We've Come A Long Way, Baby!

Christmas 2010 has come and gone but the impact on our spiritual lives will remain. From watching little tikes innocently singing about the birth of Jesus, to enjoying choirs singing praises of/to the Christ Child, to partaking of communion in a candlelight sanctuary we were truly blessed. And, of course, on the lighter side, (no pun intended)visiting with family, sharing presents, feasting on a bountiful supply of food, reveling in each bite of sugar laden piece of candy, and then dumbly wondering how we are going to take off the extra pound/s gained. The Christmas Season is a blessed time and for those we didn't get to interact with personally we pray you had a great time of worshipping, sharing and fun. We extend our wishes for a year of peace and happiness - 2011.

Since our home was sold in Dec. we have been living in the Holiday Inn in Sioux Center and I must say our siblings and kids really fed us well while homeless. The motel supplies a good breakfast but the siblings and family really spoiled us with terrific home made meals. Thanks each one of you for being so generous and kind!

The pictures shown here were taken very near to the first Christmas we were married. Hopefully you can see now why I entitled this blog what I did. Several things stand out to me. No, the picture of us is not 400 mega pixels like we take now days. I am just glad it turned out as good as it did with the little box camera and attached flash. I am not exactly liking the looks of us or me in particular in the picture. Do people improve in time? The baby looks as good as always, no improving on perfection, right Linda? The women wore dresses or in my case a jumper that I wore the tar out of because there were not too many other dresses hanging in the closet to wear. I must mention the blouse I am wearing, how could we be so steeped in conservatism and wear a blouse that was no less see Thu than a sheer curtain. Go figure. Hand crocheted doilies for sofa arm and back - and every available table top. Drapes were of the huge flower type. Usually the wall paper vied for the same attention with its big floral design. And usually the rooms were rather small so we could have had a closed in feeling. Funny, we didn't feel that at the time. But individual creativity was not practiced, we mostly did what the rest were doing. Came across a saying the other day which I shared before which says," they laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at them because they are all the same." Don't know if it fits but we all get that feeling at one time or another. Didn't worry about that in the '50's because we all conformed pretty much.

The other picture is, again, Linda, with her great grandma Sandbulte. She was a very interesting person with many quick comments or come backs and she always loved a good time. Did that trait carry forward to anyone you know? Dad remembers one comment she always said was, "moost ales ope aten" (our poor dutch is easily seen in how we spelled those words). Anyway, it meant "must eat it all" or a more literal translation "must all up eat.". That probably shows because she did what she said and it probably carried through to us and you kids when you were told to eat all that was on your plate. I came by that practice honestly - honest! She and my grandma Kuyper lived across the road from each other and did a lot of visiting together and would have tea together. Tea time came at 2:30, between dinner at 12 and coffee time at 4:oo. And those "breaks" would not be observed without a cookie or rusk with cheese. Olden days - weird, fun, interesting, simple, complicated, hard work, etc. Good times!

Life is so different now. Now in a few days we will take off in the Montana for family in Colorado for a few days and for work in Arizona for 3 months. Then we will spend time with California kids and a couple of months in places we haven't decided on yet and then back to Sioux Center for activities we want to take part in in June and spend time with the families around Sioux Center. Since we sold our home we plan to RV full time for awhile before we settle down. No one could have convinced us at that Christmas in 1954 that we would be living like this or that we would even have wanted to live like this. Now we find it exciting and the work fulfilling and even strengthening to our physical well-being.

Hope this finds each of you well and enjoying a good life. If anyone is in the Mesa, AZ area in Jan. or Feb. give us a call. Our phone number is 712-441-4370 and our mail address is a forwarding address _ 3700 S. Westport Ave. #97, Sioux Falls, SD 57106. All mail sent to that address will get to us no matter where we are.

Love you all, Dad and Mom/Wilmer and Marilyn

I could never write a book because I would ramble on for 1000 pages.