Love reading all your stories! Great thread. My sis & I were 15 months apart and we usually got the same thing every year. One year we "graduated" to 20 inch J.C. Higgins bicycles from Sears cira 1958 or 59. They were identical but we realized after a couple of days that the reason we could tell them apart is because my Dad, excuse me Santa had put the handle bars on Sis's bike upside down lol. Believe it or not, she wouldn't let him change them to the correct position. She liked being backwards LOL. Mother always put a lot of thought into our stockings, the best fruit and candies. Daddy always read from the same Night Before Christmas book when he tucked us in on Christmas Eve. It had this red velvet stuff on Santa's suit on the cover. My birthday is a week before Christmas and I believe that book had been a birthday gift. When you have a birthday that time of year, you get used to birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas wrap LOL. We always were involved with the Mary & Joseph manger scenes at the church, and with the Christmas program as my Dad was the church pianist. I was always Mary, apparently because I was chubby lol. My cousins were the other actors in the play each year. Nice to look back on that period, because I don't see any of them very often now. Mostly when a relative dies, or maybe a reunion once a year. And I remember the year we got Thumbelina dolls (they moved slowly when you cranked them up), my Barbie (it had 3 wigs!), and the year I got a Polaroid Swinger camera and GoGo boots, white of course, LOL. Still have that camera, and it always made terrible pics (black & white only), but my parents went to a lot of trouble to find that one, they were sold out because it was the trend that year. The way they found my camera was because my Dad worked part time that year at the Camera and Craft store, and he was the photographer for the Santa photos. I remember waiting on him at the mall while he worked. He had a full time job, and used that camera store job to buy equipment for his home darkroom. That was a fun experience too, developing film. Now it's mostly digital, but I enjoyed doing that at home when I was a kid. Ended up in printing profession myself and got more than plenty of darkroom work later in life. I enjoyed my kids each Christmas, now I'm making new memories with the 2 small grandsons. They're such a joy! Holidays hugs to you all ~tenderlee

She's having problems logging in. This is the rest of the above update. 5/21- PT 5- avg 12 - miles 64 Surf City to Cedar Point. great day, rode strong. Got a LOT hotter !! Rode past part of Camp Le Jeune. The firing range. Great Great late breakfast. had ab OJ/mango drink in camp and a bagel and canned pears and coffee. Then we stopped and I had 2 sunny side up eggs and 2 slices of ham and 3 buttermilk pancakes...yum. We passed three little girls on the way here with a lemonade stand. It was $1 a glass...cute sweet gals and we all had a glass.... No lunch stop...not sure why I would need MORE food :) Stopped at a Lowes Grocery on the way and got a HUGE salad bar and an Arrogant "Bleeped out" Ale for dinner in camp..yum. Did laundry...I do the laundry for everyone every day...more on that some time in the future, Great forestry campground here in Cedar Point. If you ever get this way do check it out. Oh and we WAITED for the Rapture...what happened ????? 5/22 PT 5- Avg 12- Miles 73 Cedar Point to Ocracoke Island rode alone to mile 30. Met up with Bob and Pete and we rode to the ferry. Had a mediocre meal as we waited for the ferry. It is a 2 1/2 hr ride. The ride to the ferry is lots of marsh and bridges over the estuaries. Very beautiful but HOT and windy. We were glad to get on the ferry. We all slept most of the way...laid down on the long bench seats. Very nice. Staying at Black Beard's Lodge. Every thing here on the island is called Black Beard. Edward Teach was his name and he was notorious in these parts. Had dinner at the Jolly Roger grill and it was a great burger and fries and beautiful sunset pics...then the mosquitoes came out...ouch ! 5/23 Ocracoke to Cape Hatteras PT3- Avg 15 !!!! ( tail wind ) miles 53 SMOKINg speed. I looked down and was doing 23 mph at times !! Whew....had a bagel and cream cheese and coffee. Pete and Bob and I looked at the lighthouse and then walked out to the point where BB was killed by a Navy officer. supposedly anyway. We then got underway. We stopped at Pop's on the way finally to get some food. There was nothing for a long way. This is a most interesting bar. It was amazing the amount folks were drinking so early in the day...oh well. Had a burger and fries...great fuel !! Nice campground tonight. Walked on beach. Great pic with Blue the dog. 5/Cape Hatteras to Kitty Hawk PT 3:12 avg 12.3- miles 39 ate peaches and ripe banana in camp and 2 tiny donuts. Rode over BIG bridge. Stopped at a little store and had to get a Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit and microwave it in the store....not too bad but have had better :) Went on to Nags Head. Very large pretentious homes for most of the town till you get all the way in. walked around Kitty Hawk and listened to a presentation. Took two pics. Very interesting brothers. There is a peat bog fire in the area and the wind blows the smoke here at times and the air is very bad and then it clears. We are leaving tomorrow and part of the group ( two other women) are staying behind. It is hard but for the best. It will be me and the 3 guys....we get along so well and will all be better for it. We had lunch at Goombays and it was WONDERFUL !! Fantastic grouper sandwich. Also owner called and got us a great price on a motel. The holiday is coming and prices are up but we got a great place cheap. Pete and Bob and I went to the Red Lion and got supper fixings...you guessed it am sure...I got a pint...of Haagan Dazs...not Gentleman Jack!! Hasn't been that kind of trip this year....we are excited to be going on tomorrow...as a group of 4. Stayed at the Sea Ranch motel . Stopped and saw the Bodie Island lighthouse on the way here. TODAY !! 5/25 Kitty Hawk to Elizabeth City. Avg 13.4 Miles 52....we RODE fast. Felt so happy and light...all the guys are smiling and laughing now that we are 4 . Enough of that...it is over and done.

Thanks for the input! I drove a 2010 Forester (liked it--the base model, no bells and whistles: even heated seats don't rock my world!) and an Impreza (really liked that). Decided that I really don't need the heft of the Forester if I can get all-wheel-drive in the Impreza. (D.C.-area snow, if you factor OUT this past winter, is not horrendous! Did you venture to these parts this winter, Stinky?) Still crunching numbers. The 2011 Imprezas are in (or just in) to showrooms, so no real bargaining power there yet. Because my insurance costs will double pretty much with any car I get (my car is old!), I might try to push my current one a bit longer. In the meantime, I get to test-drive other cars and compare them to the Subaru. And I didn't even have the Impreza in mind when I went to Subaru--I just went to see the Forester! So I had done no research on it. But Consumers rates it higher than other similar models.

I remember those times as well. My parents were reluctant to permit regular playing cards in the home, the ones with kings, queens and jacks. The were religious and thought that a regulation deck of cards might promote gambling. Instead, a Rook deck was available. The rook deck has 4 suits, each a different color and 15 cards per suit. The cards are numbered from 1 to 15. Various games were played, some similar to the games played with a regulation deck. LOL. The standard treat was popcorn prepared in a skillet on a wood fired kitchen range. The favorite popping oil was bacon fat. There was a ready supply of bacon fat saved from breakfasts that often included home cured bacon or ham. Often, the popping oil was 50% bacon fat and 50% cooking oil. On cold winter nights, popcorn balls might be made. After the balls were formed, the warm messy balls could be taken out on the porch to cool in the frigid winter air. We grew most of our popcorn. We had a large vegetable garden and a section of it was allocated to popcorn. About 1/3 of the garden was planted in potatoes. These were harvested in the fall. A bushel of potatoes were kept out for immediate use and the rest stored in a "potato hill". I still remember how to construct a potato hill and it can keep potatoes from late September to late March before it begins to fail. The dirt walls of the hill must be thick enough to protect the potatoes from freezing and the potatoes must be able to receive heat from ground under the hill.