In an effort to keep this from becoming a blog of Dione's memories, and to get y'all involved cuz it's getting lonely here, I'm instituting the first official cookbook poll. I'm even pretending to keep this one food-related, though I can't promise future questions will be.So I'm the last of my generation on both the Nelson and McGraw sides, which is cool and all, but I can't help but feel like I missed out on a lot. I know there were big family gatherings with all the cousins and aunts and uncles because I've seen pictures and I actually remember a few of them. But I was pretty young so the memories are foggy.
For this poll, I want to know what you remember about family gatherings. And since I said this was about food... in the Travis family they still have big family gatherings and we're always expected to bring something for the meal. Some people bring something different every time
but others are asked to bring the same thing every time or quite frequently. So Grandma Travis either brings the famous crab dip or her dump cake. And Scott almost curled up and died one year at Mom's house because it wasn't Thanksgiving without his mom's chili-cheese dip. (We made a run to the store and made a batch to shut him up...errr... to save his holiday.) So what was it like at Nelson and McGraw family get-togethers? Was everybody expected to bring something? And if so, do you remember what? Like what might Aunt Marge have shown up with? Who baked the pies? Who mashed the potatoes? If you were old enough to cook, what did you take?Just click on "comments" below, to answer. Feel free to answer as many times as you wish. Please let your answers wander off into the completely non-food-related and don't forget to sign your name... or feel free to remain anonymous if you have an
y particularly juicy information.(In case you're wondering about the pictures, they're related to MY memories... I would happily add pictures relating to other people's memories... if anyone would actually like to share some of those memories. )
(Photo at left...what Barbie might have worn t
o the ball)(at left, poor Skipper. Okay, I didn't even notice the burned toes before. Do I have to get Danny, burner of the toes, on here to verify that's MY Growing-Up Skipper on eBay? )
From Darin: This is my memory of my beautiful Francie doll. I am bracing myself for the worst and have prepared alternative transportation for her.
(Remember at the First Annual Sisters' Reunion, when Deni had Tammy Dolls For Everyone? That was the COOLEST THING EVER.)Speaking of the First Annual Sisters' Reunion, now that we're finally so close to scheduling the 2nd, I'm trying to outdo Dione by finding every pic SHE posted to her gallery and POSTING IT myself:
10 comments:
I remember some big party in the garage... I think it might have been Christmas... when mom left me and Dan alone in the garage (which had temporarily been transformed from just a place to keep the car into party central...lined with tables...while the washing machine & dryer were hidden away with all the other embarassing appliances like the toaster) while all the grown-ups were partying elsewhere...and I sat there and ate all the marshmallows and mandarin oranges out of the molded jello salad... I'm not sure what Danny was doing at the time but it had to be equally as bad or worse in order for us to make the pact that we wouldn't tell on each other.
So I remember jello... but I was such a picky eater that i don't remember much food-related stuff from back then. I remember the part I always looked forward to the most was gorging on the rolls or bread and then later the dessert... Can't remember much else that thrilled me.
I remember only one holiday at Delbert and Fran's... nothing about the food but I remember playing with Darcy in her room and thinking she had better toys than I did...and that Mom and Dad were bad parents for not providing me with cool stuff like the Flintstone colorforms she had.
I just added a pic of the colorforms to the original message and then had to run off and find a picture of Growing Up skipper because when I think of Darcy I think of the time I spent a week or two at Grandma & Grandpa McGraw's with Darcy one summer and how she immediately confiscated my brand new Growing Up Skipper because she said that as the oldest, she got first pick of the toys. And I remember going along with it because she was the older, cooler cousin and how we pretended we were on some cool vacation staying at a luxurious hotel...and how she taught me cool things like all the words to Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini and shared all kinds of exciting info that I wasn't allowed to speak of to adults...
I remember a big get-together at somebody's house but I'm not sure if it was Delbert's or Bud's... I remember hanging out in the garage with the guys for a bit and I remember adoring Uncle Bud cuz he was funny...and would always break into "Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling..." every time he saw Dan...while being scared to death of him at the same time... cuz he was so loud and gruff...
I remember a million neighborhood parties in the garage on Groom, where mom cleaned for days in advance and drug the kitchen counter applicances downstairs to put on the washer/dryer, then put little towels over the appliances that she drug down there, so it would appear that we didn't own any or something, i dunno. But mom and dad had some rowdy fun with their friends. I only remember Lipton Soup Onion Dip from those parties--the Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass, Nat King Cole, and lots of neighborhood parents dancing.
The most elegant of all was when the couples would dress up to go to the Baby Bear Ball in formal attire--dressed just like Barbie Dolls in long gowns. I have yet to do something similar in my entire adult life, but Marianne and I just took it for granted that grownups got really dressed up and went to "balls."
Yeah, I remember a couple of those parties... Danny and I being banned to our rooms but sneaking out now and then, getting woozy on the smell of perfume and cigarettes... Danny tricking me into trying the "grown-up drinks"... Mom being transformed into this totally different person... everyone laughing and dancing.
So true about the formal grown-up parties... I've never been to a ball either. Which reminds me that Amanda got all dressed up the other day in her plastic high heels, princess gown and some of my make-up and told me she was going to the bar. What? Huh? How do you know about going to a bar?
Took me a while to figure it out. Makes me sort of question my character that I immediately jumped to the conclusion that my 3-year-old was playing "skanky-ho-goin'-to-the-bar" instead of "pretty-princess-going-to-the-ball."
Baby Bear Ball: Hey, this will make you mad--but Denise owned that actual ball gown in the Barbie picture. Barbie really had to squirm into it. We probably ruined it by the time you were born--left it out in the rain, or something.
Sorry, but this sounds more fun: "skanky-ho-goin'-to-the-bar. Now that sounds like the kind of Barbies Marianne and I used to play.
Ha! I know...that's why I picked that gown. Yeah by the time I got it, the sparkles had worn off of the boobs and a few other important places, but Barbie still wore it like the skanky ho she was.
Yep, now that you mention it, a lot of the Barbies that were passed down to me did sort of have that been-around-the-block-skanky-ho-goin'-to-the-bar look to them. But those were the fun ones, like good old Aunt Midge. And then there were the Ken dolls who had their arms blown off in the war.
They were still quite an improvement over Dan's GI-Joe who used to beat the crap out of the Barbies. Until Suntan Tuesday Taylor and the Bionic Woman doll got ahold of him. They Handled It. I understand they never found Joe's body.
Not sure if you saw Francie the last time you were here but Amanda still plays with her nearly every day. Don't know how to break this to you, but she... well she's not doing too good these days and...she might lose a leg soon. Do they have wheelchairs for Barbies?
OK, I never had a Decent Doll. And now Amanda has ruint Francie??? 1st Tammy got a haircut from Denise, which was kind of cool--my Tammy had "more edge" than the others. Then Scooter got a haircut from Denise, which was never cool, but I'm over it and have realized it Will Never Grow Out. “Rusty” (formerly known as Scooter) was kind of “butch” after that and developed her own new personality. (Sidenote, whoever told Denise she was Mattel's choice for Official Mattel Hairstylist w/ Scissors? Obviously, Darcey was her protégé)
But Francie is going to Lose a Leg? Ohhhhhhhhh no. The pink, pliable, Bendable Leg? You need to have Amanda call me RIGHT NOW. That doll can't be more than 35 yrs old. If Amanda had only taken Proper Care Of it.
OK, Breathe, Darin, BREATHE. We got the “Wheelchair Becky” for Courtney years ago. I'll rip that little Becky out of her Collectible Wheelchair so Francie can have it. Francie’s lifestyle will hardly change. (You may remember the ensuing Mattel scandal of handicapped Wheelchair Becky, when it was discovered that her wheelchair didn't fit through the Barbie Dreamhouse Doorways--I believe the ADA was passed shortly afterward. Handicapped Becky, who appeared to have a promising career as a photographer, has never been seen since.)
P.S.: AMANDA, if Francie loses her leg, it’s because it was a very, very OLD leg. Always rember that Auntie Darin loves you waaaaaaaaaay more than Francie. Healthy families deal with these kinds of problems, and you and I will Get Through It. It probably happened because your mother probably bent Francie’s leg way too many times when Francie was her doll, or Francie would be Fine Now. LOVE, AUNT DARIN
Memories. . .food, parties, Baby Bear Ball, those were the days.
Darin, do you remember the night that I went into labor with Dione? Your dad went to bed early and told me to "wake him up when it was time for me to go to the hospital". I walked the floor by myself for a long time, then Deni got up and kept me company for a while, then you got up and also kept me company. Then you started talking about those "cinnamon balls" or thingies as Dione would probably call them. You made them often and I loved them. I think you need to add that recipe for them on this blog. You went to the kitchen and started to make them when all of a sudden it was time for me to get to the hospital. I think you were a little peeved that I would leave so abruptly. You did make them for me when I got home from the hospital, with you adorable new little sister. I probably never thanked you for them. . . so THANK YOU!!!
Okay Darin, I don't want this to get ugly. I know you're under some stress. Clearly the Francie thing came as somewhat of a shock so perhaps you're saying some things you don't mean.
I am sorry about Francie. Yes, the pink, pliable, Bendable Leg. It bends in all directions now. And I take responsibility for that, not because I mistreated her as a child but because maybe I should have returned her to you a couple of years ago when I'd planned to. But after I dragged Francie down from the attic, got her all washed up in her drab blue checked dress and brushed her mousy brown hair that you never could do a thing with, Amanda fell in love with her. She didn't want the pretty new blonde Barbie I tried to give her instead. She wanted Francie. She loves Francie. And leg or no leg I think she'll always love Francie just as much as you do.
And I'm real sorry about those dolls with the bad haircuts but Darin, at least your dolls had HEADS. Yeah that's right. Complain all you want but you were the lucky one whether you know it or not.
When I was looking for that picture of Growing-Up-Skipper, I came across an eBay auction for a naked Growing-Up-Skipper body. That's right, no head. And immediately I knew: somebody is selling my doll collection.
I quickly did a search for Malibu Barbie with burnt off toes and then for Moveable Tennis Barbie with revolutionary twist 'n' turn waist held together with scotch tape. But obviously someone has already snapped them up. So the next time you feel like crying over your Barbies with bad haircuts, you stop and think. Because oh what naked headless Growing-Up-Skipper wouldn't give for a bad haircut right about now.
Again, I'm sorry about Francie but she'll survive. Please send the wheel chair as soon as you can. Send Becky too if you want and they can share the wheelchair. Lord knows I don't need Courtney on my back about how I screwed up Becky's life. Maybe I can build them both a wheelchair accessible house out of old record albums and make them beds out of kleenex boxes because that's as good as it ever got for my Barbies. My dolls didn't have fancy powder blue sportscars like yours and Deni's did. They rode around in an old smelly roller skate. But you don't hear me complaining about it now, do you?
Oh and Mom... Does Darin remember the night you went into labor with me? You had to go and bring up that story didn't you? Don't think I haven't been reminded of that night hundreds of times over the years... "And then Dione came along and botched up everything..." I'm sorry about the cinnamon thingies. (Sigh...) Can I help it that she picked a dumb time to bake the cinnamon thingies?
Now she knows darn well that had she chosen to wait another 36 years or so and baked ME some cinnamon thingies when she showed up at my house in the middle of the night cuz I was in labor with Alyssa that it would have been much appreciated and I would have happily eaten several dozen of them while pacing the house and trying to avoid actually leaving for the hospital... and then we could have left a few at home for Scott so he wouldn't have had to keep the doctor waiting while he ran to the cafeteria for breakfast.
Oh but then for the next 36 years I'd have to hear about how I puked up all the cinnamon thingies that she'd painstakingly rolled and baked for me. Never mind.
Mom, My therapist has advised me not to post my recipe for Cinnamon PUFFS until we have at least two more sessions.
If anybody CARES, they were called CINNAMON PUFFS, Thank You Very Much, not “thingies.” While I’m Over the way you ditched my hard work that morning, choosing to deliver that insufferable little red tomato into the world instead of eating my cooking, my 11-yr old cooking self doesn’t blame you, just Dione. My recollection was that you were very apologetic about not being “able to eat them, but they looked delicious.” I do appreciate your thanks.
I will always remember Danny’s arrival, his cute lil 6-month old self flapping his arms, trying to fly, as one of the happiest days of our family’s life. Unfortunately, I do remember the day Dione was born as The Day the Runt Ruined Breakfast. I remember Dad holding Dione’s new borne self up at the window of Richmond Hospital and me thinking “and we’re supposed to think that’s “cute”? That red thing? Now Dan was CUTE, but this new delivery…”
Anyway, shortly thereafter, the Baby was brought home: I was allowed to babysit alone, because I was a Responsible 11-Yr Old, I accidentally dropped her on her head on Mom and Dad’s mattress, her coloring immediately improved, making her The Most Beautiful Baby Alive, and the rest is history. She immediately became the World’s Best Baby Sister. (Probably because the little runt didn’t die of a head injury—Lord knows Mom and Dad would have went on and on about the time Darin killed the baby FOR YEARS, it would have been worse than the Raw Chicken story.)
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