I hope all of my students are enjoying a safe and fun-filled Christmas vacation.  My grandson, Brandon, enjoyed the wrappings as much as the gifts!  Having a house full of “20 somethings” (six in all) meant LOTS of food and lots of interesting discussions.  They my parents, who are in their 80’s, were also with us so we had most of the possible generations covered!  Besides eating, we watched movies (The Kingdom, Syriana and Kite Runner - so far!), played cards (”500″ and Cribbage), and watched lots of football (Go Pack!). 

My Dad, who is 80, loves telling stories from the past.  I always seem to learn something new about our family that I didn’t know.  He told us this story:  Growing up on a small, poor dairy farm in WI (1930’s-40’s), he told about the problem of keeping the milk cold enough for collection.  It had to be kept less than 50 F and they didn’t have refrigeration.  So during the summer the boys of the farm walked to their school (about a mile away) to collect cold water from the school well and carried it back to tubs that held the farm milk containers that were waiting for delivery.  I never knew about that one.  We also reminisced about tobagganning on the hills of his family farm when I was a little girl.  I took the time to thank him for pulling me UP the hill on the tobaggin ‘many a time!’  I also remember when he told me I was ‘old enough’ to walk up by myself!  Ha. 

Over the holidays, did you share any family stories? Did you hear any new stories from the memories of your grandparents, or aunts and uncles? 

Let me encourage you take the time to thank someone in your family for something extra that they’ve done or do for you.  It’s a great way to start the New Year.

Happy New Year … and see you all soon!

PS:  I drove my parents out to KFHS.  They were a bit amazed at its size! They took time to look at the good student work around the room and were impressed!  I bragged about ya’all!