For four wonderful years of my life, I had the opportunity to live in Tacoma Washington, actually a suburb called Lakewood. My father was in the Air Force and after he returned from Vietnam, we were transferred to McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma.We lived in Washington from Kindergarten through Third Grade. I loved the state and what it had to offer. The mountains with snow year round. The ocean and its beautiful scenery. Tacoma and Seattle and what the big city had to offer. Going up and picking apples in the Fall fresh from the tree when it was a bit chilly outside. Going to the shore and picking up oysters and clams, taking them home only to have them shoot water at us when we would walk by. A world record snowfall of 84, yes 84 feet. The pictures are unreal and couldn't do justice to actually being there. We sled on top of a three story building. The fireplace on Mount Rainier that I swear you could have stuck a whole tree into. Falling off my bunk bed, while dreaming that I was falling, only to wake up right before the thump. All are just a small part of the memories of my childhood. One that I will always cherish. One that I sincerely don't think could have been any better. I had two GREAT parents and a great sister and bother. A very loving and caring family. We were lucky enough that mom didn't have to work. We didn't have much, but we never went without as the good Lord always provided our needs and a lot more at times.
But my favorite childhood memory has to be when we would come home to grandma and grandpa's for Christmas. I loved that time in my life and looked forward to it every year. We would leave Washington at 12:01am and drive until around 6:00pm or so the next night. I don't know how mom and dad, well mainly dad, ever did it. I remember them coming to our rooms and picking us up and taking us to the car and laying us down on the bed mom made for us. One year we had a two door 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass, so we didn't have much travel room, but somehow mother made a bed in the floor board of the back seat. The amazing thing was that she created a bed where the hump in the floor ran. Somehow she was able to put enough pillows and covers and whatever else to make the hump disappear and create a bed for Candy my sister. It took us three days to get to Grandma and Grandpas. Man the memories of travel. We used to always stop at a place called Little America in Wyoming. It was just a huge truck stop with a hotel, but that place was so cool. It had a HUGE Penguin on top of the sign. In fact they had penguins as there trash cans. I loved this place.
For three days we would drive to get to Grandma's. Finally we would arrive and the very first night we got there we would have family Christmas with all my aunt's, uncle's and cousins. How cool is that. Christmas presents right off the bat...
But of all the memories at Grandmas, my favorite was waking up every morning and smelling grandma's chocolate gravy cooking. You see I have a major weakness for chocolate gravy, especially grandmas chocolate gravy. Grandma just had the magic touch. She had no recipe, in fact we asked her multiple times to write down her recipe, but she couldnt because she cooked totally from scratch with no measuring of anything. She put a handful of this and a pinch of that and a little bit of this. She just put and cooked until it was perfect, every time.
Grandma and grandpa had a tri level house. I stayed in the bedroom at the end of the hall on the top floor. When I woke up every morning I was staring straight down the hall and the first thing that hit me every morning was Grandma's chocolate gravy. I would jump out of bed and sprint to the kitchen which was at the bottom of the stairs and sit down at the breakfast table. Grandpa was always there, waiting for us lazy heads to get out of bed. He would eat scrambled eggs and squirrel brains, yep true story, and watch us kids dig into our breakfast. Grandpa didn't eat squirrel brains all the time, but he did when they were available.
Now there is a trick to eating chocolate gravy. First, you have to eat it out of a bowl. That is a MUST.. Second, you have to put in at least 1/3 of a stick of real butter (NO fake stuff please). Next, allow the butter to melt until it is just a pool at the top of your chocolate gravy. Then, and this is critical, you have to dunk your biscuit into your gravy. Pull off a small piece of biscuit and let it float on top, then with your spoon, pour some chocolate gravy over the top of the piece of biscuit and eat it. Repeat until you are sick... Enjoying every delicious bite.
The thirty days at grandma and grandpa's house was ALWAYS the highlight of my year and probably the highlight of my childhood.
Well grandma and grandpa are gone, but not forgotten. Thanks mom and dad, brother and sister, aunts and uncles and especially grandma and grandpa for my favorite childhood memory.
Until next time,
Chip
But of all the memories at Grandmas, my favorite was waking up every morning and smelling grandma's chocolate gravy cooking. You see I have a major weakness for chocolate gravy, especially grandmas chocolate gravy. Grandma just had the magic touch. She had no recipe, in fact we asked her multiple times to write down her recipe, but she couldnt because she cooked totally from scratch with no measuring of anything. She put a handful of this and a pinch of that and a little bit of this. She just put and cooked until it was perfect, every time.
Grandma and grandpa had a tri level house. I stayed in the bedroom at the end of the hall on the top floor. When I woke up every morning I was staring straight down the hall and the first thing that hit me every morning was Grandma's chocolate gravy. I would jump out of bed and sprint to the kitchen which was at the bottom of the stairs and sit down at the breakfast table. Grandpa was always there, waiting for us lazy heads to get out of bed. He would eat scrambled eggs and squirrel brains, yep true story, and watch us kids dig into our breakfast. Grandpa didn't eat squirrel brains all the time, but he did when they were available.
Now there is a trick to eating chocolate gravy. First, you have to eat it out of a bowl. That is a MUST.. Second, you have to put in at least 1/3 of a stick of real butter (NO fake stuff please). Next, allow the butter to melt until it is just a pool at the top of your chocolate gravy. Then, and this is critical, you have to dunk your biscuit into your gravy. Pull off a small piece of biscuit and let it float on top, then with your spoon, pour some chocolate gravy over the top of the piece of biscuit and eat it. Repeat until you are sick... Enjoying every delicious bite.
The thirty days at grandma and grandpa's house was ALWAYS the highlight of my year and probably the highlight of my childhood.
Well grandma and grandpa are gone, but not forgotten. Thanks mom and dad, brother and sister, aunts and uncles and especially grandma and grandpa for my favorite childhood memory.
Until next time,
Chip
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Loved hearing about your childhood memories. It's fun to go back sometimes to special places in your heart that you remember. I love to do that as well. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI had the pleasure of living next door to my grandparents my entire childhood. And it was amazing. They made me feel so special.
ReplyDeleteMy Grandpa, Pa we called him, had quite the green thumb and he grew roses for Ma. He rigged up some chain link fence attaching it to their porch, from top to bottom and side to side. Then planted those roses just beneath it. They climbed up those chain link fence pieces and made an entire wall of red roses along the front side of their house. One year I remember that they climbed all the way to the very top of the house. At the point of the roof there was a small hole. The roses grew out that hole and created a spray of roses above the roof.
It was beautiful.