Birthday Wishes

Myrtle Frances Warren

Today would have been my mother-in-law's 102nd birthday.





Born: December 21, 1909

Died: September 9, 2001

Long Beach, California

Thank you for being an awesome mother, wife, mother-in-law, grandmother. You were the best!

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 21 - Christmas Music

Christmas Music is our theme for the day at Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogists writing about their family history). The prompts or suggested ideas for the month of December relate to the the Advent season.  This is my ninth post using the Advent prompts.

Although I love all Christmas music I must say I love the ones the talk sing of Jesus and His birth the most.  My favorite Christmas song is a newer one: 'Mary, Did You Know?' - it really speaks about the true meaning of Christmas.  Another song I love is also newer 'Christmas Shoes'.

I use YouTube to listen to music...I have a Christmas 'playlist' with over 200 songs on it....I can listen to music for hours on end and never have to listen to the same one twice.  I truly love the music of Christmas and can listen to it all month long easily...but on the other hand when Christmas is over I'm ready to go onto listening to something else.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 20 - Religious Services

Religious Services is our theme for the day at Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogists writing about their family history). The prompts or suggested ideas for the month of December relate to the the Advent season.  This is my ninth post using the Advent prompts.


1) Did your family attend religious services together during the Christmas season?

As children we always went to midnight Mass. It was a beautiful service and very traditional and warming.  As an adult I went with my husband to mainly Baptist churches.  There were no midnight services or even services on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve unless Christmas landed on a Sunday.  But the churches were all beautifully decorated.  The Wednesday evening service before Christmas was usually a Christmas Service.  


This year our Christmas service was the Sunday before Christmas...the choir put on a beautiful Cantata.  Cantata's are the norm in the churches we've attended and we've always really enjoyed them...they are a beautiful way of showing Jesus' love for us by coming to earth as a baby and completing His time on earth by dying on the cross to save us from sin that we might have eternal life.

2) What were the customs and traditions involved? 

My sister reminds me (I don't remember, normal for me) that after Midnight Mass we'd come home and mom would fix breakfast...then we'd go to bed and the next morning we'd open our Christmas gifts and see what Santa had brought. I can't imagine having 5 wound up kids in the middle of the night and getting them settled down. 

I do remember one Christmas my brothers and sisters and I put on a nativity play in the living room with the tree as a background.  I don't have any clue how old I was.  I know I was under 12 years of age because it was at our old house, we moved when I was 12.


I do remember candlelight services in the churches when I was older....they were beautiful too.  But the fire department stopped allowing them because of the fire danger...we went to little battery powered candles but it was just not the same.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 19 - Christmas Shopping

Today is Christmas Shopping day at Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogists writing about their family history). The prompts or suggested ideas for the month of December relate to the the Advent season.  This is my eighth post using the Advent prompts.

1) How did your family handle Christmas shopping?

I don't remember much about my mom's Christmas shopping - I'm sure she had lots of it since there were 5 of us kids.  And we got presents from my parents as well as Santa.

2) Did anyone finish early or did anyone start on Christmas Eve?

I personally USED to have all my Christmas shopping done by Labor Day...completed, wrapped, hidden away, and ready to put under the tree. I'd start the day after Christmas (somehow the crowds on the day after Christmas did not bother me as much as Black Friday).  I also use to make at least one Christmas gift a year...crocheted blanket, needlepoint picture, homemade jam.  I'd work hard to have these completed by Labor Day too...although once in awhile I'd be rushing around at Thanksgiving time to complete it.

In my old(er) age I've gotten lazy...now it's Cyber Monday here I come....I really enjoy shopping online or on QVC rather than fighting the crowds anymore.  I can honestly say there seems to be a wider selection and it takes A LOT less time.  I would say 90-95% of my shopping is done online and most of what we give are gift cards.  Too easy!

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 18 - Christmas Stockings

Today is Christmas Stocking day at Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogists writing about their family history). The prompts or suggested ideas for the month of December relate to the the Advent season.  This is my seventh post using the Advent prompts. 

When we were kids we did not have fancy or store bought Christmas stockings, we just used our own socks that we wore everyday...I remember thinking once that it was fair that my older brother had bigger feet than I did.  He always seemed to get more than the rest of us. But then I was 2nd oldest so my younger brother and sisters must have felt the same way.  Santa would fill the stockings mostly with edible stuff like oranges, unwrapped candy, and nuts.  My sister remembers the unwrapped candy would stick together and to the socks making them hard to remove.  I don't remember gifts being in the socks...just the candy, fruit, and nuts.


When our kids were little my mother-in-law made the above Christmas sockings for the kids and hubs.  But she forgot me (GASP)....finally about 1990 I asked her if she would make one for me also....she could not believe she had never made me one and she most graciously had it ready for me for the next Christmas.


Santa would fill our kids stockings with candy - mainly lifesavers, some small gifts (hair bows, ribbons, matchbox cars, etc) and always McDonald's gift certificates. 

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 14 - Fruitcake

Today is Fruitcake day at Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogist writing about their family history) the prompts or suggested ideas for the month related to the Advent season. This is my sixth (hopefully not last) post using the Advent prompts.

I apologize - I was unable to keep up with the prompts over this past weekend as we were out of town for a family reunion/Christmas party.  Read my post for Sunday, December 12 to hear all about it. 

Our Prompt for today is: Fruitcake 

Did you like fruitcake? Did your family receive fruitcakes? Have you ever re-gifted fruitcake? Have you ever devised creative uses for fruitcake?

Did you like fruitcake?  

No, and I'm a lover of most anything.  Oh, I'll eat it, or a small portion of it, just to keep the maker of it happy.

Did your family receive fruitcakes?  

Mom and Dad use to receive fruitcakes.  Mom use to make them every year also and give them as gifts.  My family never received them...unless mom and dad gave us one...but I would not swear to that.

Have you ever re-gifted fruitcake?  

No, never received one to my knowledge to 're-gift'

Have you ever devised creative uses for fruitcake?

Maybe using it for an odd shaped ball to toss around when all the gifts were unwrapped and while waiting for dinner. 

A couple of Fruitcake Recipes provided to me by my sister (these are ones mom used to make and so has my sister). 

Refrigated Fruitcake

1lb graham crackers, ground up

1lb marshmallow's

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup Brandy

1lb mixed glazed fruit

 

Melt marshmallows with milk

Add brandy

After melted, add ground up graham crackers, mix well

Add fruit, mix well

Form into 2 loaf pans pressing in

Refrigerate

Slice thin and keep refrigerated

2nd Fruitcake Recipe

2lbs pitted dates,

1lb candied cherries

1 lb whole brazil nut meats

1lb halved or broken walnut meats

2 cups all purpose flour, leveled

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

4 eggs

Leave the dates and cherries whole and mix thoroughly with the whole Brazil nuts and walnuts.

Add flour and baking powder and salt into fruit and nut mixture. Stir until fruit and nuts are

well coated.

Beat eggs and add to mixture mixing well with your hands so that fruit and nuts are thoroughly coated.

Line a greased 10 by 6 inch baking pan and press down with your hands so there are no empty spaces.

Bake in a slow oven 300 for 1 hour 15 minutes.

To crack Brazil nuts easily, freeze them with shells on and crack frozen

4 Cups of shelled walnuts = 1lb

3 Cups pitted dates = 1lb

3 Cups Brazil nuts = 1lb

Lets don't forget the REAL reason for the season!

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Christmas and Family 'Reunions'

Margaret Troyer Post's descendants and spouses/children

I just got home from my sister's house where we had a Christmas party/family reunion.  We had not had a family get together in 15 years.  We had to travel from Arizona to California but it was well worth the time/effort.  I've been planning this reunion since before Labor Day and it was disappointing that out of 130 descendants of my grandparents - Elmer Troyer and Mary Motzko Troyer that only 26 showed up for the reunion.  But let me tell you we had the cream of the crop when it came to the descendants.  Elmer and Mary had 2 children - my mother Margaret Troyer Post and her sister Dorothy Troyer Haines.  Four out of five of Margaret's children (now the 'elders' in the family) showed up with spouses for the party.  Dorothy had 4 children and all of them showed up.. Several of the next generation came (grandchildren of Margaret and Dorothy) and one of the current generation of great grandchildren. 

Dorothy Troyer Haines' children/spouses

I felt sad that more of the younger ones did not come.  Some are just too busy with raising families and others just don't care.   But I'm really excited because 2 of my cousins brought me some awesome "older" pictures...some going back to the 1800's, and I received many pictures from after the turn of the century.  I'm ready to scan away at these.  Another cousin told me she had a box full of pictures in the back of one of her closets...she says that I really wouldn't want them because they are undated and there are no names on them and they are 'really old'....I'm still working on her to let me borrow them.  She's hesitant to give them up even for a little while.

The older couple sitting in the bottom picture are my oldest cousin and her husband.  Both are in bad health, she has Alzheimer's and he has Parkinson's disease....they were both such a pleasure to have at the get-together...there were a few problems getting them there but we finally worked it out...it would not have been the same without them.  She spent quite a bit of time flirting with the guys!  She may have lost her memory but she has not lost her sense of humor!

Genesis 1:22   And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Postcards from Australia - Part 4

Hub's father was stationed on the U.S.S. Idaho from 1925 to 1929.

Manuel Howard Warren Sr. (AKA Howard) had the opportunity to travel the world will serving in the Navy.  On one of this trips he was in Sydney, Australia.  Recently - in three different posts - I shared unused postcards he had either bought or received from someone while he was visiting Sydney, Australia.  

These are the last in a series of 11 postcards - these two are from south Australia and from Queensland Australia.

See also:

Postcards from Australia 

Postcards from Australia - Part 2



Postcards from Australia - Part 3

For those interested in the Warren side of the family I hope to start blogging about them after the first of the year.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 9 - Nativity Scene

Today is Grab Bag day at Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogist writing about their family history) the prompts or suggested ideas for the month related to the Advent season. This is my fifth (hopefully not last) post using the Advent prompts.

Our prompt for today is:  Grab Bag

I'm doing it on my beautiful Avon Nativity Scene...I started collecting these in the early 1980's.  I've got the main set but am missing some of the miscellaneous pieces.  There are a total of 23 pieces to complete the set. I've got 15 pieces. Two of my pieces have been broken over the years (the angel on the far right broke this year).  I'm missing a total of 8 pieces to compete the set.  Some day I may purchase these, one at a time.  I googled the missing pieces and it will cost me almost $550 to purchase them.

I have the main pieces of the scene...after all even if I just have Jesus that's all that counts.  He IS the reason for the season!

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 8 - Christmas Cookies

At Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogist writing about their family history) the prompts or suggested ideas for the month relate to the Advent season. This is my fourth (hopefully not last) post using the Advent prompts.

Our prompt for today is:  Christmas Cookies



Mom always made tons of cookies for Christmas.  Well, I assume she 'always' did....I remember as a teenager the house always smelled so good - it seemed from the start of December until the big day.  She'd make fudge too - two batches, one with nuts, one without.  And fruitcake - two different kinds - a loaf one and another in a cake pan.  There were cut-out sugar cookies and tons of others. We kids were 'happy campers' during December.  I don't remember helping her, but that doesn't mean I didn't because I don't remember a lot of things.

When hubs and I bought our first home we were 'warned' by neighbors of the 'bad people' who lived next door to us and that we should stay away from them.  Poor next door neighbors never had a chance - we stuck our noise up in the air and ignored them totally....which surprises me that we did this because it's out of our nature but I guess we just wanted to appease the masses.  Anyway come our first December in the house 'next door neighbor' shows up at our door with a wrapped box - of assorted home made Christmas cookies!!!  Then there was the discussion of should we eat them or not.  Of course we did!  For 10 years after that there was always a box of cookies from her....I remember Mrs. Elliott well.  Our kids looked forward to them all year and they devoured the cookies as fast as they could.  Mrs. Elliott was probably a little younger than I am now, she was divorced and she still had a teenage daughter living at home.  We not only got cookies for Christmas but we gained good friends.  The daughter and I became best friends and we still keep in touch now (40 years later).  This incident taught me a lesson that I should have already known - "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged"  (Luke 6:37).

Since the kids are grown I've stopped baking too many cookies at Christmas time - but I still try to bake one batch of simple cut-out cookies for the hubs to enjoy.  Other than that he's limited to cookies at parties or at friends.  This way we don't overdo and eat them all!

Have you ever left a cookie for Jesus?  After all it's His birthday!

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 7 - Holiday Parties

At Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogist writing about their family history) the prompts or suggested ideas for the month relate to the Advent season. This is my third (hopefully not last) post using the Advent prompts.

Our prompt for today is:  Holiday Parties

Did your family throw a holiday party each year? Do you remember attending any holiday parties?

I don't remember parties for Christmas as a child...but it seems that after marriage the month of December was one BIG party...there were church parties, school parties, girl scout and boy scout parties, a party for the soccer team.  And although there was not a 'party' for the annual 'Holiday' dance recital our daughter was in - we would always make a big party out of it by eating out afterward or just going to Bob's Big Boy for Ice Cream Sundaes.

There was the year we had all the family at our house - my parents and 4 brothers and sisters, with their spouses and children.  I think there were about 30 of us total.  I think this was done to surprise my parents. Santa arrived with gifts (books) for all the kids.  My nephew Danny went up to Santa after all the gifts were given and asked him: 'can I trade this book for a truck Santa?'...too funny!

After all of our kids grew up we continued to 'party' (just not as often)...we call them 'reunions'....all the family we had would come - cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, first cousins once removed, etc, and the list goes on.  

In 1995 we used the clubhouse near where my cousin lived and filled it to the brim with about 50+.  Santa again had time to visit! 

Alas, the parties have dwindled and we don't do nearly as much 'partying' as we used to do.  It's been 15 years since our last 'reunion'...the matriarchs and patriarchs of the families have died and there just does not seem to be the interest there used to be.  I tried to organize a 'reunion' this year but it 'plopped'....I sent invites to 130 descendants of my mom and her sister, Margaret Troyer Post and Dorothy Troyer Haines, only to get less than 25 positive responses.  We're still going to do a small 'reunion' this weekend at my sister's house with those 25 'positive' people....I LOVE POSITIVE!

We must remember though that the biggest party of every Christmas day should be the one celebrating the birth of Jesus....it's His birthday after all!

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 6 - Santa Claus

At Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogist or people writing about their family history) the prompts or suggested ideas for the month relate to the Advent season. Many of the Geneabloggers are writing something everyday using the prompt provided.  This is my second (hopefully not last) post using the Advent prompts.

Our prompt for today is:  Did you ever send a letter to Santa? Did you ever visit Santa and "make a list?" Do you still believe in Santa Claus?

Did you ever send a letter to Santa?

I honestly don't remember if I did or if my kids did.  But Santa asked me one year if I would send cards to my kids friends from him.  He said he was VERY busy and just did not have time to do it himself.  He asked me when our first born was about 2 years old and continued it for several years...I never did 'fest up' to the parents that they came from me.  It was fun to hear them talking about it.

Did you ever visit Santa and "make a list?"

I'm sure I must have but again I don't remember.  We took our oldest son to visit Santa in the store when he was about two...it was a scary situation for him and I'm sure that's why we decided not to do the same with the other children.  Hubs used to work for IBM and there were Company Christmas parties which Santa always attended and brought gifts to give to ALL the children who came.  

A few times we drove up to Santa's Village....lots of snow...in the mountains near Big Bear, California.  I remember a Santa's Village off the freeway around Santa Barbara, California that we stopped at also.

Santa did come to visit us one year at a large family reunion when the kids were younger, and also again in 1995 at another family reunion when a different generation of nieces and nephews enjoyed him (as well as their parents). 





to the oldest - Dorothy Troyer Haines



from the youngest





Santa was REALLY busy a couple of years just before Christmas and hubs graciously agreed to fill in for him at a couple of school events.

Do you still believe in Santa Claus? 

Of course, I do!!!!!!!  What a silly question to ask!  Is there any doubt?

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

 

Poinsettia Festival 2010

Saturday morning my daughter and I decided to make some memories that we hope to share with our descendants someday. 

Kim is my biggest fan when it comes to reading my blogs - always has a comment either in reply to the most recent post, or as a 'like' on Facebook, or in a verbal comment.  She's the one who got me started on this blog almost a year ago.

Anyway, on Saturday we visited the Poinsettia Festival at Gardener's World in Phoenix, Arizona.  There were MANY beautiful poinsettias, as well as a few other flowers on display.  We walked around through them for a couple hours.  There were also craft booths, food booths, etc set up for those who wanted to browse.
 

Kim was my photographer for the day (my camera had a dead battery) and she did a wonderful job on some of the shots - ENJOY!





Click on each picture to enlarge and then click the arrow in the left hand corner to return to this page.

P.S. Can anyone give me any clues as to how to post lots of pictures like this?

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Who Is Searching and What are They Searching For?

I'm a nosy little body who has to know EVERYTHING!  Just ask my kids!  One thing I'm very curious about is who is reading my blog, why, and when.  So I attached a 'site-meter' to my blog and it tells me how many times you've logged in, how long you were browsing my blog, and what search term in google you used to access my blog.  And you thought you were safe from being spied upon
It's not quite as easy as I make it look above to figure out who is looking but I can get a pretty good idea...as 'site-meter' tells me the city you from, which search words you used to find my blog, where you went when you logged out. It also tells me the length of time you were on.   I have to put on my Sherlock Holmes gear to figure things out  but I know for a fact that my daughter who lives in the same city I do logs on at certain times of every day - one of my loyal readers.  Can't help but love that gal!

If you don't know a person's blog address or maybe you are just searching for a relative of yours (who also MAY be my relative, and I've written about him/her)  If you put into Google that you want to search all Warren's you may eventually end up at my blog depending on how much tenacity you have to get through all the Warrens in google. 

Using Google Analytics I've put together the 10 top search words that people use when all of a sudden - PLUNK - they're  smack dab in the middle of my blog!

• 'Motzko' (my maternal side surname).

• Mary Motzko (my grandmothers maiden name).

• Veterans Day 2010 thanks (3 different searches).

• Veterans Day 2010 pictures to share on facebook.

• Veterans Day 2010 for everyone who served.

• Thanks to everyone who supported the veterans.

• Schrock-Troyer -my maternal grandfather & ancestors.

• Every family's got one.

• Gchowitz-poland - where my maternal great grandparents immigrated from.

• Margaret Elizabeth Troyer - my mother's maiden name.

I can't help but wonder why some of these names/phrases were used in search terms on google.  Specifically 1, 2, 7, 9, 10.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Advent Calendar - December 4

At Geneabloggers.com (a group of worldwide genealogist or people writing about their family history) the prompts or suggested ideas for the month relate to the Advent season. Many of the Geneabloggers are writing something everyday using the prompt provided.  This is my first (hopefully not last) post using the Advent prompts.

Our prompt for today is: 

 Did your family send cards? Did your family display the ones they received? Do you still send Christmas cards? Do you have any cards from your ancestors?
 
 Did your family send cards?

Like many my parents and my own family sent many Christmas cards.  At one time my list was up to 100+.  Within the last 15 years or so (since the invention of the internet) I find it much easier and cheaper to send my Christmas greeting via e-mail.   With the cost of cards ($20+/- times a minimum of 20 cards per box = $100 for 100 cards, 44cents for a stamp = $44 for 100, plus the time writing, addressing, and sealing the envelopes, I find it's just not cost effective.  And this does not take in to account the trees that are cut down to make these cards, only to have them thrown in the trash by New Year's Day.  I can buy someone on my list a pretty nice gift for $144! 

Did your family display the ones they received?

I put mine in a basket on the hutch in the living room.  We use to put hang our cards in the doorways and around the inside of windows.  

Do you still send Christmas cards?

My theory of late is that if I communicate with a person only by e-mail then that's how they get Christmas greetings from me.  If I talk to them on the phone during the year they will probably get a Christmas card via 'snail' mail. If they are close family/friends they will get a Christmas card with a family picture enclosed.

Do you have any cards from your ancestors?

I think my mom had some in her scrapbooks.  I'll have to go back and look.  She did have cards from other events...marriage, birthdays, etc. so I'm 'assuming' she had some from Christmas.  I scanned her scrapbooks this year but never got around to organizing the scans - that's on my 'to-do list' for 2011. 

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved