….
Rose's Reflections and Ruminations 