Adventures

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. Here are some pictures from this morning.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93921927@N00/sets/72157614997988686/

promised pictures

Playing on the hippo at the Westwood Mall, Jackson.

Snuggled up for winter.

Cousins at play.  
 
 

Holiday season fun!

There seems to be a festive note to the air, moreso than previous years because, of course, this is Will's first Christmas!

His first Christmas party was my department holiday party right before Thanksgiving. My co-worker Karen did a wonderful job creating a festive party for parents and kids. Will got his first stocking (candy, which mom and dad enjoyed), and his first Christmas present, a stuffed frog. He also got to visit with Spidey Claus, a special visitor that all the kids gravitated to like, well, flies to a web. This special visitor was completely unexpected, which made it even more fun.

Thanksgiving was a nice brunch at our home with Aunt Gia, and grandma and grandpa Planeta. Aunt Gia worked her magic on pumpkin bread, Dave made a birthday cheesecake as well as the special Alton Brown brined turkey, using my homemade vegetable stock. The food was fantastic, and we nibbled all morning long on cakes and cheesecake and wow, can't even remember what else.

Thanksgiving part 2 was on Black Friday in Jackson, where Candi and I took the boys to get their photo taken together for a holiday portrait. They were so adorable, both in preppy little vests and cuter than I thought possible from two little boys. Waiting for the proofs, we wandered the mall, a place where me and my sisters grew up since my mom had been the manager of the Homemaker Shop from the time the mall opened in the early 70s until her store closed in the late 80s. I even worked at the mall from 1986 to 1991 when I was a waitress then a pharmacy tech at Walgreens - does anyone remember the soda fountains adjacent to the pharmacies?

It was sad to see so many of the shops gone. Homemaker Shops disappeared into Linens and More (I think...?) and those disappeared with the popularity of Bed, Bath and Beyond. Walgreens began the process of eliminating their restaurants in 1987, then began phasing their mall stores soon after in favor of the corner pharmacy, a better deal for them I'm sure. Crazy to be sentimental about working at the mall, but I had a lot of fun there, and remember everyone I used to work with fondly. My autographed Walgreen menu is among my treasures.

But our two shops are not the only ones gone. As a matter of fact, perusing the mall, it is safe to say the ONLY store that has been at the mall since it opened is the Crown and Carriage at the far corner. The Montgomery Wards is now a Walmart. Elder-Beerman was new construction in the 90s. Even JCPenney, which seems like it has been there forever, was not the original department store in that spot, the logo was some glamorous 50s script, I want to say it was Seiferts? Oh, it's a hazy memory, all I recall is that is where I got a fat Orange Crush lip gloss after Christmas one year. I loved that lip gloss, I have had a stick of it in my skate bag for the last few years until it melted into an ugly glob.

Gia and I had fun pointing at store fronts and saying "remember the rainbow entrance at the Gap?" and "do you remember Jean Nicole was here?" and debating where Al's Restaurant was, with the jukeboxes at the table (we think it was the optical place in the main hallway). I mourned the disappearance of the fountain at the center of the mall (no idea when that disappeared), but relieved to see the hippo, which as been polished by generations of Jackson County butts, has remained.

For a big-small town, it was the ONLY choice for a social spot to meet people, since it used to have sit-down retaurants, movie theaters and that's where the boys knew to find the girls in the winter. Alladin's Castle! Hello Kitty! Hot Sam's Pretzels! Spencer's Gifts! Claire's Boutique! Splurging at Fannie Farmer to get a mint chocolate bar for 75 cents (1980s babysitting money, going by prices from similar confectioners, $3.50 today). 

I just reminisced about a MALL.

All has not been food and shopping. One of Santa's elves has been busy reworking something special for Will for Christmas! Someone offered the elf, via freecycle, a toybox that would be a perfect present from Santa, if only treated with a little tender lovin' care. Elf picked up the box, and scrubbed it clean with some anti-bacterial Soft Scrub. The front was taped off and repainted with chalkboard paint so the box has two uses. The elf applied 2 and 3 coats to create an even surface then brought it inside to cure. White paint was used to touch up the trim, an xacto cleaned up the paint dribbles, felt tabs were added to protect little fingers and the wood trim was polished to a gloss. Santa's elf has two more things to do, put feet on the box to savethe carpet and get a suction cup basket for chalk and an eraser. This elf is very pleased.

Medically, Will is recovering nicely from minor surgery on Monday to repair some physical birth defects. The boy is a trooper, and outside of some whimpering Tuesday morning, seems to have come out of the surgery with little pain. He's already back to being his normal, happy self if just a little tender.

Promise pictures soon. He's grown into a big, beautiful 9 month old baby and we are starting to put away his 3-6 month clothes (remember, he supposed to be 6 months old) and put him in his 6-9s.