January 2017 - Ordinary Grandma

One on one time with grandma

How important is one on one time with grandma? My grandchildren love one on one time with grandma. During Thanksgiving, some of my grandchildren were with me in Disneyland. Because there were several of them there, it was a little more challenging to spend the special one on one time with grandma. At the end of each day, I took them shopping so they could pick out one special thing that would remind them of our fun time together in Disneyland. The time I spent with them was special.

My oldest granddaughter Ady (8 yrs old and in 2nd grade), liked to play games while we stood in line for the rides. We would play math games, and spelling games. I learned she is a very creative little girl who is very,very smart. She and I talked about holograms and how they are used in Disneyland, then we would see if we could pick them out in the rides. We would also try to find the hidden Mickey heads that are hidden around Disneyland (and yes we found several much to her delight). She sat next to me on the airplane coming back home, and we shared headphones so we could both enjoy the movie “Alice in Wonderland”. Special one on one time with grandma.

Nyxon my 4 yr old grandson’s special one on one time with grandma consists of spending the night at my house, and going to Target. He loves for me to build legos and play them with him. He loves to cuddle on my lap and read books, watch shows on youtube, or just ask me questions. He loves to have chocolate milk (which he likes to help make).

Ellie my 2 yr old granddaughter loves to come to my house just to play. She loves to dress up in the princess dresses and shoes and play around the house. She loves it when her mom drops her off at my house. Even though she is only 2, she loves being with me. Special one on one time with grandma.

Sometimes it’s hard to get that one on one time with grandma, as some of my grandchildren live a little ways away, however, that shouldn’t stop the one on one time with grandma, so this year for each of their birthdays, each of my grandchildren will be allowed to choose a special day for one on one time with grandma where they will be able to plan the day however they see fit, and we will spend quality time doing whatever they would like to do. I love the time I spend with my grandchildren, but this year will be a little bit more special. The first birthday is in January with Alaina getting the first special one on one time with grandma “date”.

Stay tuned for an update on the fun things that happen this year as we emphasize one on one time with grandma.

Sunday dinners

Sunday dinners growing up almost always consisted of a roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, a cooked vegetable and either a tossed salad, fruit salad, or a jello salad. Sometimes my mother cooked Sunday dinners and sometimes my dad cooked them. When I got married, I continued cooking roasts on Sunday, however, it took my a long time to master the cooking a roast. Many were burnt. When I started having kids, I would change up Sunday dinners to a turkey, ham, casserole, or something that was a little different and easier. I have never proclaimed to being a good cook as my mother was, but I was an OK cook. My family survived and didn’t starve.

I do not love being in the kitchen, so I try to find things that are easy, good, somewhat healthy, and satisfying. The crockpot is a good tool. I gone through many of them. So I’m going to share my mothers Beef Stew recipe, that can be cooked in the oven for 8 hours or in the crockpot for 8 hours. I have done it both ways. I put this in a big magnalite roasting pan that has a lid.

Erma’s Beef Stew

2 1/2 lbs of stew meat

6 carrots cut into pieces ( I use a small bag of baby carrots and cut them in half)

6 potatoes cut into pieces ( I like to use the small red potatoes, and use a 2 lb bag of them)

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 can Cream of Celery soup

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 cup water

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

2 bay leaves

Put all ingredients in a large oven safe pot, stir, put a lid on the pot and bake at 225 degrees for 7 to 8 hrs. Remove bay leaves before serving.

I have also cooked this in a crockpot for 8 hrs. It is a yummy recipe. Some of us (my kids and I) love to stir a little horseradish in our bowls before eating. This is good served with french bread, or sourdough bread.

Just remember you really don’t need to slave in the kitchen all day long unless it’s a special occasion to have a satisfying Sunday dinner.

New Years Eve Celebration

What do you do for your New Years Eve Celebration? I have loved watching how the different countries around the world celebrate New Years Eve as it starts the evening out with some interesting celebrations.

We have some fun friends who live by us that host a New Years Eve celebration party at their home every year and invite many, many, many people. It is filled with good food (potluck style), white elephant gift exchange and a fun game that some people really don’t like to play but are good sports about it. This game brings out interesting information about your friends and neighbors. They pass out index cards and pens to everyone. You then write 3 informational things down on the index card. Two of the things are truths about you and 1 is a lie. When everyone has their 3 things written down, you take turns reading your 3 things, and everyone else decides which thing about you is the lie. We have also played this same game a little different, after everyone gets there 3 things written down, 1 person collects the index cards, shuffles them and then passes them out randomly, we then try to decide who the person is AND which thing is the lie. You can really learn a lot about your friends and neighbors. The hard part is that we have played it several years, and trying to think up new things is becoming quite challenging.

Our white elephant gift exchange is very simple. All gifts are put in the middle of the floor, and it goes by birthday month. For example, January birthdays go first, and each person with a January birthday pick a gift one at a time. The first person opens their gift, then the second person can choose a gift from the pile in the middle of the floor or steal from someone who has already opened a gift. After 3 steals the gift is safe from any future steals. We have had some funny, funny gifts and some gifts that return year after year to be regifted.

Since we are all of the “getting older” generation, we usually end the part quite early, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the rest of your New Years Eve celebration as you wish.

Family Christmas Traditions

How many of you have fun family Christmas Traditions. Traditions takes on many meanings, but I’m going to let you in on some of my family traditions, specifically family Christmas traditions. I will talk about other traditions in other blogs, but for today, I’m going to talk about our family Christmas traditions. I think we have started several traditions, but some haven’t been continued due to family getting married and moving away.

Before my boys married, we used to drive around on Christmas Eve and see what eating establishment would be opened. In the “olden days” as my boys say, restaurants used to close for Christmas Eve, they no longer do that, and stay open at least for the dinner hours. One year, it became a laughing matter, and my boys still reflect back on it, and have a good laugh. We drove to many establishments that year, but they were all closed. I honestly don’t remember if we ever found a place to eat, or if we just went home. Sometimes now, we go out on Christmas Eve, but make it an early night, so that the grandchildren that are close can go home at a decent hour. This year however, Christmas Eve was a quiet evening spent at home just me and Papa Ron.

Also one tradition that we started is a fun gift exchange that we really enjoy. Not your normal gift exchange, but one we like to do that for now just involves the adults as the kids are still a little young to understand the concept. In the beginning, we would buy a $15-$20 gift, wrap it, and then bring it to the family Christmas party and do the normal pass the gift games. However, they last couple of years, we have done “themes” for the gifts. Last years theme was “homemade”. The rules were simple, it had to be homemade and you could only spend $15 in supplies. What a creative family I have. My oldest made a clock out of a cigar box and his wife made flavored olive oil and bread. My middle son grows wonderful roses from cuttings off of the roses in my yard, and that was his gift, his wife made a wooden Christmas sign. My youngest son made a fleece blanket and his wife made a JOY sign on a wooden board. I made a step stool out of 2X4’s and my husband tied a flannel quilt. One of my daughter in laws is from Hungary and her parents are also with us on Christmas and join in the fun. Her mom made Hungarian cookies and her dad made a candy and nut mixture. We then did the normal pass around the group game. This was really fun. This year for 2016, our theme was “as seen on TV”. Your limit was $15 dollars and you had to purchase something that was advertised on TV. What fun we had. We didn’t do your normal, left, right game, but instead I wrote a game from an idea I had seen on Pinterest to pass and exchange the gifts. We wrapped each gift 3 times, so we had 3 rounds to open the gifts. I made the instructions for each round rhyme, and round 2 I personalized for all the adults that would be involved. Each person would trade their gift with several others before there turn was through. The ones that ended up with their own gifts had the choice to keep it, or trade with someone else that ended up with their own gift. I thought it was really fun. I’m not sure the kids were totally on board, but they were really good sports. We are all going to use our products for a month, then I will do a product review for each of our “as seen on TV” gifts. We haven’t come up with a theme for 2017 yet. I’ve got some good ideas though so stay tuned.

Because gifts are opened so quickly, we played games this year to incorporate the unwrapping of gifts. We also had other games with prizes to keep the grandkids occupied. They LOVED this, especially the wrapped prizes. I’m already working on next years games and prizes. Keep reading Ordinary Grandma throughout the 2017 year for our ideas and more fun things to come.