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MUMBLINGS December 21, 2006
There are a lot of lucky people in this great country of
ours, "One of which I am Whom"!
Even though I won't be ninety-one for two more months,
there are indications that I have grown older. Remember old age is a full time
job. One indication is we don't look forward to Christmas as eagerly as we did
in our younger age. For this there are many reasons. One is that we do not get
as excited about receiving presents because we don't need as many things as in
our youth. Another as in our case, you have to select a lot of presents to give
your family. We are fortunate to have 36 members of our immediate family,
including Karlene and me, two sons and their spouses, eight grandchildren,
their spouses and fifteen great-grandchildren.
In the main, we find it easier to give cash. Karlene came
up with the idea a few years back to give the mothers of the small children
cash and let them buy the presents as they would know better what they like or
need.
Karlene and I were discussing recently about how lucky we
are as all members of our immediate family are in good health. In fact in the
last 50 years, the only deaths in my immediate family have been my brother and
his wife and my first wife Evelyn. Karlene had also lost her husband.
We appreciate receiving presents and Christmas cards. I
quit sending holiday greetings several years ago, because my list had exceeded
six hundred and people would ask me to add them to my card giving. I enjoyed
it, but it got to be a lot of trouble, keeping my list up to date and also
somewhat expensive. We do really enjoy receiving them.
I try to get all 36 of my family together at least one
day each year and smaller groups at other times. Since we have two sons, Jimmy
Jr. and Wade, they have to give priority to their selection of celebration for
their Christmas Day to their wives, as ladies get first choice. We cooperate by
having our big day, one or two Saturdays before Christmas Day. So far, it has
worked out fine and this year we celebrated the occasion and exchanged gifts on
Saturday, December 16, with over 30 present. It is difficult to get everyone
present because the little ones get colds or some such problem that prevents
their attendance. However, one year recently we were able to get a picture of
every member of our clan.
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