Snowmen

The first Christmas we had in Shawnee I wanted to do something. I found a magazine article about a wooden snowman and my Dad cut one out for me and then and made one of me and our three children, We put them out about December 10 and put a couple of spotlights on them. Then we put lights on the house and a sign in front of the snowmen "Happy Holidays". We did not use Merry Christmas as we had many good Jewish friends and we thought it might irritate them. Later after we had two more children my brother in law, Roy, made the other two. Cindy's snowman was stolen once and we found it in the ditch up the street. Probably by her boyfriend. My children are still good about putting them up and making me feel it is Christmas. I have one granddaughter, Hayden, who even repainted them for me.

Christmas

I love to write things I remember about Christmas when our five were growing up. We use to have a grocery store on the corner of 67th and Nieman. Before Christmas they use to display some large toys. One year they had a cannon and Scott fell in love with it. We bought it and on Christmas morning Steve showed his little brother how to shoot it, At that time we ate on the North side of the living room. Scott loaded it and shot the canon ball across the room into his grandfather's cereal.

Cherry trees

When I was growing up I made my mother happy when I picked cherries. One of the houses north of us had nine cherry trees in their backyard. No one in the family liked to pick cherries. I did not like to do household chores and so I picked cherries, I picked one bucket full for the lady of the house and one bucket for my mother. My mother canned hers and we had delicious cherry pies all year. I thought I would write about something not Thanksgiving before I started on Christmas.

Old Thanksgiving

When I was young Congress could not decide what Thursdayto have Thanksgiving on so they left it up to the states. Missouri took the 4th Thursday and Kansas the third. My parents decided we should go to Kansas City on our Thanksgiving. We took Highway 10 through Lawrence and went in the Plaza way through Fairway. Fairway still had brick streets which impressed me. We went on downtown and visited the stores and ate at the Forum Cafeteria. Then my father decided to go back to Topeka on Highway 40 which ran north of the Kaw River(now known as the Kansas River). We stopped at the big Katz Store in Kansas City, Kansas and bought chocolate kisses. Then over the bridge to Highway 40 and home.

chickens

When we went to my father's sister Myrtle's farm where she lived with her husband and a daughter Erma and a son Wilbur they put a chicken or two in a gunny sack and put them in the backseat of the car with us kids, They chickens were alive and pecked my sister Helen so she did not like to be in the backseat with them and must have been moved to the front one with my parents. I am not sure which of my parents chopped off their heads with an axe. I think my father did Then my mother had to clean them. You know take the insides out. My dad had several brothers but only one sister. My mother plucked the feathers, washed them real good and then roasted them. I had a class in high school where we had to do everything but kill them. I did not like chickens for awhile. I do now especially drumsticks.

Moments I wish I done something else

I few times in my life I had things happen which I rather did not. One time I was returning from San Diego on the train and I had a lower bed that had a window. The train stopped out in unpopulated area and it was time to get up, I started to dress and was putting on my bra when I got a round of applause. I had not noticed but a troop train had come up beside us, I pulled the curtain and was always grateful that one soldier applauded so I was alerted, Another time I had a wreck and had to go to court, The judge asked my name I replied " I don't know but I know where I live". The other time I was on a train with a high school group that went to Emporia for a football game. The war was on and elastic had gone to war so your uinderwear was buttoned on. My button fell off. It was still hot in Kansas and thanks to my sweating my underwear stuck to me and did not fall off.

Thanksgiving when I was younger

When I was younger our Thanksgivings are kind of hazy. The war was on and we always had soldiers. One year my mother tried a duck instead of turkey but we all thought it was too greasy. She made good cranberry sauce and her pumpkin pies were good. Later we had girl friends and boy friends and later their parents. We had a big dinning room table with great extensions that were under the table and pulled out. I hope my sister Helen still has it for it is a treasure. The more people that were there the better my mother cooked for she always did better when there was a crowd. She always had trouble cooking for just six. Like I said they are hazy but were always nice and I looked forward to them just like I still do.

Washburn College in Topeka

My parenis only lived four blocks from Washburn when I was growing up. If my dad was out of town my motther would take us up for a picnic supper. My dad did like picnics. We would sit on the hill of the football field and mother would tell us stories. Later when I was old enough a friend of mine and I would ride our bikes up and ride around the campus. Once we climbed in a windowwn of MacVicar hapel and tried to play the organ. Another time we crimbed the fireescape on Rice Hall. There we met a biology professor who showed us snakes and a skelton. He then showed us a crate of dead monkeys. Later both building were blown down in a tornado, Aside from my experiences were my parents. When my Dad went to Washburn he was Captain of the football team and beat KU. He told me once Rice hall caught on fire and they threw the chairs out but carefully saved the rocks. My attending of Washburn was more like meeting old friends. It was nice to be a gradute of Washburn.

Thanksgiving

When my husband was alive to roast the turkey this is what we did. We ate in the basement recreation room on thr ping pong table. I bought paper plates and napkins, We used real silverware as it is hard to cut anything with plastic. I used a seasonal tablecloth--which is four yards of material. On Tuesday I fixed the potatoes and store them in the crockpot. Wednesday I baked the pies==3 pumpkin and one mincemeat,. Before we went to bed Ray fixed the turkey in a bag and put it in the oven. It comes on by a timer on the stove. At eleven with the oven available. I heat the oven and make pepperidge stuffing, I add some drippings from the turkey and lots of water. The group brings in things like Green bean casserole, corn casserole and yam casserole. Someone brings home made bread. Sally brungs Waldorf salad. We eat at 12 so about 11:45 we put on the Kraft dinner. We open the canned cranberry sauce and cut out little turkeys. We open the olives--both kinds. We open canned gravy and heat, We have the pie on paper plates and birthday cake as we have four birthdays. Sometimes we have wine if someone brings it. We have plastic sacks for everything but the silverware and serving dishes. Some times someone bring chocolates and we pass thay around.

Lost children

I watched TV and they have an amber alert for lost children and I think of the three occasions when I lost children. First one was my daughter Sally. I counted my kids when I got in the car and Sally was missing. I rushed back in the store and she was by the counter waiting. Second one I lost was Susan. We were using two bunk beds together in one room. We had the neighbors looking and when I went back into the house I checked once more. She had fallen asleep between the two top bunks. The third one I lost was Steve our oldest. During Easter vacation he and two other neighbor boys went on a hike west. They picked up some glass bottles and stood on a bridge and broke them on the rocks below. They were arrested and taken to Olathe where Ray found out they were at the Sheriff's office. It is not good to lose children.

Dancing

When I was about 13 my parents thought I should develop some social graces and there was a couple that did dancing lessons in your home. They had the same number of girls and boys and the partipants furnish the house. When my turn came my parents rolled the rugs in the living room and the dining room. I generally danced with John Hesip. We did a great two one way and one the other. Later my huisband who was a good dancer taught me a little more. The second year you graduated to a lesson at the Hotel Jayhawk with other of their classes. John and I still did one way two the other. Ray.was a good dancer. "The Big Apple" was a popular dance at the time where the whole group went in a circle. Now that I don't walk well I have given up dancing.

When I met Joyce Hall

I use to go to meetings with Ray so he had someone who liked him. They always put him at the press table and stuck me somewhere. Goldwater was making a speec and Joyce Hall was there to hear him. I was served and started eating. He said: "You are eating my food". They brought him another plate. I saw him many times later but I am pretty forgetable and he did not remember me. He really was quite nice. I bought is book. "When you care enough".

Radio career

I had a short radio career. A friend of my mother wrote ads for the Topeka radio station and she had an ad for Coleman lanterns that needed a kid. Now an adult would imitate a kid but I went to the station and stood on a wooden box that was used for Cokes and read my piece. I do not think I was paid but my career was short but fun.

My Dad

My dad was clever. He had a friend that he worked with and they gave us a refrigerator before they were on the market. --- He put a motor on my mother's sewing machine and her washer and the furnace so it fed it's self coal all day. We had to take the clinkers every morning, He made my two oldest children great toy chests a train for Steve and a wagon for Susan. He invented a great marble game and made children picnic table for children. When I was in school they had to teach me how to do their sewing machines as I did not know how to pedal. My children are good at figuring out how to fix things but my husband believed in calling some one on the phone to come repair things. That was good for one thing he tried to fix still does not work.