"Little Jesus of the BHV in stable condition."
     Headline: BHV is a Paris department store where they found an abandoned infant Friday.

First off, I gained 2 pounds, didn't walk, didn't do diddly else. A typical end-of-the-year week.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette had an editorial about "Arkansas Christmases." This raised my memories of our 2.5 Arkansas Christmases.

The first, 1972, is the year we got back from England. We'd spent Thanksgiving at my aunt's house in Andover, Massachusetts, and picked up our cat Pouncy and dog Heinz in Boston and gone to Pittsburgh. Rich was going to go check in at the new base in Blytheville Arkansas (me, disbelieving, "ARKANSAS??? They still have rural shacks and segregation and nobody can read!" but we'd just had 4 years of a terrific tour and one must pay Uncle back in kind. There was no way we were getting Albuquerque.) and find a house, then come back for Christmas. My Mom had last seen us at Christmastime three years previously, so I asked my Mother-in-law to ask her along as well. Right around here Nixon decided to make his landslide victory worthwhile by bombing North VietNam back into the stone age, as had been suggested in '64. This meant everyone on base was off spreading incendiary Peace On Earth, Dammit, and so Rich was essentially handed the keys and told to base-sit. He couldn't leave to come back for us. So, it was me, Mom, three kids and a cat and a dog visiting my inlaws.

The children, pets, and I were given the master bedroom that belonged to my inlaws, and I'm not sure where they went, I think to Carol's bedroom, and where did she go? I don't remember. Carol was a high school freshman, and three of the brothers lived at home, till the two college kids also arrived. I was definitely feeling like a fifth wheel, like the daughter-in-law. I have always gotten along with my mother-in-law (I'm the first daughter-in-law) but this was an especially stressful time. I felt like slime, like the unwanted wart on the family face. (I will reiterate, this was nothing to do with how I was treated and everything to do with my own insecurities.) Then one day, the 16th, I believe, Mom Y. and two sisters-in-law and Carol went shopping. At one point, my mother-in-law said something about being out with her "favorite daughters." Suddenly I felt like I belonged, like I, too, was loved. (Sis-in-law Bonnie, being right there, was accepted and a favorite, but I had been really unhappy about my place as a stranger.) After that, my Mom came, and I sometimes felt like I was more in tune with my mother-in-law. My Mom had all sorts of ideas on how I was messing up with child-raising, how the son was spoiled, how everything was all wrong.

I have a number of good memories of this year. Babcha's birthday, with the whole family coming over. Dave and Frank and Paul doing a skit involving antlers and a red nose on David and me absolutely falling about laughing. Shopping at Children's Palace ("the password is FUN!") with all the females in the family, and #1 sis-in-law getting the kids a huge oresent. We had ordered from Sears before we left England, so all the presents were there when we arrived. My inlaws giving the girls jewelry boxes and Steve getting a real toy, to my annoyance. Pouncy getting lost but coming back the next day. Steve falling down the stairs because his shoes were too big. I had to go down to the neighborhood drugstore to get a power of attorney notarized so Rich could buy us a house. (Probably the best house we ever had, in fact.) I was just about to go off with Dave in his Ford Pinto (griping that we were all going to die, darn it!) when Rich called. Three of the brothers lived off with their own families, but this was when I realized that I couldn't possibly name a favorite, as each is special and lovable in his own distinct way. It turned out to be a great Christmas, after all. Paul helped me rent a car (we had no credit card) and the gal at the counter was so smitten I think I could have left with a Caddy, no problem. My Mom and I drove down to Blytheville with the kids and pets after Christmas. (She scared me half to death somewhere around Columbia, trying to both take the exit and stay on the road.) It was an OK Christmas, but would have been much better if Rich had been there.

Rich remembers nothing about this year.

1973: Rich spent 6 months in Guam, still bombing the heck out of the Viet Cong. I'd been less than thrilled with him, with our life together, with Arkansas, with the whole thing. I'd suddenly been presented with a job, teaching kindergarten, to start in January, and I'd been at the classroom most days learning the job and who the children were. I was also in the church choir. Rich, back, was to be the lector at Midnight Mass. He practiced at home, then stunned everyone in the church (well, not our own kids, who were on the verge of comatose in the front pew) by SINGING the declamation: "Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord." The choir then echoed it. He was great.

1974: Rich had been RIFfed (let go) from the Air Force, and spent 6 months looking for work, living on the $86/week unemployment Arkansas offered, housepainting with a friend, and scrounging for pecans. He finally had interviewed for a job in Northern California with an Air Force Base, and been accepted, and we were to leave in a week. The tree, I remember, was really pretty. We had no one to buy the house, and were in a bit of a panic. (See this entry.) I think the movers came almost a week later.

This year, I believe an Arkansas Christmas was really cold and possibly even snowy. Not when we were there!

****

This year, 1998, Monica called on the day, as did the Midwestern family. Bernadette, Wowbagger, and I went to Shakespeare in Love and I want to see it again, and to own the tape. GOOOOOOOD movie! We came home and I cooked a pork roast, roast potatoes, and broccoli, so we had a good time.

There was a man who disappeared in the subzero temperatures last week. They found his body last Thursday. The Bee states, "L** E********, who had been leading searches on horseback. said there's a beautiful oak tree on his property in Allendale that he is going to cut in Black's honor..."
Say WHAT???
I have informed the family that when I go, they might PLANT a tree, but no cutting one down, OK??

I have finally posted part of November 24, seeing the Carnegie Museum.