Homely when I was a kid, very few mothers worked so they had time to put together parties but also because they didn't get out of the house much, parties were a way to get together with friends or neighbors and away from their kids so they let loose !

In high school I went to a New Years Eve party which my friend was having in the upstairs of his parents house, while his parents had a party downstairs. Now most of us upstairs were drinking, a couple were smoking a joint in the bathroom, when the friend told us his mom had stated we could go downstairs and grab some snacks, I felt a little uncomfortable doing that because I had been drinking. When we got downstairs the room was full of smoke and smelling very much like marijuana and some of the guests were the mayor, a council women and two cops ! when we went back upstairs, the two who were smoking the joint decided that they really didn't have to hide to smoke it.

Oh my goodness, N Q - that story is unbelievable! And it definitely tops mine! Those were crazy times. When my Mom was downsizing about ten years ago we came across  a number of pictures and slides from some of their parties. Wild days! I've never had, or even attended, a party like they had! I should take care to point out these were parties held at outside venues by the group, not by my parents!

Homely I have some old neighborhood gossip that tops yours, 4 of the towns businessmen, a judge and high school superintendent and wives had a swap club where once a month they threw their housekeys into a bowl and let their wives grab the keys of the husband they wanted to go home with ! This went on for a year or more before some of the neighbors complained about the activity. The school superintendent lost his job but the rest of them continued with their jobs like normal. Because I was a kid, I only partially understand what had happened, it was quite a few years later that a mom of a friend told us exactly what happened :)

N Q - So true about the gossip... the biggest thing in our neighborhood EVER was when two couples who beloned to the Jaycees divorced and then married each others' spouses. Oh, the scandal!!!

Hope you're staying warm - we are most definitely not!!!

silversquirrel, sorry to hear that you were sick during your cruise, I hope you at least got to see some interesting things and hopefully the scenery made up for the wet/cold weather.

Homely I grew up in the same kind of neighborhood as you, mothers were all stay at home moms, no divorces and yes they wanted to get away from us enough that they let us run wild outside in places unknown to them. I don't think my parents ever knew just how far we traveled during the day but on the otherhand my town was small, only a few thousand people so neighbors probably told them just what we up to and where we had been, gossip was big in my neighborhood :)

Welcome Back, SS! We missed you! We were cruising in the Netherlands and Belgium and I keep joking that we did not see the light of day the entire time - just a lightening of the gloom between the hours of 9:30 and 3:30. And now I, too, am craving something warm! And also, I think that maybe a small boat in the winter time is just not a great idea from a health perspective - by the end of our week the entire boat had an upper respiratory virus that included vigorous coughing. It's taken me three weeks to get over it (so far). I think I need to try the Greek Islands...

Exciting to hear about another legal career! One of my dear friends was a clerk in the Md. Court of Appeals back in the very early 90s... he loved that job and he is now a very successful litigator. I did not do well enough in school to even be sniffed at for one of those jobs ;-)

N Q - My parents were surely scrambling to get away from the kids, and there were only two of us! Once quiet one (not me) and one troublemaker (me!). They always got a babysitter for NYE, which is probably why we were up and banging pots and pans outside! I grew up in a neighborhood that seems like a fantasy now - none of the moms worked outside of the home and nobody was divorced. By Friday night all the adults were climbing the walls to go out somewhere. I remember them doing lots of dinner theater and participating in groups like the Jaycees. None of that for my generation - we are all too busy working and too tired to go out at the end of the week! 

Homely, I didn't even know that you are a lawyer.  I'm a retired judge's secretary.   Appellate Court.  20 years in Maryland and seven years in Ohio.  Great jobs.  But I'm happy to be retired.  Hubby still working.  

Hi everyone.   Happy New Year!  Hubby and I had a great time on the river cruise on the Rhine.  But it was cold, wet, and miserable the whole time.  No more winter travel to cold places for us.  Our next trip is at the end of April.  Berlin to Copenhagen.   I'm glad to be home.  We were both sick with head colds during the trip.  Recommend wearing masks on the plane next time.  Best wishes to you all.  Susan silver squirrel 🐿️ 

We were never allowed to stay up on New Years Eve but that's probably because mom & dad wanted alone time away from us 6 kids ! and I probably would have fallen asleep anyway.

We really don't have many people who set off fireworks on NYE, I also only heard a few in the distance.

N Q, that sounds like a perfect NYE, doing exactly as you wished! We did manage to stay up. I failed in my efforts to persuade DH not to shoot fireworks off the deck, but got him to at least only do one or two of them. I don't like the home fireworks! Other than that, we flipped the channels around and had a calm evening together. Living as far out as we do, there's not a lot of racket when the clock strikes midnight - you can hear some fireworks displays off in the distance and that's about it. I remember as a kid running outside and banging on pots and pans with great gusto!

Happy, happy new year to you!

Homely you and your sister's travel agreement sounds like my sister and her husbands agreement. She makes all of the arrangement while he researches where they should go and what sites that they should see and if he can center the locations around how many pubs they can visit, that works for both of them :)

I had an uneventful New Years eve, I was going to stay up till 11pm to watch the ball be lowered, it's nice that us in the midwest don't have to wait till midnight but I didn't even make it to 11pm. At 10:45 I decided I was tired enough that I really didn't care if I watched the new year come in for New Yorkers and went to bed.

Hope you had a nice New Years Eve then me !

I'm so glad, N Q, that you still drop in with some regularity to chat. I really do miss this little community and enjoy connecting with you again! I like your sister's beer style :-)  My sister and I have an arrangement: I take care of all of the travel details and she does the research on the local destinations and attractions for when we get to where we are going. It works out well :-)

I think DS is safe enough. He is, at least, happy. He really, really loves his job so I'm glad for that, wherever he is. 

If I don't speak to you again until after tomorrow, good luck staying up until midnight and Happy New Year! 

H

Homely one of my sisters and her husband went to Belgium maybe 8 years ago right before christmas and they also enjoyed trying out all of the beers but then whenever they go to Europe, they try out the beers of the regions they're in.

I really hope your son stays safe, the fact that he can't say where he is sounds ominous :( but hopefully he won't be deployed for long !

Hope you have a nice New Years Eve, my plans are to try and stay up till midnight...LOL 

N Q, we did see some Christmas markets, but they do not make such a big deal about them in NL and Belgium as they do in Germany/Austria. They are mostly food and drink, with the odd crafts booth here and there. Very quiet, but very enjoyable. The most lovely one I saw was in Bruges. We are big fans of Belgian beers so it was very exciting for us to be chasing around after all of the local seasonal brews :-)

We are not certain where DS is at the moment. He can contact us only occasionally. This is his second deployment within the year - he was in Okinawa through March. He was much more in contact on that one and it was planned well in advance. This one is very different. I just hope we get to see him when he is done with it, whenever that will be. We saw him only once in 2025 and I miss him terribly.

I think we are getting your high winds today - I woke up this morning and it was 53 out - i had to do a triple take to be sure I was not misreading it - but now the winds are howling and it is supposed to be back down in the twenties overnight. It certainly has been a winter so far!

Hoping we get to hear from Silver Squirrel soon about her travels!

Homely that sounds like an enjoyable vacation,Europe during the christmas season. Did you get to any of the christmas markets ?

That's too bad about your son, I sure hope he wasn't deployed to the Middle East or any other place with major conflicts !

Our big storm waited till after christmas to arrive, we had a blizzard that lasted all day yesterday along with very heavy winds. A lot of roads were closed as was MSP, no planes in or out most of the day. Today it's not snowing but the winds are up to 30mph making for some more lousy roads BUT it sure is pretty :)

MD - I remember that story about Viti tracking down Feral Orchid! Haven't seen FO in quite a while. I've theorized that there are folks who can no longer log on because the system is slowly dying, which means they can read our comments but not add anything in. If folks lost their login into they will be out of luck. Such a shame to see the community shrink so.

N Q - We did NOT go anywhere warm... we were in the Netherlands and Belgium! We did not see the light of day for ten days, but it was a lovely trip. Sadly, the day we were leaving DS was deployed so he missed the trip. We missed him terribly but drank some beers for him.  

Hope everyone had a very warm and wonderful holiday!

Shame about Viti.  I remember when she tracked down Feral Orchid and knocked on her door!  She cycled to the village and walked round with a picture of Feral asking  ....."Do you know this woman?"  

I wonder how Feral is getting on ..... she used to do mountains of pickles. 

Homely a winter holiday sounds nice, where did you go, somewhere warm ?

Today is my baking day, cookies, fudge and cheesy onion rolls, then I'm set for christmas. I hope you have a nice christmas with your family.

Merry Christmas everybody !

Thanks for the add, MD - I couldn't come up with the year off the top of my head. So many gone... I stumbled across the note about Viti's passing the other day...