A Visit with Rochelle & Dawn

Saturday November 21, 1992

Lazy morning. Frank vacuums. Rochelle and Dawn are coming at 2:30. Frank leaves at 9 a.m. for Newbury Park to show the house. I pray this is the right one (tenant). I tidy up the house. Rochelle and Dawn visit from 2 to 5 p.m. I'm tired when they leave even though we just sat and talked. I lay down for 1/2 hour.

We decide to go to early dinner at Tony Roma's. We order onion rings. They're not very good and crispy. When dinner arrives I feel sick and can't eat. I bring my dinner home. I don't feel well all evening.

Rochelle is the wife of my Dad's older brother Clyde and Dawn is her daughter. Mom kept in touch with Dad's side of the family long after they were divorced. I haven't seen Clyde & Rochelle in years, but I do see my cousin Dawn every few years. She is pictured above with me and Mom in 1985.

Too bad those soggy greasy onion rings upset Mom's stomach and ruined her dinner.

Where's Santa?

Wednesday December 25, 1991

Christmas Day!

We're up at 8 a.m. Sleeping in hoping Frank will feel better. It works. His sore throat and achiness have gone. He feels much better. We have a nice breakfast. Ric stays in bed til noon. He has the sore throat and cold now.

Gary and Maria and boys arrive about 1 p.m. Justin is happy to have the boys to play with. Maria has wrapped and brought Justin 2 gifts. She's so sweet. Chris and Ric and Justin had no gifts to open on Christmas morning. They are giving Justin money later for Christmas. It breaks my heart to see my grandson get nothing for Christmas. What were they thinking? Chris has been sick but Ric could have bought a couple of gifts so he'd have something to open. Frank rushes to wrap a Mickey Mouse watch we had in the closet and tells Justin to check again to be sure there are no more gifts under the tree. He is thrilled with the watch from Santa.

Later I tell Chris how I feel and she gets upset. I don't like the way Ric treats Justin sometimes. I think he is cruel at times.

We have a lovely family day, playing pool, ham dinner. Just after the dinner niece Dawn and hubby Russ stop by to visit. They sit at the dining room table to visit with us for 2 hours. It's a good visit! Gary stays til 10 p.m.

This is very painful to read. After spending the last 2 months in bed with nausea and vomiting, to be criticized for not going out shopping for Christmas gifts was more than I could bear. Just the fact that I was able to make the 400 mile drive while suffering from severe nausea was a huge effort. As for Ric, yes he was and is harsh with Justin sometimes, but that's not the reason he did not buy Justin a gift. He didn't buy anyone a gift. All gift-giving has always fallen on my shoulders. I can count the number of birthday and Christmas gifts he has given me in 22 years on one hand. He is just not into holidays or gift-giving of any kind. I think it must be the way he was raised because his mother thinks birthdays are no big deal either, just another day. Quite the opposite of my mom, who made a big deals every year over Christmas and birthdays. I always bought gifts from Santa for our sons Derek and Ryan when they were little, but once they got to be 10 or 12, they wanted cold hard cash. Since Justin was 10 in 1991, perhaps that's what he wanted too.

I remember my cousin Dawn coming over to visit that night. She often came over to Mom's house to visit me when I drove down for the holidays. She came to visit us in Sonoma County just last year when she was in the area. Of all my cousins, I am the closest to her.