Letter postmarked January 4, 1968 (Part 3):
This part of the January 4 letter covers Sunday, December 31, 1967 and Monday, January 1, 1968. (New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.)
Sunday we went to Knott's Berry Farm. The girls wanted to go to Disneyland, but there just wasn't time - I had to be home by 7 o'clock to get ready for our New Year's party. The girls were supposed to meet us at a certain time and Mary just turned them loose. (Yes! I kept David Wayne with us.) Well, they didn't show up until about 40 minutes after the appointed time which made everything very rushed for me (like I didn't have time to change clothes, comb my hair, or put on lipstick for the party.) But our day at Knott's was a lot of fun and we even had one of those chicken dinners out there - delicious again!
[Yet another trip to Knott's Berry Farm. Here's a fuzzy picture of Dad and Cliff sitting with some women other than their wives.]
[And here is a picture of me standing next to a snowman that probably wasn't made out of real snow. This is one of those rare photos in which my clothes appear to fit and you can't see that growing belly of mine.]
[Before we cover the New Year's Eve party at our apartment, here is a picture of all of the guests except one, I think.]
[The people in the back row are Cliff, Suzie Dirr, Gene Dirr, Hartford (Christmas Eve guest), Barbara Hansen (red dress), and Erland Hansen. The people in the front row are Ginger and Lynn (Cliff's stepdaughters), and Mary (Cliff's wife). I'm pretty sure Hartford's girlfriend was there, too, because in the same area of the photo album there is a picture of him and his girlfriend sitting on our couch, and she isn't mentioned in the letter describing Christmas Eve.]
[In that group photo it looks like Erland may be holding a camera in his left hand. The table is set up for serving a lot of food, so I'm sure everyone had a great time.]
Now for the party, which was a complete bust!
[Well, maybe everyone didn't have a great time.]
Mary allowed her girls to stay up for the whole thing and they were so loud and silly that they were the whole party, much to everyone's disgust (except Gene and Suzie). I've never seen kids behave in such a manner and get by with it. To top that - The Dirrs brought their puppy.
[Oh good, a one-bedroom apartment with 13 people milling about, plus a puppy that isn't housebroken. Let the fun begin!]
We couldn't believe it. After several new puddle circles on our rug and shooing it away from hosiery, I blew! I told (not asked) Gene to take the damn pup home and not bring it back. Dave backed me up all the way, bless his heart. Does that sound like me? Gene took the pup home, but unfortunately, he and Suzie stayed - she in my bathroom crying and he making a general nuisance of himself. As I said before, the girls and the Dirrs were so loud and silly that no one else could talk. That was our party - "The Sandbox Crowd." Everyone stayed until midnight and we ate (food was good - ham, potato salad, black-eyed peas, cornbread) then all left and I didn't blame them one bit.
Monday morning I just said, "To hell with it!" I stayed in bed until 10 o'clock, fixed only coffee for breakfast (except the girls and David Wayne had Toast'Em Pop-Ups), and I wrapped up ham, bread and potato salad for them to eat and just sent them on their merry way. The rest of the day was spent with relaxing and just talking, talking, talking.
[Can you tell Mom was a little upset? That late trip to the airport on Christmas Day made it the best Christmas ever, and now the puppy and the loud young girls made it the best New Year's Eve ever. I bet Mom and Dad breathed a huge sigh of relief when our company left.]
[This concludes Part 3 of the January 4 letter. I'll post the 4th and final part on January 4.]
Letter postmarked January 4, 1968 (Part 1):
The CCZCC starts the year off right by extending its streak to 14.
Much like the Thanksgiving and Christmas letters, the January 4 letter covers several days, some of which are more than worthy of their own post, so I'm breaking it up into sections. Today is Part 1, covering through Friday, December 29, 1968.
Dear Mother and Mike,
I got your letter and Christmas card today. I surely was glad to hear from you, although I haven't even had time to be homesick for the last two weeks. I believe in my last letter I told you all about puppy trouble, parties, and late hours of the week preceding Christmas. Christmas itself was wild, then the week after Christmas was parties every night until Cliff, wife and two teenage daughters visited us Friday night - arrival 7 PM. From then on there was no rest and even today, after spending all morning asleep, I'm still worn out.
Oh, yes, and there is this "little trouble" of being anemic. After four shots I feel no better, but hopefully, I can rest now. Dave has been wonderful. He came home from work at noon Friday and spent all afternoon vacuuming, scrubbing, and taking me to buy groceries. When Cliff came, Dave helped me get a quick supper on the table and he did all the work of fixing beds for everyone. I certainly received no help from the two teenage girls. They couldn't make beds, clean out a tub, wash dishes, set table, etc. -- nothing, and their mother doesn't make them. We ran out of clean towels and washrags, so Dave washed for me while they were here and Cliff was a jewel about fixing extra coffee and washing dishes. Poor Cliff - he can't do a thing with these girls and Mary just doesn't try or even back Cliff up when he does get on to them. I received a dirty look from Mary when I told the girls I'd whip them if they didn't quit jumping on my bed. I know you shouldn't talk to houseguests that way, but enough is enough. Dave had his fill of them, too - he told the youngest girl that she could sit on the floor if she didn't sit right in our weak dining chairs - she was just rocking back and forth in it.
[Ok, this weekend of company is getting off to a great start. We have a one-bedroom apartment with three residents and four guests for the weekend. Two of those guests are teenagers who don't help and are out of control. This should be good. It might even better than a puppy.]
Letter postmarked December 28, 1967 (Part 5):
Here is the 5th and final part the letter Mom started writing the day after Christmas in 1967. She started writing this part of the letter the afternoon of Wednesday, December 27.
More bad news - I went to the doctor this morning. He took one look at my pale cheeks and eyes and then gave me a hemoglobin test - I am anemic! If you could see me, you'd laugh, but I guess the test doesn't lie. I knew I was tired but I thought it was just from spending Christmas with a five-year-old. Anyway, I have to take iron shots twice a week at least for three weeks.
That's not all - he had me bring in David Wayne. He thinks he might also be low on iron but he will send his test off to a lab. Then he poked and prodded around on David Wayne, gave him a tubercular scratch test, took a urine specimen, weighed him, etc. I don't know whether the good ol' doc needs to pay his Christmas bills or what but he said something about checking the urine for kidney trouble (scared me after the way he looked at his eyes.) If I know my husband, he'll be so upset that he'll send us back to Texas.
[More medical drama for both me and Mom. That's just what she needs on top of being pregnant.]
[The remainder of the letter was written Thursday morning, December 28.]
I am closing this letter quickly so Dave can mail it for me. It's turning into a diary!
This has been and will continue to be a busy time for us until next week sometime - 'tis the season to be jolly! Last night we were invited to Dave's boss' house, tonight we're going to the Hansen's, and Friday Cliff, wife and two daughters are coming for the weekend. My house looks like a tornado hit it, we have no clean clothes or linens, and our dead Christmas tree is falling down all by itself! And it is an effort for me to put one foot in front of the other - all I want to do is sleep.
[It looks like the busy holiday season for Mom and Dad continues through New Year's Day, and Mom has to deal with anemia on top of all that. Well, at least things aren't as boring as they were a few months ago.]
I will try to call you soon if I get the chance - probably next week. I hope you and Mike enjoyed Christmas. We're going to have copies made of pictures, so you'll get those later. By the way, did Mike get his money stocking in time?
Love,
Linda
P. S. Save the best for last - my favorite gift was the story you wrote about "Rowdy." I read it out loud to David Wayne and he thoroughly enjoyed it. I've also loaned it out to Barbara - I don't think Suzie would appreciate it. Thank you so much for sending it.
[I'll let you read the story of Rowdy after the letter covering New Year's Day.]
Letter postmarked November 30, 1967 (Part 1):
The CCZCC now stands at 5.
You may recall from the November 21 letter that we were planning to take a trip to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. Since Mom's next letter was postmarked November 30 and is somewhat long and covers the whole trip, I have decided to break it up into parts. Here's part 1, covering Thanksgiving Day.
Dear Mother and Mike,
I feel like it's been a long time since I have written to you. I was very busy right before we went to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. I had to get David Wayne some clothes as he had only one pair of pants and no decent shirts.
[Hopefully I got some shirts that cover my belly.]
Also, I needed a winter "dress-up" dress for going out on the town. We were gone Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Since I have been back, I've been busy - Monday I went shopping at Century Plaza with Barbara Hansen, Tuesday I went shopping with Suzie Dirr, and this afternoon Suzie and I are going to take David Wayne and see "The Sound of Music." No telling when I'll get this letter finished, but at least I'll begin now.
First, I'll begin on our trip to San Francisco. It took us 7-1/2 hours to get there, but it was a pleasant trip.
[Google Maps says it's about a 5-1/2 hour drive from L. A. to San Francisco now. Chances are we had to stop several times for bathroom breaks for both me and Mom.]
David Wayne got to see mountains with snow on top. We did run into a heavy fog, but other than that it was a nice drive. I'll admit I got very tired and uncomfortable. When we got to "Clip's" house we were met with a big Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.
[As previously noted, "Clip" is what I called Dad's coworker Cliff.]
After eating, David Wayne and Ginger (11 year old stepdaughter) went to a zoo which is right across the street from their house. That night we all went riding around the city - went to Coit Tower, Chinatown, the nightclub strip, the ocean, etc., etc. Cliff really knows his way around that city, but his driving leaves something to be desired - poor Dave sat in the front seat and I thought we would lose him several times. You know, those hills got a lot steeper since I was there with Myrna and Julia. We drove (maybe raced is more descriptive) down Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. If Dave survived that, I will not worry about his heart for a long time.
[It sounds like they let me and Ginger go to the zoo by ourselves. I guess they really trusted her to keep little five-year-old me safe. Given my history with the animals at Jungleland, that's a bit of a surprise.]
[So that was a rather full Thanksgiving day that began with a 7-1/2 hour drive. Let's see what the rest of the holiday weekend has in store.]
