Merry Christmas

The Wreath Is On The Door

The wreath is on the door
And the snow is on the tree
God has laid His holy hands
On all that we can see.

Be quick to raise your voice
And praise what He has brought.
Keep now His love in every choice
And Christmas in every thought.

Merry Christmas

December Post / Christmas At Our House

We never had a tree at our house for Christmas or decorated the house with lights but Christmas still came to our house all the same.

It wasn't an extravagant time where we got piles of gifts but what we got we were glad to have.

We would all hang a sock on the mantle and hope that it was filled with things for Christmas and not coals like we probably deserved.

In our stocking we usually got an apple, an orange, a grapefruit and a selection of nuts, a peppermint candy stick and a small toy. Our parents would give us two gifts, one being some type of clothes and the other would be a toy. We looked forward to Christmas every year and we enjoyed the Christmas Spirit that we shared together.

We usually had our Christmas Meeting around the holidays and we would get visiting workers from other states come and spend the night and visit with us in our homes. We loved this because of the experiences that they would share with us of their past year in the fields that they were in. We would have our "Special Meeting" on Sunday and then get ready for the coming New Year.

Palmer Waters

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

November Post / Thanksgiving Time

Well we have been in school since September and the days are starting to get colder and longer. It won't be long and we will be getting ready for Thanksgiving.

If you think that we will be going to the store to get our turkey this year think again. This is just a small town and in the 1950's and 1960's our grocery stores didn't have Turkeys for sale for the holidays. We went to the local farmer or farmer's wife and bought our turkey. It would be fresh and she would catch it and dress it out while we waited.

This is some experience as a child to see. She would catch the turkey and chop off it's head and then she would clean out its insides and save the gizzards and liver and the neck bones and wrap them in newspaper.
She would pluck the feathers off of the bird and then she would wash the bird inside and out and then wrap it up for us to carry home.

Mom would clean out a spot in the refrigerator to put the bird so that it would stay cool until she was ready to cook it. She would cook the pies and make the cornbread for the dressing and on Thanksgiving day she would get up early to get everything into the oven to cook for our afternoon dinner.

For some reason I could never eat any turkey, but I ate plenty of the side dishes and desserts. It seemed that everything that my mother cooked was almost well done. She either forgot that it was in the oven or her mind was on something other than her cooking.

All of the family got together and ate with us and after the meal was over they went and rested and we kids got stuck with the cleaning up. Who was it that messed up all of these pots and pans?

Palmer Waters

Sept Post / Full Service Gas Stations

It really hasn't been that long ago when we had full service gas stations. As you pulled up to the fuel tanks the bell would ring(from bell hose running across drive in front of pumps) to let the attendant know that he had a customer.

The attendant would come out and ask you how much gas did you need and then he would open your gas tank and get the amount of gas that you needed. He would also check your oil, and water in the radiator as well as the air in your tires and clean your windshield. Everything was full service and done with a smile.

You and your family could use extra clean restrooms and get a map for the road ahead. The cold drinks were ice cold in the drink boxes and if you were lucky some even had some ice in them.

If you needed and oil change or service work there was a mechanic on duty to serve your needs.

Maybe you needed a set of tires or maybe just a flat tire fixed they could do that as well.

I remember when we would pull in with our VW Bus and tell the attendant that we wanted 8 cents of gas and would he check the water in the radiator. Some that didn't know that the VW was an air-cooled engine instead of a water-cooled engine couldn't find the radiator and we would just laugh and say we must have lost it, as they finished checking our oil, water, tires and washing our windshield.

The attendant said I'll give you a push so you can coast to the red light and not burn up all 8 cents of your gas.

Oh, I forgot to say that gas then was 25 to 27 cents a gallon and the car would hold a whole $5.00 of gas.

August Post / Summer s Just About Over

We would always let out of school in May and we always went back to school after Labor Day in September.

So whenever August came around we would always wonder where our summer vacation time from school had gone.

We forgot the trip to our grand parents and the trips to the lake and all of the fun we had had. But we still wondered where all of the time had gone.

Days that we could sleep in late and go to bed later than on school days. Picnics in the yard, family get togethers, sleep overs, camping outside.

It wouldn't be long now and we would have to go back to school and have new teachers and meet with our school friends and get back into the grind of school work.

But wait, this is just August we have the whole month before school starts in September.

Palmer Waters

July Post / Jelly Making Time

In the middle of our summers we would always make jelly for the coming year. We would put up jars of Peach Preserves, Blackberry Jam and Jelly, Plum Jelly, Fig Preserves as well as Pear Preserves.

We all played a part in making these jams and jellies. We would pick the pears off of our tree and then wash the pears and then peel them and then the older siblings would cut them up for the jams and preserves. We picked the blackberries from the wild patches that grew in the fields and we picked the plums that grew wild on the side of the roads.

My mother would get all of her jars washed and make sure that she had the lids and seals for covering the jars. She would get out the huge pressure cooker that was used for canning and start the process. This was a full days work.

We loved it when it became time to sample the cooked jam, jelly or preserves. There is nothing better than hot jelly on buttered bread in the summer time.

Kids today don't know what they are missing when all they have to do is just go to the store and buy the jelly of their choice.

It seemed like it tasted so much better when you had invested some of you time in the process of the making of the jam, jellies and preserves.

Palmer Waters