Jack's Christmas Interview with Barb

Jack needed to interview someone about Christmas in 2018 and he chose Mimi aka Barbara DeBruyn who at the time was 70 years old.

Here is a summary of his learnings:

Barb's "childhood" Christmases were pretty consistent from as early as she can remember until she was married (~20).   Basically the mid-50's until the mid-60's.  She would typically get ~5 presents for Christmas.  A gift she really wanted as a girl was a little doll that would wet its pants! 

Her favorite gift(s) were emerald rings she got over subsequent Christmases.  Allegedly, Rick forgot he gave her an emerald ring one year and the next year got her a very similar one.

One of her least favorite gifts was a life-sized doll that her Aunt made for her!

The main stores for Christmas shopping were Sears and JC Penneys.

A typical Christmas would almost always be white (living in Muskegon, MI) and included a trip to their grandparents for dinner.   Her family always had large, real Christmas trees.  Aside from the tree, their decorations included a nativity scene and mistletoe.

Her favorite Christmas song was Jingle Bells.   Traditions included baking cookies with her Mom - and then eating the cookies.  She especially liked the fudge.  Christ dinner included ham, potatoes, vegetables and cookies and they ate in the dining room.

One of her most memorable Christmases was when she surprised Rick with a new Yamaha waverunner in '97.

Barbara would write letters to Santa and recalls doing a play in school about the birth of Jesus (Catholic school).

Mom's Peppermint Pie

This recipe appeared as an add-on from a 2008 post but here it gets the full bill.  This was always one of my favorites.  Merry Christmas!

Mom's Famous Peppermint Stick Pie: 

1 piecrust shell, baked and cooled 

1 envelope unflavored gelatin 

1/2 cup cold water 

1/4 teaspoon peppermint flavoring 

3 egg whites 

1/3 cup of sugar (granulated, not powdered) 

1 cup whipping cream, whipped 

1/2 cup crushed peppermint stick candy 

2 tablespoons crushed peppermint stick candy 

Have baked piecrust shell ready. Soften gelatin in water in 1-quart saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until mixture bubbles and gelatin is dissolved. Take from heat. Cool. Stir in peppermint flavoring. Beat egg whites in 3-quart bowl with electric mixer at high speed until foamy. Beat in sugar gradually until stiff and glossy. Beat in gelatin mixture at low speed until mixed. Fold in whipped cream and 1/2 cup candy. Heap into shell. Chill 2 hours, or until firm. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of candy just before serving.

Now you can use the "hard" peppermint candy but I always preferred the softer "Bob's" brand of sticks.

Christmas Queen!

Merry Christmas!

Miracle Bar Menu

The 2019 Miracle Bar menu was solid. What will 2020 be like?!

Kringle

The famous Danish Kringle.  Grandpa would always ship us a 3-pack for the holidays.  These days, Trader Joe's provides a much better deal and you get one - which is enough!

Thanksgiving 2020!

Thanksgiving selfie with the DeBruyn clan.  How Petey got so posed for this shot is a miracle!

Swimming on Thanksgiving!

Elle enjoyed lots of swimming over Thanksgiving!

Tur-Duc-Ken

The Tur-Duc-Kens are our so Christmas can't be far off!

Coca-Cola Tic-Tacs! Reviewed

The Coca-Cola tic-tac is actually pretty good.  It has a real Coke flavor, albeit a flat one.  I'd give them 4 stars out of 5.

Big Win for A-State!

A-State scored one of their best wins in years in 2020.  K-State's next game was a win against Oklahoma!

Amtrak!

On the way to St. Augustine I had to wait for a passing Amtrak train.  I hadn't seen one of these in years.  I did recall the one year, as a kid, we took Amtrak to visit Omaha.  We caught it in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas of all places and railed up to Chicago before catching another train to Omaha.

Dr. Publix!

First Day of School!

This above pic was Elle's excitement on the First Day of School Eve!  7th grade for Jack and 4th for Elle!

Masks at the ready!

Jack up to a Men’s Size 8!

Chicken Paws!

We ran across a huge case of chicken paws at Wal-mart the other day.  

Honda Rebel

Dad would have been psyched to see Bill pick up a new bike.  The Honda Rebel!

2020’s Birthday Cake? Fondue!

Jack opted to forgo the traditional birthday cake and replaced it with chocolate fondue.  Tonight we made it happen.  We all agreed it was amazing.  Not shown is the sea salt which we had on our plates and dipped post the chocolate dunk!

Red Sox Game ‘82!!!

I stumbled across an old ticket from one of our summer vacations back in '82!  It was a trip to Boston.  I think this was the year Dad attended some sort of summer course at MIT and we tagged along... In any event we went to this game at Fenway to watch a Red Sox victory.  Game details and Boston's impressive roster below...

Jack Turns 13!

Thursday was Jack's day!  It began with a big breakfast!

Continued with some beach time!

Then a great steak dinner!

Horse Camp! Volume 2

Elle recently attended her 2nd horse camp of the summer.  They are fairly easy to social distance at, so long as you don't count animals.  Her horse, Bear, is featured in the first pic.  In the 2nd is Max the dog.  For some reason, he rally took to Elle!

Grandpa Comstock circa 1967!

Let the scanning begin!  Bill has acquired a good photo scanner and will begin scanning the best of the hundreds of pictures that landed with from Mom and Dad.  Here's a good one of Grandpa Bill Comstock conveniently dated 1967!

Bread Machine Fun!

Elle and I baked a cake in the bread machine.  It comes out looking like a loaf of bread so we slide it in half and frosted it.  Not the best looking cake but it ate well.  

We then baked a normal loaf of bread.

Pete & Cat

Petey is intrigued by the neighbors cat.  The cat doesn't seem to care.

The first “crop” of the season!

The tomatoes come fast and furious in Florida - then die out just as fast in the heat and humidity.  These arrived in late May and I just picked nearly the last ones yesterday.

Fourth of July!

Our Fourth of July "break" is wrapping up. The trip began with lots of fun in Milton celebrating Rick and Barb's 50 year wedding anniversary!  More pics to come...

Meatfest '20!

Jack googled, "how do I get a cat to like me".  The secrets worked as Ping engaged all week-end long!

The Kool-aid man Visits Gainesville!

Elle wants Us Out During Her Class Zoom Meeting

No parents allowed - at least not us!

Sutter Street Grill Closing :(

We caught wind that our favorite breakfast place in Folsom has closed for good.  A very sad day for downtown Folsom.  Glad we made it back once over the summer!

Kids working at distancing!

Redington Beach in our Summer Kickoff!

The Bacon Master

Good Ice Cream

It seems to become harder and harder to find good ice cream.  Tillamook never fails and is our brand of choice.

Lucky Jack!