A Mess at Mass

This is Day 3 of the 2018 edition of the 20 Days of Chill writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Please join us this month on our writing journey. Today's prompt is Toilet paper on your shoe.

Jill was running late and scrambling to get out the door. She could not be late for mass again. That would make three times this month, which would not gain her favor with Sister Agnes, and she was supposed to help Jill head up the food drive next week. It wasn't her fault this time, she told herself. Oscar and Pixie had been playing with the toilet paper again...what a mess.

Jill wheeled into the closest parking space available (why there are 15 handicap spaces when the average age of the congregation was 40 she would never understand). She practically ran down the sidewalk and up the stairs, barely catching her breath as the pulled open the large wooden doors of the 19th century cathedral. With just minutes to spare, she slid into the only open spot, near the front, directly in front of the priest. She gave a sigh of relief and uttered a silent prayer of thanks, only to feel her face flame when she glanced down to see about three feet of toilet paper solidly attached to her heel. 








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The Cheese Man

This is Day 2 of the 2018 edition of the 20 Days of Chill writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Please join us this month on our writing journey. Today's prompt is Mac and Cheese. 

Today we are talking with Mac, the Cheese Man (no, not the mobster from The Golden Girls).

R2R: So, Mac, how did you get into the cheese business?

Mac: My high school sweetheart was Swiss and so beautiful I just melted. 

R2R: How does that relate to cheese?

Mac: Have you ever heard of Gorgonzola? 

R2R: Yes, of course.

Mac: She comes from the Swiss Family Gorgonsen.

R2R: Did you ever study abroad?

Mac: No, I just told you I had a girlfriend. But I did go to Switzerland for a while to apprentice with her grandpa. While I was there studying my butt off, she ran off with the milkman. Now I hear they're making cheddar together.

R2R: I bet that left you bitter. I'm surprised you stuck with cheese after being treated like that.

Mac: You win some, you lose some. I was dumped like moldy Feta, but I'll always have Brie.

R2R: So that's your cheese of choice?

Mac: No, Brie is my dog. I'm partial to aged cheeses myself.

R2R: What are your plans for the future?

Mac: I wanna open my own cheese joint. I plan to call it CHOMPS ELSIE

R2R: May I ask why "CHOMPS ELSIE"?

Mac: It stands for Cheddar, Havarti, Oma, Muenster, Provolone, Swiss, Emmenthaler, Limburger, Saga, Inverness and Edam. You know like that fancy French place.

R2R: I see... Yes, well that is creative.

Mac: Too cheesy?

R2R: It is exactly what I would expect from Mac, the Cheese Man. It has been a pleasure talking with you today. Good luck and may the cheese be with you.



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Frame of Mind

This is Day 1 of the 2018 edition of the 20 Days of Chill writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Please join us this month on our writing journey. Today's prompt is Frame of Mind. 

Somehow even with a month or more of advance notice I have once again been taken by surprise when the first day of Chill rolls around, and I wake up to discover I must now scramble more than eggs. Suffice it to say that since the topics were announced, life has been very busy, and I haven't really been in a writing frame of mind.

Now please excuse me while I run to my local big box home improvement store to pick up some wood, nails, and a hammer to build a frame for my mind. It looks like I'm going to need it!



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Christmas Wishes 2017

Wishing all my friends around the world a very Merry Christmas. 

Peace be with you!

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Christmas Memories

After more than a half century of Christmases, many of the individual memories have blurred. Time has a way of marching on leaving us to ponder where it has gone. I don't remember my first several Christmases, but mom wrote in my baby book that at "10 months, she didn't pay much attention to gifts, played with wrapping." I guess that is typical of toddlers.

Similar to ours

Christmas was always a beautiful time, a time of anticipation and wonder. It was Daddy's job to put up our, now vintage, silver Christmas tree and decorate it, and there was one special white ornament with colored flecks that I always wanted on the front where I could see it. 

Instead of lights on the tree, we had a light with a rotating plastic wheel with red, green, blue and gold sections that would shine on the tree, changing it colors. We had this for my first 12 years, and for a long time I didn't know anyone had anything different. We purchased our first fresh-cut tree  in 1972 for a cost of about $6, and I think it was a pine. Now most of the trees around here are Frasier Firs for about $30 and up (mostly up).

To this day my childhood stocking hangs on my mantle every year. As a kid, I could open the stocking gifts first thing Christmas morning, but everything else had to wait until after breakfast. Now the stockings are the last thing to open.

My most memorable Christmas was when I was 5 years old. That was the year that I had three Christmases, two of which were white. First, we packed up and drove to Maine where my mom was from and where her mother and two of her brothers still lived. The house was near the river and Daddy and I went sledding down the River Road, as we called it, coming to rest near the partially frozen river. Instead of over the river and through the woods, it was through the woods and down to the river. At least that is the way I remember it. 

Next we went to my other uncle's house in New Hampshire. There was more snow and sledding there too, and another Christmas celebration with more presents. When we returned home, I found still more presents that Santa had left while we were gone. I was a lucky girl that year.

One of my favorite adult memories was back in the mid 90s when I took hubby's pickup and my mom and I went Christmas tree shopping. We came back with two trees, and about $80 worth of new ornaments and decorations, and I have used those ever since (the ornaments, not the trees) 😉.

If you celebrate Christmas, what are some of your favorite memories or traditions? 





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