duchesses

Weekend Duchesses

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Weekend before last, the older Duchess came to visit.  We listened to Christmas music riding in the jeep and kept watch for Christmas lights.  Louis Armstrong’s “Zat you Santa Claus” came on the radio.  She thought that was pretty funny and wanted to hear it again.  I had to explain I couldn’t make it play again on my jeep radio, but we could look it up on the computer.  We did look it up and listened to it.  She had her mother play it when she got home and Duchess giggled and laughed again.

We also listened to “Mele Kalikimaka” and I taught her how to say it so she could tell her mother “Merry Christmas” in Hawaiian.  We forgot to do that, so I called her on her Daddy’s phone and reminded her and she went and told her while I waited. 

The younger Duchess came to visit this past weekend.  We attended the Faux Real Trade Days in Liberty Saturday and had a fun time.  It was raining, but most of the facility is under cover.  We braved the cold Sunday evening and went to Jasper to see the lights at Sandy Creek Park.  She loved them!  She said it was the best thing ever! I took her home in time for a Christmas luncheon party her mother hosted Monday.  There were some ladies there who adore her and our daughter.  The household is coming together and the decorations and table were lovely!

As noted last week and again this week, I have been doing Christmas time.  Funny thing is I just bought most of my Christmas presents this week.  I managed to get some wrapped up and some more boxed and ready to wrap. I have all my groceries.  I got them ahead of time and picked up the fresh produce today.  I need to get some cookies baked and mix up a few things before Friday.

Then, both of the Duchesses will be here!  Christmas will be wild and loud with those two in the house!  I do hope the weather permits our getting outside to play.  They are big enough to be outside on their own some actually.  Growing up.  Time, please slow down just a bit?

Good Days

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Saturday was a sad and beautiful day.  One of my best friends laid her mother to rest. Our pastor, the son-in-law, spoke beautifully of his mother-in-law.  Everything was perfect.

Afterward, I went to our daughter’s new house.  It’s an old house really, in the heart of Liberty. It oozes charm and is full of light.  I did a few things around the yard. 

Then, Sunday, the whole crew turned out to move them in to their new home.  Our son and his bride and Duchess came. My sister-friend from the time I was ten years old came. Our daughter’s dear co-worker and friend came. Rock, of course, was there with the cattle trailer. 

We loaded every vehicle and the trailer and headed to Liberty.  Unloaded, baked some store-bought lasagna, laughed and talked.  The Duchesses had a gingerbread house to work on thanks to a foreseeing daughter-in-love.  The ice box got thoroughly cleaned and both ovens used.  We had cheesecake to honor the memory of one of ours gone on before us. 

We brought a redone table and chairs for the dining room.  We need a lot more chairs! But the Duchesses had a spot to sit to eat and then later, to decorate the gingerbread houses. 

The centerpiece is from Mother.  It is her crocheted doily and her grandfather’s buttermilk pitcher.  I wanted our daughter to have something from the grandmother who adored her so much the very first time we gathered there. 

I might be as excited, if not more, about our girl’s house.  We spent all of Saturday before last cleaning it.  I realized later what is so endearing to me about it.  The windows in the front rooms, the oldest section, have windows like my old house.  Tall with sills close to the floor.  Reminds me of a house I have loved most of my life.  The old house still exists, empty and changed some, in a museum of structures.  The house still exists even more in my dreams and imagination.  Now, at our daughter’s, there is a structure I really can go to and visit with family or sit with a cup of coffee and feel the light.

After I had driven by the house before the final signing, I told my daughter I finally understood why for years, my heart had been saying: go home to Liberty.  Yes.  I foresee many more good days to come in a new old house in Liberty, Texas.