I was reflecting on Christmas's past...and I remembered my mother coming to Flagstaff one Christmas and getting snowed in...I mentioned it to Sara this morning and added the comment, "I wonder why she didn't just stay a few more days...Why she was in a hurry to get home?"....Sara said, "She was just like you guys....always in a hurry to get back home." I told that to Steve and he said, " Don't you remember...." and then went on to tell me the story...of course then the memory began to come forward.
We had gone down to Mesa for Myrna's birthday, Dec. 22, 1984. We took the bus. Mother was planning on coming up to spend Christmas with us. (She only did this once after we had children...of course she was 73 in 1984...so that explains part of it.) The children and I drove back up to Flagstaff with her in her 1971 Oldsmobile 88.....it was gold, long and of course had a big V8 engine in it and no snow tires or front wheel drive. It is what you would call a "land yacht". However, it was big and comfortable. We drove up on the 23rd...cooked continually for the next couple of days (that's just what we always do at Christmas)...did the take arounds to friends and then settled in for a nice Christmas.
That was the year of the Cabbage Patch dolls. Cabbage Patch dolls had just come out. There was a scarcity of them and so due to supply and demand they were very expensive....$85 if you were lucky and some were being auctioned off for $200 to $300. It was crazy. Not only were they totally out of our budget, you couldn't find one, even if you had the money to buy it. Some friends of mine had found "look alike" heads...and then we made the bodies and dressed them up. That year I made about a dozen of them. Katie got blond twins. Jess got brown haired Joe...(who now is being cuddled and loved by his 2 year old son Wyatt and was loved before that by Brock) and Gramy got a little dark haired girl that she name Merry...for Merry Christmas.
It was a great time. We all had fun being together, cooking, eating, stoking the fires and staying warm. Mom had planned on staying a few days and then returning to Mesa. About the time she was ready to leave a big storm came in, followed by another and then another.....it was similar to this year. We became snowbound and when Flagstaff shuts down with snow, it is best to stay put...so we did. My poor mom got "cabin fever" big time. She never liked being cold. She fussed over her little dog, Butchie. She combed the snowballs out of his feet every time he went outside and wrapped him up in a blanket by the fire.....he didn't seem to mind. She stoked the fires until the family room was sometimes 95 degrees. She became more restless and ready to leave...finally there was a break in the weather and she decided she would drive home. The roads were snowbound, but she was determined. Steve said he would take her down and then come back on the bus. So, they got things packed up and hurried to get off the mountain before the next storm hit. She had been in Flagstaff for about 10 days. I think she only wanted to stay about 5 days...so she was anxious to get back to the sunshine of Mesa.
Steve and she left. There was only one lane plowed going south on I-17. It took them about two and half hours to get down to the Verde Valley, which is only 60 miles south of Flagstaff. As soon as they got off the Mogollon Rim the roads were better, but I think that was one of those storms where they had received snow clear down to New River near Black Canyon City.
Steve said that when they got to Mesa, it was sunny and warm. He went out into Grammy's front yard and her Arizona Ash trees were already starting to bud out.....It was such a difference in climates between Mesa and Flagstaff. He just couldn't believe it....I think that is one reason he started to want to get some land down in the Verde Valley....he just wanted to have a little more sunshine and warmth in the winter.
Now this Christmas we are having another series of storms....I wouldn't mind being snowbound for a couple of days...but not 10. I guess Mom and I do have that in common. This will be a different Christmas, but it will be one we will remember....We will go see the kids tomorrow, if the weather permits....then Steve is determined that we will meet Katie in Laughlin and get her safely home.....That's fine...Christmas is family and all we need to know is that we are loved and that we will be together safely...It may not be same as usual, but it will still be fun and we will all get together.... Christmas will just last longer than one day.
1984 - Myself, Mom, Katie and Jess. Katie, 3 and Jess, 6.
This picture was taken at Stan and Cleo Turley's house.
Dolls and bears....Lynda made the brown bear on the right.....Katie named her "Cindy"You can see one of Kaite's twins...the little blond girl....the boy she never liked and I had to trade it out for another little girl....she just had failure to bond....never did figure that one out.
Jess and Katie....you can see Joe in the middle of the dolls (Jess' buddy). Now Joe is a companion to Wyatt who is Jess' son. Wyatt couldn't stop putting Joe into the bath tub....until he realized Joe couldn't come in the house when he was sopping wet. Sara has a blog entry, Nov. 13, 2008, about this. I think the little guy finally got the message and has been keeping Joe out of the bath tub. It was a pretty sad day when Joe had to hang outside all day and then go into the clothes dryer.Only the stong survive...and Joe is strong, because he has survived 3 Maier boys and one Maier dad, Jess. 
1 comment:
My Dad just cleaned out the attic and brought me my cabbage patch look a likes a few months ago. I donated them to my friends garage sale. I never thought my kids would want to put them in the bath with them.
Do you have my moms sweet roll recipe? She gave it to me, but I don't think she wrote the sugar amount correctly. They don't taste the same and they don't get devoured like they should.
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