Our friend, Tracy Bailey, “knows her audience” when she gives gifts. Last year, she made us a cookbook with recipes that related to places we visited during the year.
This is her gift for 2025’s Christmas:
The first delivery contained a story inside a card with this cover:
And this storied letter was inside:
It also included these 2 cards:
And, finally, this decal, a bookmark, and a ribbon:
It’s a very cool gift for a reader and a writer, and I look forward to the other 2 deliveries! Thanks, Tracy! 😍
We had our 2nd annual neighborhood New Year’s Eve progressive cocktail party, with this year’s theme being “Pours and Passports”:
In a countdown to midnight, 4 Mordecai neighbors opened their homes for an hour each and offered drinks and snacks related to their stop’s country. We had ~50 people attending this year’s event, up from 28 in our inaugural year in 2024.
First Stop
The house, for Italian Indulgence
Our host, Marianne
Featured Italian cocktails:
• Aperol Spritz: Aperol, Prosecco, sparkling water, orange slice
• Negroni: gin, sweet vermouth, Campari, orange wedge
Featured Italian snacks:
• Two antipasto platters of cured meats, olives, cheeses, grapes
• Crackers & bread slices to complement the platters
• A variety of biscotti
• Marcona almonds
• Tiramisu (in honor of a guest’s birthday)
At this first stop, we asked everyone to create a name tag comprising their name and how long they’ve lived in Mordecai.
I pulled an Emeril Lagasse on Bob’s and my name tags and kicked them up a notch (Bam!) with a picture of our house on it.
Also at this stop, people made good use of the selfie station provided by Marianne & Jen!
Click on first image to bring up the gallery to flip through.
Marianne, Vance, Jen
Bob, Jen, John
Bob & John
Vance & Jen
Tom & Claire
Tom & Chris
David & Shelley
Sam, Neal, Claire, Amy
Sam, Neal, Claire, Amy
Marianne & Jen
Beth, Kim, Jen, Amy
Michael Ann & Candy
Jen & Kim
Jen, Margaret, Katie
John, Beth Jen, Amy, Margaret
Beth & Jen
Jen & Shelley
Marianne & Jen
Kim & Jason
Second Stop
The house, for French Fusion
Our hosts, Brian & Jeff
Featured French cocktails:
• Cognac French 75: cognac, champagne, simple syrup, lemon juice
• Minuit a Paris: vodka, St-Germain, cranberry juice, simple syrup, lemon slice
Featured French snacks:
• Spinach & cheddar quiche
• Baguette slices with ham, Gruyère cheese, French butter, & cornichon
• Gougère cheese puffs with Parmesan and Pecorino cheeses
• Macarons
Some people shots at this stop:
Third Stop
The house, for Irish Imbibements
Our hosts, John & Mary Beth
Featured Irish beverages:
• Irish coffee with a jigger of Jameson Irish Whiskey and Nana Casey’s secret recipe for sweetness, topped with a dollop of whipped cream
• Guinness beer
• Black Bush Irish Whiskey
• Writers’ Tears Irish Whiskey
Artifacts
• Statue of St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
• A piece of crochet from Mary Beth’s grandma
• Photos in remembrance of family now gone: both sets of parents; John’s brother, Tom; John’s great-grandmother, Nana Casey (of the secret-Irish-Coffee-sweetness-recipe fame)
• Books related to Ireland, among other items
Some people shots at this stop:
Fourth Stop
The house, for Mexican Mixers
Our host, Amy
Amy’s co-host, Neal, provided the food
Featured Mexican cocktails:
• Palomas: tequila, grapefruit juice, sparking water, lime juice, coarse sea salt
• Champagne for the midnight toast (full disclosure: not Mexican)
Featured Mexican snacks:
• Crema de garbanzo con cilantro y jalapeños asado acompañado de zanahorias, apio y pimientos morrones
• Rugelach de chocolate mexicano y nuez pacana & Rugelach de queso fresco ahumado y jalapeño asado
• Pastel de tres leches
Sheets of paper were available to write on with “Sh*t you don’t want to take into 2026” and burn in the fire pit before midnight. Some example sh*t people wanted to jettison:
The accumulation of liquid courage across 4 hours and 4 homes brought the socializing to a peak during this final hour of 2025!
Ending up with the countdown on TV and a champagne toast at midnight.
And if there was any doubt that fun was had by all, a look at Amy’s kitchen at the end of the night!
Thanks to all who hosted our four stops this year and your enthusiastic and generous hospitality!
After this second one of these neighborhood progressive cocktail parties, it’s obvious it’s a great way to spend New Year’s Eve. In fact, I recently wrote three 50-word stories about some advantages of spending New Year’s Eve this way:
I stopped by the post office to get some “love” stamps and some holiday stamps.
Two things happened while I was in line with about 8 people ahead of me:
I noticed on a rotating ad electronic display sign that there existed such a thing as Betty White stamps!
One of the clerks made an announcement: “If you’re in line to buy holiday stamps, we’re out of them at the counter, but you can use the self-service kiosk to get up to 100 of them.”
My first thought was, “OMG, there are Betty White stamps??? Those would make perfect holiday stamps, as underneath each on the envelope, we could write, “Here’s to a White Christmas.”
I stayed in line and after getting some love stamps:
I asked the clerk for two books of Betty White stamps, to which he replied: “Those came in two weeks ago, and we were completely sold out of them in 2 hours.”
I asked if any more would be coming in before Christmas, and he said, “We have no way of knowing.” And I said, “Okay, I’ll just take the love stamps then,” paid for them and got in line for the holiday stamps at the kiosk.
The lady 4 ahead of me at the kiosk was buying 100 of them, and the machine printed 10 stamps at a time, with a few seconds between them to, I guess, load the next 10 into memory. Whatever.
Many minutes later, after wondering why they couldn’t just print more Betty White stamps, I bought 20 of the holiday stamps of which it only offered 2 of the 4 designs — the wreath and the cardinals — which I was fine with.
When my mother was in assisted living, her favorite Activities Director was Maria Iadonisi, for whom we were extremely grateful and still keep in touch with 9 years later.
Each year around the holidays, we heed her call for gift bags for residents of the facility she’s currently working in.
I get, and I actually applaud, the N.C. Symphony for exploring different ways to bring more people into performances.
However, call me a “purist” — which sounds better than “a crotchety old man” — but I have no interest in 3 upcoming “theme night” performances for this holiday season.
“Cirque de la Symphonie”
Ugly Sweater Night
A Candlelight Christmas
I’ve no interest in Cirque de Soleil when it’s not at the symphony, so it’s no surprise I have no desire to see what seems like a rather arbitrary pairing. For me, a bunch of people swinging around above the musicians would result in a distracting competition for my attention.
I’ve been to a couple of ugly sweater parties — with 20 or so of our closest friends — which have been fun enough. I just don’t see that scaling to 1500+ people, most of whom are complete strangers. It also seems like the kind of themed event that would attract children.
Call me lazy, but I have no desire to hold a candle in my hand for any amount of time, much less for a 90-minute concert. (And yes, I know they’re not heavy.) Since this event sold out last year, it’s great that many people apparently find the idea captivating.
With Bob as the Invisible Man, and I wearing my Dancing Pumpkin Man shirt and mask that Bob made us last year, we enjoyed cocktails and pizza while greeting trick-or-treaters on our friend Sam and Neal’s front porch.
Our friends Dana and Finley have been hosting zombie-themed Halloween parties for almost 2 decades! Their invitation said: “If you don’t have a zombie costume, it’s easy to ‘zombify’ a costume you do have.”
That’s “Peg” with us — a $5 find at the Dollar Tree — and the inspiration for our make-up.
And two fun foods at the party:
Putting the finger in finger food
Feet loaf!
Epilogue:FTR, this stuff was an absolute bitch to remove:
With the white and black smearing together into a bluish-gray color during removal, we’d’ve been a hit joining other blue hairs at K&W for a 4:30 dinner. A lot of this, with a multiple applications, was involved in the removal:
My dad was “hard of hearing” for about as long as I can remember. Obviously, I could deduce that it was a result of being around loud noise, but I wasn’t ever exactly sure of the diagnosis.
In this medical record it says, “History of noise exposure includes heavy artillery beginning in 1948 and being a loader on 90 mm. guns up until 1953.” This is what one of those “guns” looks like:
And here’s the medical record:
Also for as long as I can remember, my dad had — sometimes debilitating — back pain. Not that there’s anything funny about back pain, but I had to laugh when I saw this note about prescribing PT for him, because 3 times a week I do 8 exercises to strengthen my core and my back, and those 2 exercises are part of my routine!
My dad’s uniform hosted a lot of ribbons and some medals. This is a picture in the latter part of his career, when he was a Sergeant Major.
Looking through the many military records of his, before recycling them, here is a list of the “decorations, medals, badges, commendations, citation, and campaign ribbons” awarded to him:
The Purple Heart is the most distinguished award he earned, and I always thought it was a result of punji sticks, a type of booby-trapped stake, that went into his shin. However, this account that I came across in his medical records paints a different picture:
22 AUG 69. C Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Division. While serving on active duty with C Co. of above named unit at approximately 19:15 hours on 10 AUG 69, 1st Sgt. Martin received fragment wounds to the right leg resulting from an enemy rocket, while in a defensive position. He was treated at 1/4 [illegible acronym] and returned to duty. Condition and prognosis are good. He will receive his first Purple Heart Award.
Recently, I went through several file cabinet folders of paperwork related to my dad, who died 10 years ago this September 11th. The majority of the paperwork comprised health records and records of his military service in the U.S. Marine Corps, and I learned a few things about him in the process.
I knew he entered the military very young, as the family story goes that my grandmother had to sign for him to join because he wasn’t yet 18.
I also knew that he’d never graduated high school, because he earned his USAFI High School GED in 1959, and this document confirms that, where it shows his “non-service education” at the time as 8 years grammar school and 1 year of high school.
The thing I didn’t know about him was where he worked before enlisting in the Marines. This document lists Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates in Fall River, MA as his employer, and the “occupation” field says he was a “spare boy!”
I’d heard of neither that company nor that job position before. Thank the &deity for the internet.
According to Wikipedia: Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates (/ˈbɜːrkʃər/) was an American textile company. In 1955, the company merged with Hathaway Manufacturing Company to form Berkshire Hathaway. Wait! What??? My father worked for the precursor to Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet‘s company??? 😂
The mill my dad worked in in Fall River was King Philip Mills, an historic cotton mill complex, which was acquired by Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates in 1930.
When I first saw “spare boy,” my thoughts immediately went to bowling, perhaps because as young girl my mother worked as a “pin boy” resetting pins at the bowling alley for, as the family lore goes, “a nickel an hour.”
But alas, in mill work, a “spare boy” was a young male worker who assisted with the operation of machinery in a textile mill, particularly during the early 20th century. They were responsible for ensuring the smooth functioning of the production process in the factory.
For instance, Andrew Stefanik worked as a spare boy in a textile mill in Chicopee, Massachusetts. His tasks likely involved supporting tasks like replacing bobbins and other general duties. This was a common role for young workers, especially “bobbin boys,” who often worked as spare boys.
The term “spare” suggests that they might not have had a specific machine assigned to them but were available to assist wherever needed, filling in for absent workers or helping with tasks that required additional hands. Historically, this could also be referred to as a “spare hand.”
Here’s a picture of a “bobbin boy” working in the mills, one of the jobs my dad presumably did as a spare boy.
Andrew Stefanik, a bobbin boy, works as spare boy, November 1911. Photographer: Hine, Lewis. Original public domain image from Flickr
Bob adopted Vincent, whose full name was Vincent St. Patrick McVeigh, on St. Patrick’s Day.
Here’s a pic we took of him one St. Patrick’s Day and one we took yesterday as Bob wore Vincent’s bow tie for our front-porch happy hour with the theme from Rocky blasting by the street while we cheered on the Pelagic Run Club runners as they passed by our house.
