Special Events

 

I haven't blogged for a while so it might seem like nothing has been going on here lately, but to the contrary.....

Jerry got another year older, and received a strip-o-meter for his birthday. It came packaged as a dreary thermometer set that tells the temperature outside and in- the kind of gift that everyone thinks all old folks will be fascinated with. I know several of his brothers and sisters have very elaborate versions that also tell what the weather is just in case they don't feel like looking out the window.

The strip-o-meter has one unit that is set outside. A second unit reads the temperature outdoors and in. Then there's the third 'bonus' unit.' It has a digital woman whose attire changes based on the temperature. If the outdoor unit reads 40 she wears a coat. If it reads 74 then she sheds clothes down to underwear. Well, maybe it's a swim suit, with digital images it's hard to say. I don't know what happens if the temperature reaches 90, and probably never will because that particular unit has disappeared.

Next came our annual Price Family Christmas Party. We clean and decorate for weeks ahead of time because we don't want anyone to see how we actually live. Then comes the big day. Thirty five people this year. It was on a Sunday afternoon. We don't serve alcohol, so forward-thinking relatives arrived drunk. Mostly, everyone binged on cookies and sugared nuts, eating ham or turkey sandwiches as an afterthought because, after all, mothers were there to give children disapproving looks when they made cookie sandwiches. Four hours later, I was vacuuming up crumbs, delighted at how well everything went.

There were a few tense moments. Like when a cup got overfilled and appeared to be sloshing over the rim as the guest wandered around. Another good reason to not serve punch. Then there was the confusion of teenagers who weren't sure if they wanted to be upstairs where the food was or downstairs when the adults weren't.

I skipped something. Last Thursday we went to a reception at WWU. Although it usually is just for faculty and staff, we somehow got invited. Although we avoid formal, evening events, Jerry agreed to go if he could wear tennis shoes. Compared to how some of the profs were dressed, that was formal.

I have also been volunteering at school to help ten year olds read, but that's a different story.

Nancy Sherer

 

 


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