There are two things I do with my grandkids every year.

1.      We bake cookies

2.      We buy a special ornament

This year because of schedules, an out of town trip and weather, our cookie baking will be delayed by a couple of weeks. But one can always bake cookies at any time of the year. They can be Christmas related any time. Why not!? For kids it can be all year!

But we did manage to buy our ornaments. Every year I take my grandkids to a Christmas store that is magnificent. It looks like Santa’s workshop on the inside, with several beautifully decorated huge trees inside, with the most incredible ornaments! In another area more trees, with more kid type ornaments, and specialty theme trees. The whole place sparkles with a magical goal. When we pull into the drive the kids eyes are already aglow with excitement. But it usually gets dashed a bit as I give them the, don’t touch, these aren’t toys, if you break it, it’s yours speech. They take it seriously and are so good. Which is why we go back every year.

We’ll spend usually an hour there. I give them a $10 limit, since some of these ornaments are so expensive!! They usually head straight for the no less than $45 a piece tree, with all the enchanting fairies and $100 Santa’s on it.  We look, but that’s it. I wish, but, honestly the prices are ridiculous. It’s fun to look at. Back we go to our little something Nana can afford tree, for all my munchkins.

This is a delightful little tradition. It also teaches them, not to touch, to check prices and have a limit and just have fun. My granddaughter figured out pretty quickly if she picked the cheaper ones under our limit, she could get more than one. She’s a pretty savvy little shopper. Then home we go, to place them on the tree.

This year, they also wanted to pick a couple out for Poppy. He’s a big golfer, so he got a golfing nutcracker and a Santa in a golf cart. It’s amazing what kids know about you!

Both these traditions are relatively inexpensive, and fun. The ornaments also express the kids taste as they grow. My granddaughter has gone for the Disney princesses and Barbie to a star that says, ‘Girl Power.” My grandson always goes for something that motor vehicle related.

Kids delight in anything holiday related. We often to go to Michael’s craft store, and just wonder around looking at the decoration, it’s so colorful in there. It’s also a cheaper place to buy ornaments and just as fun as the fancy store. Making a homemade ornament, with ribbons, sparkles and what have you is another delight for kids.

Kids don’t need anything expensive or elaborate to have fun, and celebrate the holidays. Keep it simple for holiday traditions, and they’ll never forget it.

It’s the holidays again. Yes, the year flew by so quickly as it always does. It seems like it goes by faster and faster the older I get. The traditions continue, and shift and change with the growth of families. But one tradition stays the same, and it’s the Christmas Toy ads. My grandson lives for them.

When I want to keep J-Man occupied, I find one of those toy books, and he’ll sit for hours and I do mean hours circling what he wants, changing his mind, crossing things out, and starting all over again. He uses markers, so the tips of his tiny four year old little fingers are, I’ve come to believe permanently colored, black, green, yellow, or whatever the color of the day might be.Even under his nails, get colored.

He chatters away about superheroes, often asking me about something he sees, or announcing maybe that isn’t what he really wants. He points out cars or a truck and explains in great detail what it can do, as he drags the book around the house, as I clean. By the end of the week, I need to find another ad, because the most current one is dying a hard death of folds, tears, and just simple ware from J-man’s little hands, as he constantly flips through the pages, turning back and forth to go through it again.

I remember doing that as a child. We’d get the ad for a department store, usually Sears or J.C Penny’s since Toys ‘R’ Us wasn’t in existence yet. Our Christmas ads, was the big Christmas Catalog, full of everything from clothing to pots and pans, and then there was the toy section, that wasn’t as big as the single ad my grandkids go through.We'd wear it out, until the pages just fell out. By the time Christmas came that catalog was dog eared, and looked like it was run over by a truck, only to have it stop and back right over it again, repeating the process several times.

Toys “R” Us, came into the world when my kids were very young, and of course the ad was something they waited for, fought over, and wore the paper so thin, when held up to the light it looked like fogged glass.Only the circles around faded items remained.

So Christmas bumps along, and moves ahead, shifting changing with old traditions disappearing, and new ones coming with new family members. But the ad remains, as  a solid Christmas staple. Children look for it to appear in the mail in November. It’s as much a part of Christmas as Santa Claus. Thank goodness it will never change.

My concern it will go completely electronic. There are some toy sites for kids on-line. But where's the fun in that? How can a kid circle a desired toy, on a computer. I know it can be done, but honestly where’s the fun!?

Laying on the floor with siblings, discussing the all important desired item, staining finger tips with pens, as they do what their parents have done, and their grandparents, and even great-grandparents. It's all a part of a beloved tradition, and the joy of Christmas. What is amazing, is that I've never known a kid who expected to get everything they circle, and are always happy with just one of the many hearts desires. There is a in born realization, that Santa just can't carry it all.

Let’s hope it continues to fill up our mail boxes, rain or shine and doesn't disappear completely into cyber space. Now that would be a disappointment.

 

Fall has finally hit California, after a freakishly warm past couple of weeks. The trees are finally turning here and there. We don't have a lot of colors, like the Midwest and eastern states. Some Novembers, we go from instant brown to instant green with nothing in between in the matter of a week.
One thing my grandkids and I do when driving down a particularly colorful street near their home is pick out our favorite tree. There are so many turning now, and some more colorful then others, depending on their location. It's a fun practice every year. Of course, they think the tree that just dropped a ton of leaves on their front lawn is the most beautiful. Daddy doesn't think so, when it comes time to rake up all those crunchy brown leaves,  as kids ask if they commit that childhood right of passage, and jump in the neat pile to roll around, catching leaves in their hair, and stuck to their clothes.
This is also my favorite time of year to photograph. The sun isn't sitting so close, so my images aren't washed out by the bright sunlit. Mr. Sun sets off in the distance, shadowing the world. Although with the recently warm weather, it had my roses and iris confused, and blooming. It is a odd time of year in Northern California, we are so close to having the mountains turn into winter wonderlands, as the dry hills remind us of our long hot summers.  It's both strange and oddly beautiful, at least for us. Soon the golden hills that give us our name, will start to get that faint blush of green against the trees that will throw off impossibly bright colors, that the grandkids love to look at, appreciate, and decide which one is the best, and specially theirs.  

My favorite holiday, (it’s not really a holiday), but it’s still my favorite, is Halloween. As child I never wanted the store bought costumes, but made my own, out of whatever I could find. It was a time I could be something other than myself.

Now as not only an adult, but a grandparent, I see the same in my grandchildren, as I saw in my kids, and me. That over the top excitement for candy, trick or treating, and just dressing up like whatever strikes the fancy. Now as a grandparent, I paint faces, and decorate the little ones as they get ready to go out into the world of ringing door bells. I love the little ones, they seem so confused. They know they're suppose to be having fun, but just haven't figured it out yet. By the age of four, they get it, better, and start to get excited.

The act of trick or treating really hasn’t changed much from my generation to the grandkids. They still fill their buckets or pillow cases with candy. Mom and Dad still go out with them, watching carefully for anything out of the ordinary and not allowing the little ones to go to dark doors. The older kids still run up the street, caring giant pillow cases filled with an astronomical amount of candy, from ringing every persons doorbell within a ten mile radius. It hasn’t changed at all. It always takes me back to my own innocence and love of fall. It's just a fun ritual, that clings to our memories like the smell of falling leaves in the rain.

The decorations are more elaborate than before. There was only a lit pumpkin on our front porch for the evening. Now there is haunted-houses, orange and black blinking lights, all sorts of décor that rivals Christmas in the use of electricity. Lit pumpkins still are on the front porches, one or two still find their way smashed in the street, and in the morning, the kids are still filled with the excitement of the night before, as parents and grandparents are vigilant over checking candy, because unfortunately, there is still the occasional whack job out there. As good parents try to avoid stomach aches and the dentist, the candy is sorted and put up, to be doled out for the days, weeks and sometimes months after the main event.

I’m grateful this is one holiday that hasn’t changed much over the years. What I really love about Halloween, there is no pressure to buy anyone anything. No gift giving. I love Christmas, but for me it just makes it crazy. Halloween is true unadulterated fun. If you don’t want to participate, just turn off the front porch light, and wait out all the ghouls running up the street as they screech with pure pleasure.

What’s your favorite holiday, during this holiday time?

The other day I watched House Hunters International. The episode that caught my attention, and took me away from my dreaded dusting, was about a young woman, who was a writer. She left behind a lucrative job in Sydney, Australia in television and moved to Stockholm, Sweden, to write. From there she wanted an even slower pace of life, and went hunting for a fixer-upper in Portugal. She wanted slow, quiet village life, to continue to write. She found her fixer-upper, and settled in a small village with a huge ancient cathedral, and went about the business of remodeling her farm, which included all outdoor plumbing. She also had to learn to cook on a wood burning stove.

I put down my dust rag and promptly became jealous, sort-of, and really wondered about doing something so drastic, away from family, friends and everything unfamiliar, including language.

In a conversation with my hubby, I said, I’d love that life, if, and this is huge, if I didn’t have my grandkids. If my kids didn’t have children and left the nest and went about the business of life, I would have sold off all my property, took my retirement, to look for some place in Europe to live. I’d like to live in Ireland, but you have to be a citizen, (so I was told) to buy property. The beauty of buying a house or whatever in Europe, there is no lenders, you’ve got to pay cash, at least to them.

The idea of being a writer in a small village, somewhere, other than here, is so inviting. At least to me. If I could get hubby to sell our house and buy a broken down farmhouse on a piece of land, I’d be happy. But it’s only my dream, not his. So we compromised and live in a small country town, in a modern home, with neighbors.

But the very thought of taking on such an adventure, makes me dream of something so pure and really slow, without the trappings of modern American life. I know, it would be hard, and particularly hard at my age.

I wasn’t the college student who took off to Europe to hitch hike through all the great cities, and see all the sights while really experiencing the regions. I went there as a tourist later in life, and loved every moment of it. I was the person who started her family at seventeen, and never looked back with regret or envy. But if I had the opportunity when I was younger, I would have been the hitch hiker.

I love history. It is my passion. My sister told me once, that by having my first child so young, it kept me home. She felt if I had gone to Europe as a student, I would have disappeared into the fabric of European life, never to be seen again. I don’t know if that would be so true, but I probably wouldn’t have come home so easily or very soon. I might have been the girl buying the fixer-upper farm in Portugal, Spain, or France.

Staying put, I never saw my life as a sacrifice, but just life. I had a child to raise, and it was a choice I made.  But even so many years later, I can still dream that big, ‘what if?’

What is your 'what if dream?' 

There is a show on Nick that my granddaughter occasionally lucks out and gets to watch. Both mom and I aren’t so keen on this show, but it slips through the cracks occasionally, especially when I’m busy cooking dinner and mom has yet to make it home, or is at school. It’s iCarly. Now it’s not a crazy bad show, it’s more set for tweens, my granddaughter is seven. But I have to say the main characters best-friend, I clearly don’t like. She is obnoxious and mean on an ordinary day. Carly the main character is okay, and being raised by an artist brother, while dad is away in the Middle East. He’s been there a really long time. Now we’re watching this little girl grow up, on television, without dad, (there doesn’t seem to be an explanation for that) or mom, another missing parent. The show covers such things as the first kiss, and just playing stupid tricks on ones friends, as Carly runs her own internet show. Without the approval of parents, and only with her weird older brother, who doesn’t have a job, girlfriend or life around to supervise, it's a big hit. Big brother's main talent making spaghetti tacos. I’m sure all of the above my granddaughter doesn’t notice. She laughs at the jokes and likes Carly’s clothes.

What this show has done is create a new eating sensation, in the form of those ‘spaghetti tacos.’ I didn’t see the original episode, but it’s proven to be so popular, the show has brought it back a few more times. I think the idea is to add it to one of our main food groups. Look out. I’m sure it will show up on some fast food menu, sooner, than later.I went to the shows website, to check it out, and found they now announce when they'll be featuring spaghetti tacos in an episode. I found another article on how to make them a bit healthier and tasty, (separate from the website.) They even ask for kids to send in their pictures of the dinner delight when mom makes it. What is the world coming to?

What has me questioning the wisdom behind this, kids are requesting what I’d consider something bad for them, and adding to bad eating habits. Mother’s have complained since the beginning of time, that kids don’t eat well. I'm a baby boomer and my mother complained I didn't eat enough greens. I had the same complaint about my kids. It's seems to be part of a our social cycle. So why not throw another meaningless meal on the table in the form of a taco filled with spaghetti, since fast food nights don't seem to be enough. I couldn't afford fast food nights with my kids. I could barely put food on the table, let alone something worthless. Even when I was at my lowest point, I doubt I would go for this, not unless we really had nothing else to eat.

If you’re on a low carb diet, avoid it. Run in the other direction, and don’t stop. For these tacos in question, have only the taco and spaghetti. Nothing else that can be counted as nutritional. I like the original tacos, since they do have protein of some sort, along with veggies, of some sort.You can make them healthy.

When I read the original article in the NYTimes, they said mothers have screamed out in joy, that at least now  kids will eat dinner, when this is on the menu. Hmmmm…..If they’re happy over this, I wonder how much control they have at mealtime, for the choices for their children. This has become the new phenomenon in the kitchen with children across our great nation. Yuke, I feel my carb load overflow for the weeks allotment at the thought of it.

My granddaughter has yet to ask for the spaghetti taco. Maybe she knows better. She loves spaghetti and gets it in the more traditional style, with meat balls, sauce and some sort of veggie. The same with tacos, meat, cheese, and veggie fix’ns. She’s a good eater, and rarely complains. She might if she asks for this, and gets the flat out ‘no’, for an answer. Unless of course, I actually mix the two originals together. That’s not a bad idea, but a bit messy.  

When you look at the picture, they don't even look eatable! My mother thought the same thing about peanut butter and banana sandwiches, but at least they had a fruit in them with some protein.

So what do you think? Have made them or even heard of them?

Wow a month ago I said I was going to blog about, how to tell the grandkids about their Poppy’s illness. I didn’t blog about it. I didn’t blog at all. Those road blocks I mentioned before, turned out to be complete detours. One of which was a fall down my son's stairs, which twisted my ankle. Now I'm laid up, cranky and blogging.

The surprises that came my way  in the past couple of months, has kept me busy and very distracted. Ultra distracted! I once more was getting e-mails requesting the blog, asking where I’ve been,( I love that, keep asking, and keep me on my toes). We’ll at times it feels like the loony bin. That’s where I’ve been, in some cuckoo’s nest, minus Nurse Ratched, although I could have used her origination skills. Nope, I’ve been right here trying to deal with all the crap life throws around and just happens to land on the front porch. There were days I was kicking it aside just to get out the door.

When you retire you expect to be able to relax, have fun, never worry about anything. Not true, life is as complicated and messed up as it was when I worked. I’m working on dealing with it, push all the shit out of the way, and move on. Take those deep breaths and let them out. One at a time.

I’m retired, as Poppy keeps reminding me. I wish I was retried from all the B.S, but I’m not. I guess that will always be a part of life.  

Wow, girl, this sounds very negative!

I’m not a negative person, just an honest one. I wish I could blog just about those things like how to tell the kids, their grandfather has cancer. Now there’s a depressing subject. It was depressing telling them. The prognosis is good, and he’ll be just fine. That was the good part of that little talk and the best part of our life. 

On an average day, my life is beyond good, it’s fantastic.  I’ve worked hard to get it that way. I’ve made my mistakes, and I have a feeling I’m not through just yet. But out of those mistakes I’ve gained something I didn’t have before, wisdom and some good tough lessons on how not to make those mistakes again. That is the beauty of getting to this age, gaining wisdom, or learning those valuable lessons. I know a few people who don’t get it yet, but I keep holding out hope they will, so they’ll stop dumping their leftover disasters on my front porch.

Really I’m okay, I haven’t totally lost my mind. The fall down my son’s stairs really made me cranky, since now I can’t train for a 5K with a messed up ankle. On crutches, cursing up a storm, and just plain in a bad mood..Nooo, I didn't hit my head on the way down.

So, now I don't have an excuse not to blog. I’m stuck in the chair, since I can’t do anything else.

This should be interesting. I've got plenty of time to think, examine and look at life from the couch with my foot up, packed in ice. What a view.

I’ve gotten several comments from my readers about where I’ve been. I’ve gone missing from The Nana blog. After all it’s been three weeks since I announced Poppy’s surgery. I thought I’d be back at blogging and life a little sooner than it turned out. Life has a habit of throwing up those pesky road blocks. Well…..and well again…Things didn’t go as planned.

Poppy went into the hospital expecting to fly through the surgery, and return home in three days. He was having laparoscopic colon surgery to remove a tumor. A large tumor. A tumor that in the original reports was benign.

His three day stay turned into nine, due to complications, and the benign tumor was cancer.  It took me about a week of getting nothing, but bad news to finally get my head screwed on straight, and realize, I needed to be strong not only for my husband, but my family and for my own sanity. It got to the point where my son, really hated answering any calls from me. Poor guy, it was never good.

Finally, Poppy came home. The doctor said he needed to be home to recover because the hospital wasn’t doing him any good. He really did say that!  And he was right. He started to recover finally, but there were a few days I thought he might go back by way of ambulance and the ER. But we made it through, and now he’s up and getting back to normal. The phone calls are now, about the kids, and what we’re bringing to the family reunion. This is much better, then the gory details of surgery and disappointing diagnosis. It feels so good to be back into a normal routine, and see Poppy joking and starting to get cantankerous with the news. He likes to respond to news reporters, as if they can hear him. Yep, it does make me wonder. When he was down, he wasn’t calling Politian’s names I won’t repeat here, which really worried me. This annoying habit is back, and it’s happily annoying me, because it’s the one thing that tells me he’s recovering.  

We’re dealing with the cancer diagnosis pretty well. So that should be an adventure, as we get to know our doctors more intimately than we ever wanted too. So far we like them all. Yes, there are many, actually a room full and it gets crowded.  As one doctor told me, “See this ugly mug, get use to it, because you’ll be seeing it a lot.” He wasn’t kidding. Every week brings a new appointment, tests, cat scans,  you name it. My car is on auto pilot to the hospital…

So thanks to my family and my friends and to those of you I really don’t know well or at all other then my blogs, and facebook, for all the support, prayers and well wishes. I think someone upstairs sat up and took notice.  

I’ll be back on Thursday…Hope to talk about, how you tell the little ones, their beloved Grandfather is sick and they can't play with him like they use too.

My hubby is going in for surgery on Wednesday, so I doubt I'll be blogging on Thursday. Everything expected to go smoothly, so once I get him home I'll be back at it again...

Thanks for all the well wishes, Nana

On Tuesday I got back from my vacation adventure to Florida. This was my first trip to the sunshine state and I all but melted in the heat!! I’m a Cali-girl and have never experienced 97 degree heat with 100% humidity. Here in Cali, we get 120, but no humidity. It’s enough to really give a nasty sunburn, but at least you can breathe. In that heat I thought I was going to just melt away like the wicked witch of OZ. “Help me I’m melting.” And just like that poor creature, there was no savior around to rescue me, even though I was at RWA conference, (aka Romance Writers of America), not a hero in sight, not even a mere peep. Only more heat and that was also taking out my gal pals who were with me. At least I had company, to share my complaints, and there were plenty.

The conference itself was great, I met such notables as Nora Roberts, Tess Gerritson, (I have to doctor my pic with Nora, I look like a cow to her skinny frame) and many more. Yep, I shared a short conversation with each, which in my book made us BFF’s. As a writer I have huge imagination, which includes that fantasy. In a word it was fun. Crowded with 2,000 writers, which 99.9% were women. There are a few male romance writers, but they do get lost in the crowd. Poor guys have to be wall flowers to survive. It could be some sick guys imagination. Everyone was great, no cat fights or name calling, which as women we know on a good day can explode out of nowhere. Nope all those women were on their best behavior.

I even found a bit of celebrity, I blog on a writers blog, The Naked Hero, www.thenakedhero.com, weekly, and I met fans. I was all a flutter, because someone knew me outside my family and friends. She even said she was nervous about approaching me. ME, little oh, aka Nana me!! I keep telling all my friends about it, and they sigh, let me have a big head for a second maybe two, and move on and ignore me as I bask in that little bit of stardust.

I went to Universal studios and saw Hogwarts while I was there. Couldn't miss that opportunity. Wow, that was great, and really looked just like it. Again I was impressed, (not with myself), but the construction of the ride and village. It really looked like Hogwarts, it was amazing…I went on the ride which was fun, but watch out, hang on to ones shoes.

Then on to Epcot, which was good, and would have been better if it wasn’t so hot!! It finally rained with helped a little. Did you know it rains hot rain in Florida? I didn’t until I was in Morocco and discovered it as I ate in Casablanca, waiting for Rick to walk through the door, as a piano tinkled out as "Time Goes By."

That was fun, but by the end of the park, we were trying to drag ourselves out of there, completely conferenced-out, theme parked-out and heated-out. I was ready to go home. I couldn’t get to the airport early the next morning fast enough! Considering I was sicker than a dog, I really couldn’t get there fast enough. I was so sick I upgraded to Business class, to be closer to the bathroom. I will pay for convenience, especially if I'm sick...And I was...No drinks for Nana on the long flight home, only ginger ale. 

Home in San Francisco, where the summers have been unusually cool, I’m recovered and happy. I've passed out the customary trinkets, and the family was pleased, and laughed at my stories..Even if they didn't have a clue who or what I was talking about..Accept for Hogwarts.

I'll be back on Thursday with more, or what, I'm not sure.