March 13, 2016- Easter

Easter is early this year, just 2 weeks away. Hopefully, our cousins Tony and Debbie will be coming over then. They have been doing so for the past couple of years.

   I remember that it snowed a little on this holiday one time in the early 80s. Mom made a hen and it’s chicks in ceramics. We still have this and most of the other decorations, including 2 bunnies made by Cindy and Jessica’s mother.

   We celebrated it at Grandma Next- Door’s house. She liked giving us gifts like bunny banks and stuffed animals, like the Bunny family – Mr. and Mrs., Peter and CT (Cotton Tail). We got the first 2 one year and the other the next. I wish that I still had them.

   My brother and I would usually pick candy as the item that we would give up for Lent, the 40 days before Easter. We were pretty good at sticking to this. We were so glad when we could start eating it again.

   We did the no meat on Fridays thing then too. I forget when we stopped doing that; maybe 1984. Mom made us meals like noodles with cottage cheese or breaded flounder. We would usually have tuna fish or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.

    My brother and I liked getting the Gertrude Hawk candy. I preferred the dark chocolate. The peanut butter Smidgens were so good. We sometimes got the white chocolate crosses. My favorite jelly beans were the pink and purple ones. Mom liked the Russell Stover Maple Cream eggs.

   Our meal was always ham, kielbasa, Farmers Cheese, dyed hard boiled eggs, babka (bread), beets with horseradish, potato salad and coleslaw.

   We’d use the Paas egg dye kit most of the time. We dyed eggs with Cindy and Jessica at their grandparent’s house once.  Mike reminded me about this. I think that we have a picture of us doing so. It was fun looking for the hidden eggs. I would always try to find more than my brother.

    Dad would always go back into the church for extra palms on Palm Sunday. We had some of the palms in our nativity set.

   I know that we used to watch the Peanuts special but I can’t really remember it. I should watch it next Easter. There were a couple of other specials too; I think that one was called “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” which is also a song.

 

 

1975

1985

Mr. Bunny

Mrs. Bunny

Bunny Bank

Babka

 

Kielbasa with horseradish and beets

 

Note- These photos are from the internet- bunny bank, Here Comes Peter Cottontail VHS, Babka, and other food after that.

 

July 22, 2015- My Brother- Part 2

  

 

Mike hit me in the face with his Tonka Jeep accidentally which knocked out my baby tooth. I liked playing with that jeep and other toys of his like the Big Wheel from Grandma at the farm, Lincoln Logs and his action figures.

   He didn’t have that many- a few each of “Battlestar Galactica”, Star Trek -The Motion Picture, and Star Wars. Missy had a whole Darth Vader head case full of the latter; we were always jealous of our cousin for this.

   I’d look at his “Star Trek” slides on my View Master which I still have. He got rid of his but kept the slides which is kind of strange. The “Yogi Bear/Huckleberry Hound” and Scenic Wonders of America are both of ours. I have Sleeping Beauty, The Rescuers and the Muppets.

   We both had the Rescuers lunch boxes, after that it was Tupperware ones. We were really into the Disney movies when we were kids. Mom said that they took us to see many of these films at Ed and Aunt Joan’s theaters. I only remember a few like The Jungle Book, The Rescuers and Sleeping Beauty.

   We still have 3 Disney records- It’s a Small World, The Best of Disney (2 album set) and Mary Poppins. I remember some of the words to “Let’s Go Fly a Kite”. Dad played “Chim- Chim -Cheree “on his violin once.

   That’s the only time that we’ve ever heard him play. I don’t know why he gave it up- he was good. Mom said that he had taken lessons for a long time.

    Dad signed Mike up for the higher amount of judo lessons which he wasn’t too happy about. Even Mom had told Dad to go for the lower amount. My brother eventually quick going to them, but I forget how far into this he did so. He was in one competition in which he earned a yellow belt.

   We liked going to that Sears in Watchung with our parents; it was like a mini adventure for us. That town is about 25 minutes away but it seemed much further. Isn’t that the case about a lot of places when you are a kid? - Possibly not for everyone though.

   My brother would sometimes wander off in that and other department stores which was annoying and a bit worrisome. We would have an employee page him to meet up with us when we were unable to find him.

   He does the same thing these days occasionally which is still irritating. I don’t have him paged though. Sometimes I think about doing so.

   Were we weird kids for having fun when we went to such places as a furniture store like Huffman Koos and to home improvement stores – Channel and Rickel. I loved looking at the paint colors and sometimes took those sample card things home. I also liked the smell of the lumber there.  All 3 places are no longer in business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                            

 
Note- Photos from internet- stores, violin, action figures, jeep, lunch boxes, Lincoln Logs, and Big Wheel.