December 2004 Archives

On Christmas Day, we had lunch at my grandparents' "new home" in Sycamore Grove. (In the past it was always at our house - or at least since Sarah can remember.)

Grampa Paul is recuperating from a hip fracture and Gramma Mary (having already gone through two hip fractures, a stroke, a heart attack and a multitude of other ailments) is finally just wearing out after 80-plus years. (Sycamore Grove is one wing of a very posh, first class nursing home at Peabody Retirement Community in North Manchester.)

It was a simple but pleasant, stress-free dinner. Admittedly, it was kind of nice to be waited upon in our quiet, comfy and homey semi-private dining room --- and not have to clean up any mess afterwards.

Since Gramma and Grampa have moved out of their house of over thirty years, another tradition may have started today but another probably ended.

One of my fondest memories as a young girl was going to Gramma Mary's. We would bake bread and cookies and make lots of messes --- which Gramma never minded because her house was always a mess anyway! In between batches of bread or cookies, I also loved to explore her closets . . . No one has ever seen such magnificent closets, or so many closets! As a little girl, it was like discovering the National Treasure.

At Christmas, Gramma eventually began to give "closet gifts" along with other presents. When she first started this tradition, we were afraid of getting some ugly or useless "white elephant" gift. Instead, "closet gifts" were usually the most precious and favored gifts --- and remain my favorites today.

This Christmas, Sarah and Rachel probably received the last closet gifts from Gramma Mary. She gave each of them a ring that she had once worn. They were genuinely surprised and delighted.

Shortly after dinner, we were also pleasantly surprised by a visit from Deaconess Sabine, her husband Kerby and daughter Hannah as they spread their traditional Christmas cheer.

You can make or break, but never erase, tradition.

This is another VERY LUCKY guy who has three little sisters that WORSHIP him!!!

We were fortunate to have a visit from Bubby for a few days. The girls clung to him the entire time. We all miss getting to see him more often. Ditto for Big Sissy Tracy. Unfortunately, she couldn't get away for the holidays, but at least we got to see her in Atlanta over Thanksgiving.

Rachel show off her culinary skills

You may not be able to see the details in the photo, but Rachel made "chocolate cups" by dipping balloons into melted chocolate. Once they cooled she popped the balloons and filled the cups with fresh fruit . . . and then had fun topping them with Reddi Wip and then served them to us on Christmas Eve. (She learned it all on a TV program the day before.)

You can guess what she did next . . .

Daddy helps Rachel program her personal "ATM" bank.

I guess the ole piggy bank just isn't sophisticated enough for this generation!

Who would have ever thought that we would give our pre-teen a cell phone?
What kind of precedent are we setting?
Do we really understand what we are doing????

Yep, it's all about connectivity!

(If you don't have a teen or pre-teen yet, just wait. You'll understand.)

Jeff, Penny, Rick, Samantha, Gramma Jane, Grampa David, Steve, Sarah, Erin, Rachel

We've been VERY GOOD this year Santa!

On Christmas Eve, there is some magical power that somehow overcomes their usual reluctance to pose for Mommy.

It has become a Jungbauer tradition to build gingerbread houses before Christmas. In years past, we have transformed the entire garage into a gingerbread studio --- and filled it with a flurry of giggly, wiggly girls.

The tradtion actually began with our friends, the Myers, who hosted our first gingerbread party. It was a wonderful multi-generation afternoon of making memories with our dear friend Pat Oppenheim and her 90-some year-old father, Mr. Harrison.

We quickly discovered that the adults were much too helpful --- and needed their own gingerbread houses to build!

Here is Steve's masterpiece from last year.

This year was just as chaotic as always despite a smaller number of construction workers. My nephew, Jeffery was definitely the most intense worker, and also the youngest at age four. He outlasted all the girls and paid the most attention to detail.

Jeffery proudly displays (and tastes) his masterpiece along with his sister Samantha.

Obviously, all that work was exhausting . . .

Sarah's basketball team rang the bell for the Salvation Army at Wal-Mart today. Passersby were also treated to Christmas carols and lots of great smiles. There weren't very many people that could pass by without dropping something in the bucket. One gentleman was so inspired their good will and cheer that he dropped three one-hundred dollar bills in the bucket!