More Holiday on Wentworth

Amber left to go back to Chicago on the 30th and we spent a very quiet New Year's Eve at home. It was cold here in Cincinnati so we built a fire in the wood stove (the first in over 15 months), turned on some music and once again enjoyed that glass of brandy and bed by 11:00. We heard that those watching Dick Clark bring in the new year were shocked by what poor health he was in. It sounds like his age is finally catching up with him.


New Year's day Max dutifully started our pot of black eyed peas, part of our heritage about how to ensure good luck for the coming year.Trust me- I don't start a new year without Black Eyed Peas! Why I've started the New Year with Black Eyed Peas for 59 years. When I was a kid if we happened to spend this first day of the year on the road- driving from my Grandmother's house in Tennessee to Oklahoma after the holidays- when we arrived- tired, sleepy, crabby- my Mom would open a can of black eyed peas and give us each a spoonful before we were off to bed. Now you can be sure that the peas that I insist that Don eat each year are a good bit better than those. But I've had the most phenomenal life- and I think it must be the peas!
But this year we doubled our chances of good luck by joining Don and Mary Jo Peairs at their house for pork roast and potatoes, a German tradition for good luck.


And to finish off this holiday season with family our niece Kelly and family (Pat, Shelby, Bailey, Darby, and Lucas) along with Shelby's new squeeze, Aaron, came for dinner and to spend the night. Mary's clan joined us for another great family evening. I was so excited that Kelly, Pat and the kids had time to visit us over the holidays. Kelly et al was a BIG MISS while we were in San Fran. And I do believe Kelly and Mary think we must be plenty rested up because they left us with the 4 youngest while they went out shopping for the afternoon. Don and I did just fine- thank you kindly!

Max made two giant pots of spaghetti sauce plus lots of garlic bread for a wonderful dinner. I did one giant pot of sause with meat- local made Italian sausage that was oh so good- and another big pot of mushroom- three kinds of mushrooms for our vegetarians (we always eat in parallel worlds). At the last minute Kelly told me that the kids only ate the "plain"- like Ragu 3 cheese- so she stopped at the store on the way home for the appropriate jar for the "kids". We all had plenty to eat. Of course, Playtex and I finished up the dinner with lots of Dawn and hot water. Our tradition with Kelly's clan is pancake breakfast.

Note to Reeder: Lucas used the BED- and he seems to like it just like you do!

My pancake flipper partner, Bailey, seems to have grown into her teenage years and spent the morning until breakfast in bed. Bailey changed into THE TEENAGER while we were gone. TEENAGERS don't like to help make pancakes- they don't sit in your lap- they don't like to tell you all the details of their life- they won't sing silly songs- they sleep late and always look tired- they often mumble non-intelligible words. TEENAGERS roll their eyes and know how to sigh loudly. To my luck, Darby -who is not a TEENAGER!- decided to fill in taking over the flipper helper role.
But first- the perfect start to a perfect day- coffee in bed with a beautiful great niece-

Life just doesn't get better than this!

The pancakes were a big success and I did tell Darby my secret ingredient, but she promised not to tell anyone else so I think the secret is safe.


Notice that prefect turn! And of course there was fresh squeezed OJ...

And we all LOVED the breakfast! Thanks Uncle Don and Darby!

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS!

We finished the holiday season by attending "The Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival" at Grace Church Cathedral. This was the 69th presentation by the church as a gift to the city. The Boar's Head Tradition as celebrated began in 1340 at Queen's College in Oxford, England. It is a marvelous pageant of song (choir, soloist, orchestra) and costumes (some "authentic"). I do want to mention here that Don was a "man in tights" for two years! We didn't think we could attend this year because we were in San Fran and didn't get tickets (they go quick)- but our neighbors- The Lampe's

heard we didn't have tickets and we were rescued again. It was MARVELOUS! And a perfect ending- to a perfect season.

It is so good to be home!