Wednesday Hodgepodge Vol. 399

Can you believe this is the 399th Wednesday Hodgepodge?! Wow! Wonder of volume 400 is gonna be a doozy! I can’t wait! Did you know there is a Bill of Rights Day in the United States? It is celebrated on December 15th each year. Keep reading for some other fun tidbits… including a famous Bill I want to meet!

Head over to visit Joyce and play along on the Wednesday Hodgepodge!

1. What’s something about Christmas that most people like, but you don’t? Elaborate. 

Hmmmm. I am not sure – I like the typical Christmas stuff. I don’t necessarily like to be standing in line during the shopping crazy, but I do like being out in it and people watching. So, that is probably something most people don’t like. I love seeing the people rush around and trying to find the perfect gift.

2. Tell us about one cherished tradition from your childhood and if you’ll make it happen this year? 

When I was young, we always had those Pillsbury rolls on Christmas day after we opened presents. I think that was the only time we ever got them – Jeff and I ate the cinnamon ones and my dad ate the orange ones. I usually do this every year with the kids, but their dad has them this year on Christmas eve and Christmas day. So, I am probably going to have to wait until the day after Christmas to continue this tradition.

3. In 1941 FDR declared December 15th Bill of Rights Day. Citizens were encouraged to fly the flag and gather for prayers and other ceremonies as appropriate. Did you know this? Will you fly a flag? Can you name all the rights and protections guaranteed in the first ten amendments of the US Constitution? Of the ten, which two do you value most? If you need a list you’ll find one here. 

I vaguely remember learning about the Bill of Right Day. But, I have never celebrated it. I took my flag down in November on a super windy day and probably won’t put it back up until Spring. The amendments I remember are the freedom of speech/religion/press, the right to bear arms, search an seizure and I think something about juries.

The two I value most are the First Amendment which give the freedom of speech, religion, and expression and the Nineteenth Amendment that gives women the right to vote. I know the 19th isn’t an original amendment in the ten Bill of Rights, but it is pretty important.

4. Do you know someone named Bill? Tell us something about him? Is there a famous ‘Bill’ you’d like to meet? 

Both my grandpas happened to have Bill as a nickname. My dad’s dad’s name was Lawrence William, but he went by Bill. My mom’s dad’s name was William, and of course he went by Bill as well. So, I get to tell two fun facts!

My dad’s dad was an avid bicyclist – riding several miles a day, almost every day of the week. In his 70’s, he went to California to a Seabees reunion and took his bicycle with him. He then proceeded to ride his bike across the United States – in his 70’s! We live in Ohio.

My mom’s dad was a woodworker and would build dollhouses from scratch and from kits to sell at craft shows. He was always working on several and I would help. I was using saws and power tools since I was about 10-11 years old. He had these plans for this mansion of a house – he was going to put in electric lights and a spiral staircase. It was my house – and only my house. No one would get one from that plan but me.

I would always ask him (even when I was an adult) when he was going to start it – it was a joke between us. He would always respond “Dadgumit, I need to get started on that one of these days.” When he died, I ransacked his workshop for those plans – and put them in his casket at the funeral. As childish as it was, if I couldn’t have my house, no one else was getting it either.

As for a famous Bill I want to meet… Bill Murray, of course!

5. A step in the right direction, on the right track, bragging rights, be in the right place at the right time, get off on the right foot, right as rain, right side up, give your right arm for, have one’s heart in the right place…choose a ‘right’ that applies to your life in some way in recent days and tell us how it’s so.

I would have to say being in the right place at the right time. The other night, the kids and I took a ride to look at Christmas lights and we ran through the drive-thru at Taco Bell to get something to drink. We pulled up to the window and the worker handed me the drinks and said “Merry Christmas!” I asked if I needed to pay and she said it was on her. I thanked her… I am not sure why she did that, but it made my day.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Rereading this post, it sounds like I was so spiteful about those dollhouse plans. But, I really wasn’t. I could have kept them or given them to someone else… but those were “our” plans. It was a beautiful dollhouse and I wanted him to have the plans… sort of a “maybe he will have time to work on them now” kind of thing. Trust me, I was not deprived of having dollhouses! I have several that he built – each one just for me. He was always quick to stop to make things with me – even if it was just to cut things out on the saw because it was fun. It’s just, I never got the “one” with the running lights and spiral staircase that I always wanted. Maybe one day.