I'm
sorry I've haven't been writing too much, I've been so busy. I started taking piano lessons at Blue Note
Music Store from this really nice lady named Sandy Sandy United States Sandy Sandy
Today
was the Halloween party at church. At
first no one knew it was me in the ape costume and that was really cool! Walter did a really good job. He bought a plastic Planet of the Apes mask
at Newberry's and just cut the nose and eyebrows off the mask. First he used
makeup to black out around my eyes. He
has some special make up glue and he glued the nose and eyebrow piece to my
face. Then he had all kinds of fake hair
that he glued all over my face until it was completely covered. He put a dark brown wig on my head and
brushed it back. That completed it.
Since there were no masks of Cornelius, I looked more like one of the
gorilla guards, but I didn't care 'cause
dad let me use his fake rifle and I really looked the part. Dad's costume was the funniest. He wore a dress! It was an old housecoat that mom had. He wore stockings, clip on earrings and a
wig. Mom even did his make up! It was so funny 'cause his stockings kept falling
down and he had these really hairy, muscular calves everyone could see. Every
time he sat on one of the metal chairs, he jumped back up because he said the
chair was too cold. Then he would forget
and try to sit down again and he'd jump back up. He said he didn't know how women could wear
dresses, but what he said he really didn't get was, why heels? He kept repeating it as he tried to walk in
them, why heels? Everyone was
laughing. Finally, he tossed the shoes
to mommy and walked around in just the stockings. Karen dressed up like a clown. I thought she looked so cute and wished she
had won the contest. Grandma didn't
dress up but she was having a real good time.
She laughed so much at daddy that she was crying. Pop never came to church, ever, not even for
a party and that made me like church even more.
Mrs. Grant taught me how to dance at the party and she said for a little
white child, I didn't do too bad. Everyone
laughed and agreed with her, applauding my dancing ability. I had a lot of
fun. I think it was the best party I've
ever been to. I'm going to snuggle up to
Karen and go to sleep happy tonight.
Goodnight.
Guess
what happened at choir rehearsal? Mrs.
Mount showed us the brand new hand bells the church just bought and asked who
wanted to play them. You know I put my
hand up right away! I think we'll all
get to play them, but we're going to have to practice really hard. Mrs. Mount would like to try to have a simple
piece ready for Christmas, so rehearsals will start tonight before the adult
choir practices. We were supposed to
tell our parents the hand bell rehearsal would be from 6
o'clock to 7 o'clock . Then she put the hand bell cases away and we
started our vocal warm ups. We always
start with Ho Ho Ho up the scale, then change to Hee Hee Hee. We always start
laughing, but we get warmed up. This
Sunday we'll be singing "I Cannot Come to the Banquet", I think it's
a fun song. It's all about Jesus calling
people to a wonderful banquet but everybody says they cannot come, don't bother
them. Then Jesus gets all the poor
people and the sad people and gives them the banquet. I like that, 'cause the stupid, mean people
don't get any of the banquet at all.
Well I gotta go eat 'cause we're all going back to church to play hand
bells!
11/23/72
Today
is Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful meal at grandmas. She sets up two tables, one for the grown ups
and one for kids, which I like very much 'cause we don't have to eat with Pop. Anyway, Uncle Dick comes for Thanksgiving and
Pop likes to pick on him, so Pop usually leaves us alone. I love the croissants that grandma always
makes for holidays, and the mashed potatoes and the turkey. I'm not crazy about asparagus at all, but I
had to eat it anyway. Karen is more of a
picky eater than I am, but even she ate a lot today. Mom bought some wonderful pies from Blue
Crystal. Karen's favorite is the
chocolate cream pie but my favorite is the banana cream pie! The best part of the day was when Pop went down
to the basement all by himself to drink and that made it a whole lot easier to
be thankful at Thanksgiving! Since Pop
was gone, I volunteered to help with the dishes. Both mom and grandma said that I was being a
good girl and they let me dry the dishes.
I like it much better when they think I'm a good girl, 'cause I really
do want to be good. Maybe if I try hard
enough, they won't let Pop punish me or Karen anymore. I hope, I hope. I might not write for a little bit, Christmas
is coming and I have a lot of choir practices, plus homework before winter
break. I'm trying real hard to write
neater, but I still keep failing penmanship.
Uncle Fred writes in calligraphy and told me how to practice
writing. I'm not supposed to let my
wrist rest on the paper; I'm supposed to just let the pen flow. I tried
to let it flow, but I just can't do it.
Mom has a typewriter and I'd rather type than write anyway. Lisa has the best handwriting of us kids,
figures. She's the one that cares the
most about how things look. So, anyway,
bye for now.
Dad
brought home a Christmas tree today and we all got to decorate it. Dad even got out his movie camera and filmed
us. Karen loves the camera and she kept
standing right in front of it. I didn't
mind, I thought she deserved to be the center of attention! Of course, Lisa tried to get in the picture
too.
I
asked for The Planet of the Apes tree house, with the action figures for
Christmas, I really hope I get it! I've
been doing good in school and haven't got into any trouble, or anything.
I
like the way we celebrate Christmas. In
the late afternoon on Christmas Eve, all of us kids go over to grandmas and we
do Uncle Fred's Grab Bag. Uncle Fred
isn't anything like his brother. Pop is
his brother; so we're all real glad he's not like his brother at all. He really loves Karen the most and is always
giving her gifts. I don't mind that
either, cause he's nice to her. Uncle
Fred works at the YMCA and he always lets us come in and play in the gymnasium
or swim in the pool. Karen and I go as
much as we can. About his grab bag, if
you pick your own name, you have to put the present back and go to the end of
the line. You're never allowed to pick
your own, you must always pick someone else's gift and then give it to
them. Sometimes it was hard to wait
until someone picked my name; it gets really exciting. After that we all go to church for the
candlelight service. It was always at 7
o'clock . No one but Mrs. Hoplock
sang on Christmas Eve and she always sang "O Holy Night". She sang it so beautifully that it made you
cry. She was a real opera singer! The service was just lovely. When we sang Silent Night, Holy Night, all
the lights were turned off and the church was filled with just candlelight. Even us kids got to hold real candles; we just
had to be real careful. Never tip your
candle, let the person who's candle is unlit
tip their candle to get lit, that way wax doesn't drip. There were two huge Christmas trees on either
side of the altar and poinsettias everywhere.
This service brought everyone out to church that never came out on
regular Sundays. Christmas and Easter,
the church always gets packed, I wonder where they go the rest of the
time? I don't understand grown ups at
all. Rev. Jobe is such a good preacher;
he's never boring at all. I like singing
happy birthday to Jesus even if some people in church think it's silly. I like being silly. Bye.
Another
Friday night with Pop and no one got hurt.
All of us girls were smart and stayed upstairs before mom and dad
left. Let Walter get Pop his beer! Maybe Pop is starting to feel the Christmas
spirit. Karen and I love watching any
version of the Christmas Carole, but our favorite right now is Mr. Magoo's
version. They have the best cartoons at
Christmas! I like the one with Rudolph
and the elf who wants to be a dentist.
They go to the home of the misfit toys.
That's what I feel like, a misfit.
I told Karen I wanted to be a boy 'cause they have it a whole lot better
than girls. She said that she likes
being a girl 'cause she can have a baby and boys can't. I told her I didn't care if I never had kids;
I wanted to be a great female athlete.
Mr. Haviland, our gym teacher, is my fifth grade teacher's husband, and
he thinks I'm a great athlete. I'm the
only 5th grader that he asked to help the 6th grade gym class complete a human
pyramid! I think he's so handsome with
his long sideburns. I'm glad he's
married to Mrs. Haviland cause she's the best teacher I've ever had so
far. A lot of times she plays her guitar
and we sing to the flag. She plays so
nicely and is so pretty. Sometimes I
wish she was my mother. She makes me
feel like I'm smart and she never makes fun of kids, like Mrs. Manhiemer, the
only 6th grade teacher we have, does.
Walter had her and she was so mean to him. I didn't care too much since he was always
mean to me, but next year I'll be in the 6th grade. Yikes!
Well, gotta go for now. Bye.
Merry
Christmas! I got the Planet of the Apes
tree house and I did get the action figures.
I gave mommy and daddy a big hug and kisses. Karen got the kitchen play set she wanted, a
stroller and baby doll. Walter got a
build your own radio kit. Lisa and Kathy
also got dolls. The one Kathy got you
could pull her hair and it would get longer, turn a knob and it would get
shorter. If you were into dolls, I guess
that's pretty neat, but not me. All us
girls got these really neat, hand sewed pillows that mom made for each one of
us. I got a lion pillow and I just love
it so much. I love lions! Karen got a teddy bear; Lisa got a pink cat
and Kathy a blue dog. We all got some
new clothes, too. Mommy got a brand new
robe and a really big radio that has audio TV channels too! Mom was real happy. Grandma made everyone a small hand croqueted
blanket for our beds; mine was all different shades of my favorite color,
purple. I just love it. Today we'll have a nice big dinner over at
grandmas. Holidays are not usually too
bad, maybe that's the Christmas gift Pop is giving us kids - a safe
Christmas. Well, for whatever reason he
leaves us alone, I'm just glad he does.
I'm going to go play with my gifts now.
Bye.
You're
never gonna believe what Walter did tonight.
Sunday is always bath night. Most
times, Kathy and Lisa take a bath first, then Karen and I take a bath and then
Walter, 'cause he's a boy and older, he can take a shower. After Karen and I were done and dressed in
clean pajamas, Walter went in the bathroom for his shower. He came out in less than a minute and ran
down the stairs. All us girls were in
our bedroom and we saw him, but didn't know what the problem was. We found out right quick, though. Dad called us four girls downstairs and told
us that game time was over, give him the piece that works the shower. I looked at Karen, Karen looked at Kathy and
Lisa; none of us knew what he was talking about and we told dad that. Now dad was real mad and told us we had 15
minutes to find the piece or we would all get a spanking. None of us knew where to look, but we started
looking anyway. Karen and I were the
last in the bathroom before Walter, so I think dad thought I took it, but I
didn't. Dad always made me responsible
for everything my sisters did 'cause I was the oldest girl. I'm supposed to know better. We looked everywhere, but 15 minutes later,
we still didn't find it. We all got
spankings, the pull down your pants, across his knee, kinda spanking. It stung real bad, but I didn't cry, Lisa and
Kathy did. Karen didn't cry either. Dad told us we had another 15 minutes or we'd
get another spanking. This went on for
like an hour. We looked and looked but
we just couldn't find it. We were all
getting lined up again to get our spanking when dad heard Walter laughing
upstairs. Dad gave us the sshh sign with
his finger in front of his mouth, and quietly climbed the steps. None of us girls moved but mommy went over by
the stairs and looked up, and listened.
Daddy caught Walter with the shower piece in his hand! Walter was the one who took the piece and he
was just trying to get us in trouble, but he got caught! Dad then gave him the same spankings that we
got, every fifteen minutes, plus one extra one since Walter was being so
mean. Dad let us watch Walter get
spanked and he even let us laugh at him, 'cause he laughed at us, so it was
kinda a bad night that got better. I'm
so glad he got caught; he gets away with too much! I don't think he'll try that again.
It
Snowed! There's not a whole lot, but
enough that daddy got the sled out for us.
We only had one sled, so we all took turns. Dad got out his movie camera and filmed
everyone. Walter was a maniac and almost
ran into a car parked on the side of the road.
I was being a daredevil and stood up on the sled like it was a surf
board and I made it down the hill just fine, I didn't even fall. Then Karen wanted to ride on the sled with
me, so I got on the bottom and she lay on my back. She was so cute, cause she wanted to help me
push the sled, but her fingers couldn't reach the ground. Mommy and Daddy road together on the sled,
too! It was a beautiful day. It wasn't too cold and we didn't see Pop at
all. Oh, gotta go, mom's got hot
chocolate, mmh. Bye.
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