Christmas at Home (both of them)

First up are a few shots from the last few days of my two week trip back to Wisconsin. I was scheduled to leave on a Sunday night, but the flight ended up being cancelled. Teeny airport, a bit of snow, one flight a day, and some mumbo jumbo about a tail flap meant I was staying an extra night. So, Mom and I took advantage of the extra time and decided to do Christmas early! Here's us in the Christmas sweaters we gifted each other (we have such great taste) and a few shots of the snow I got to enjoy seeing because of the delay. Previously we hadn't had much at all yet in Wisconsin, so I couldn't resist taking a few shots of it.

Then, when I finally got back (home) to Seattle, we hit Christmas head on. We got our tree, decorated, wrapped gifts, and thoroughly got into the holiday spirit. It's tradition to get a real tree. No, not just tradition. A must. Ideally I would like to cut our own, like we always did when I was a kid. Unfortunately, things are a bit different in the Seattle area and apparently you can't cut your own tree without paying an arm and a leg. At least not that I've found. So, we settled for a pre-cut one. But we got it a tree farm, so that counts for something. As is also tradition - at least for Kevin and me - is making sure we get one that's small enough to shove in the back of our car. Once we got it home, we got straight to decorating. I got out the usual vintage bulbs that I got for a pittance at a garage sale one summer (remember that Lindsey??). I still love pulling them out and putting them on the tree every year.  This year there were a few new additions as well.  Two ornaments that were my Dad's as a kid. See the pretty red bird and the elf? So special. Other new additions included some new pillowcases I made from an oversized Christmas sweater we found at a thrift store awhile back and a somewhat newly thrifted Tom and Jerry's set.  This set is extra perfect for us because it's made by Homer Laughlin. Along we being the original maker of my absolute favorite Fiestaware, they also make lots of wonderful other dinnerware, which we've taken to collecting. Especially their classic restaurant / diner dishes.

Miss You

Portland Part II

At last, here is the long awaited continuation to our Portland weekender that I hinted at way back when.  Sometimes, life puts things on hold.  This time, the routine was put on hold by a two week long trip back to Wisconsin to say goodbye to my Grandma Schoeneck.  It was wonderful to be back home for an extended period of time visiting my family and friends. But it's also great to be back home in Seattle and back to the norm...which includes regular blog posts! So, can you guess what the highlight of our last day in Portland was???

ROLLER SKATING!!! Not just any roller skating, either. Roller skating around a gigantic suspended Wurlitzer pipe  organ. With our wonderful friend Rachel. And there was a photo booth.  This place was fantastically old timely from the roller skates themselves to the general decor.  There were even some wonderfully graceful older gentleman showing off what had to be the moves of their youth in the middle of the floor.  And let's just talk about that Wurlitzer for a minute. The organist sat in a little booth on the outside of the rink and he played music almost the whole time we were there.  It created the perfect ambiance. 

Rachel and I were roommates in college, but haven't lived very close enough to each other since graduating. In fact, we were pretty much an entire continent away when she moved to Pennsylvania and I moved to Washington. Now, she recently moved to the Pacific Northwest, too, and we can finally hang out on a semi-regular basis again! Yahooooo!

Memories

This place has a lot of them.

Feeling like the house was bursting with people when I was a kid. Playing with cousins inside and outside. Watching Jeopardy with Grandma. Watching Grandpa eat grapefruit and toast and drink coffee at the kitchen table. Eating food. Eating more food. Playing games at the kitchen table like Scrabble and spoons and cards. Doing everything at the kitchen table. Playing upstairs with the dollhouse. Stepping on a tack while going up those stairs. Chinese checkers. Doing craft projects with Grandma and being reminded not to use the fabric scissors for paper because you have to segregate your scissors like that. Going into the fruit cellar and smelling the sweet smell of fruit. In my memory it always smells like pears. Puzzles on the card table in the front room. Sleeping over in the back room and saying prayers with Grandma. Especially that German prayer I can’t remember anymore. Cutting our Christmas tree in the field of trees that’s now taller than the house. Repainting the house. Remodeling the whole bathroom. Eating sweet rolls. Eating butter horns. Eating kolaches. Eating soda cracker bars. Getting slippers for Christmas. Walking down to the crick. Canoeing down the crick one snowy day with Dad then carrying the canoe back up the hill. Walking down the driveway to get the mail. Watching the birds. Especially the humming birds. The red checked dress. Always the red checked dress.

Grandma Schoeneck passed way on Monday, November 19th. She was born on January 29th, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois. 8 children, 19 grandchildren, 9 (soon to be 10) great-grandchildren. To me, her passing feels like the end of an era. Grandpa Lester passed away nearly 10 years ago and my Dad passed almost 6 years ago. I know I will always be part of the Schoeneck family and feel so blessed to have so many loving relatives. But, still, in a certain way it feels like my last direct connection to the Schoeneck’s passed with Grandma. It’s symbolic for sure, and more in my head than anything else. But it’s also part of the reason I feel so thankful that I got to say a nice long goodbye to Grandma’s house, including taking these photos and reflecting on all the memories.