New Year's Eve

Ten p.m., December 31, 2009, time to recall other New Year's Eves. Get togethers at Rich &

Nancy's, Aunt Rita's turn of the century big bash, even older ones at parties when I was brave (or naive) enough to go out among the revelers.

I think the very first New Year's Eve I can remember occurred at one of the wild and crazy

parties Aunt Katie and Uncle Ernie used to give in their basement. (The night was considered

a success if Mayor Cervantes showed up.)

It was a very cold night, and my Dad took me out to the front porch to welcome the new year.

He looked a little sad and I asked him what was wrong. He answered he was sorry to see

19-- end. And I said, "Don't feel to bad, it will be back another time." Talk about being hit

over the head with reality. My Father explained to me that each year lasts 365 days and then

it is over forever, and another one takes its place I was completely shattered. After

he told me, I started crying and sobbing, "I want 19-- to come back." That's all I remember.

I guess we went back down to the basement and life went on.

Happy 2010 to my legions of devoted readers.

Snowy, Snowy Days

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day found us engulfed in snow. Jim, Diane and I had a quiet

Christmas Eve at home and feasted on kosher food intended to feed six or eight people. This

morning, we realized the blizzard actually only amounted to six inches instead of 12 to 15 inches

as predicted. It was enough to keep us from going to Sally's to watch kids open presents and

later, to prepare a turkey dinner.

Around four p.m. we were quite surprised that the young Whitakers managed to make it from

Grain Valley to Blue Springs. Our wait was well-rewarded because the boys had such a great

time opening presents. Ezra has always been exceptional at responding to gifts. The Razor

Scooter and Dragon Webkinz hit the jackpot and even induced a little fainting spell. I was

surprised since only hours before he had been totally surprised when he found a Wii behind

the tree.

Levi received a bunch of Yo Gabba Gabba stuff, mainly from Baboo and Ed. He opened the

coloring book at once, and looked like he'd been doing it forever, on his tummy with his legs

up behind him, and using an orange crayon all over the entire page.

Tonight, I will freeze Mr. Fresh Turkey and we will probably have him on New Year's Day.

Tomorrow, we start the clean up, but it was a remarkable Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas

Hundreds of memories to write about, but too busy making new memories to write about

the old ones. We are down to one more day to shop for a few more things, finish cleaning and

then start the baking. Diane and I will probably make the caramel graham crackers that

Betty used to make every year, along with pecan crescents and maybe toll house, if there

is time. Christmas Eve will be spent wrapping presents, last minute details and then a get together with Nanett and her family. Christmas Day, we plan to go to Sally's to watch kids open presents and then off to 10 a.m. Mass. Later, we will go back to Sally and John's to make

turkey dinner because I didn't get to make on Thanksgiving.

I think I will wait until next week to relate some stories of Christmases long, long, ago.

New York Deli

For about the last 80 years, my husband's family, and now our family, has celebrated Christmas

Eve with kosher food from the Kansas City New York Deli and Bakery. Sadly, this year we will

not be able to continue in this tradition. Earlier this year, the bakery closed its doors after being in business since 1909.

When Jim was a toddler, he and his grandfather, Cecil, would make the trip from Oakley Avenue to Troost every Christmas Eve to purchase the wide array of Jewish delicacies including corned beef, pepper beef, knot rolls, bagels and salt sticks. When Jim's mother took over the task of buying the food, she would start out early in the morning so she could be sure of the availability of the items they craved. After the deli, she would head to Andres to purchase pastries for Christmas morning. It may have occurred to Betty to place an advanced order for all the necessities, but that would have taken the thrill of the hunt. There was

always that possibility that the one thing you really wanted would be sold out. When I took

over the task, I always pre-ordered. I get my thrills from making sure what I need is

available. My daughters accompanied Betty and I on the bakery run when they were babies.

When the Christmas Eve feast fell into my responsibility, the girls and I added a quick lunch,

which usually involved sharing bagels and lox before leaving the deli. At the turn of the

Century (I love saying that), Sally's husband John, and then their son, also came along on the

kosher run. I did not follow the tradition of going to Andre's but we did purchase almond

rolls at the deli for the next morning.

Sadly, it appears that Christmas 2008 marked the end of this long Puckett tradition. During

the Spring of 2009, New York bakery closed its doors for the final time. Many things

were compounded to cause this decision to close. It seems true pumpernickel flour was no

longer being made. The man who was the owner's right hand man had a stroke and was no

longer available to do the bulk of the work. And it seems that the bakery would have to

make thousands of dollars worth of repairs to come up to "modern" standards. At that

point the owner decided he would rather close than cope with all the changes that would

produce less-than-perfect results.

A world that no longer contains salt sticks is gray indeed.

The SS Admiral

Back in the 50's, no summer was complete without a trip on the Admiral. Affectionally called

"The Boat" you could take the two and a half hour "voyage" without even looking at the

Mighty Mo. As a young kid, there was nothing better than to head for the bathrooms and look

at the Muddy Mo in the toilets. It was so gross. But entertaining. For reasons I don't even

want to know as an adult, the toilets had river water in the tank and God only knows where

it wound up.

As I got older, the bathrooms continued to be a source of enjoyment. I asked my Mom, why do

the ladies rooms all have weird names like Deanna and Sonja? She explained they were the names of Hollywood stars from the 30's.

The best bathrooms were located right off the dance floor, which I remember as gigantic.

I wonder if now it would seem a lot smaller, like old houses and streets. There was a live

band that played swing music and at times ventured into the new realm of rock. We loved it.

At least once a trip, the band would play "The Hokie Pokie" and we would shake it all

around.

One summer, my Aunt Barb and Uncle Jerry were courting. They sat together the whole

trip, on a upholstered bench that was situated on the perimeter of the dance floor. They

read a book, each asking the other at the end of the page, "You ready to turn?"

To enter the dance floor, you would push giant glass doors that were etched with art deco

designs. Within the doors was the only air conditioned part of the Admiral. If you actually

wanted to enjoy the 90 degree air and the 88 % humidity, the place to go was the very top

of the boat, aptly named the Sun Deck. Any one brave enough to do that was entertained

by a real calliope with the steam siphoned off from the Admiral's own output.

When I was even older, in high school, no summer was complete without a "Moon Light

Cruise." Even the Sun Deck was better at night with a guy. You could stand close and

watch the river that took on a mysterious nature after dark.

One night, my sisters friends went on a Moon Light Cruise, and due to some illogical logic

ended up in East St. Louis. I think the young driver thought he had to cross a bridge in

order to get home from the boat because after you went down the river for about an hour,

they would turn it around and go back. I don't think he realized the last half of the trip

took you back from where you started. Maybe Diane will comment about this.

The last time Jim and I went on the Admiral, we spent most of the time taking in the

logistics of the trip. It was amazing to watch the workers untying ropes as big as their legs

and working in unison to get the thing going down the river and then tying up at the end of

the return trip. At that time, the old-fashioned arcade on the bottom level was still in

operation and it was fun to have your fortune told by a mechanical seer.

Any one else, please add your memories about the Admiral, before it became a Casino, please.

Old Homes

While in St. Louis for Thanksgiving, we took the Hohlfeld Home Tour of Winona and Tholozan.

Previously, I wrote of the huge Winona hill. Actually, it is not all that big and the street is not

nearly as long. At the top of the hill, where Mike Shannon used the kick foot balls down the

street and kids would run and take them back to him, the Shannon house is not nearly as big

and imposing as I remembered. I cannot remember his sisters name, but we used to see them

at the bus stop on Lindenwood. Sharon, I think was only a few years older than I was. I

wonder what she is doing now?

The long and steep driveway that I remember was either not all that steep and long, or later

residents regraded it. It appeared that the current driveway is made of some substance other

than the white cement one we had.

The street is much more narrow than I remember. And the houses are much closer than

I thought. In truth, it is just a normal city street, a little longer than some, a little more

on an incline, but still not as spectacular as remembered 50 years ago.

The houses on Tholozan also seem to be much closer than I remembered, and the street

more narrow. Instead of stained glass on the upper portion of the front window, there is

now clear glass with criss-crossed lead pane dividers. The little, rounded-on-top window

in the front door has regular glass in it. Even when we lived there, the "6552" stained

glass window had to be replaced with just regular stained glass. Dad had to look around

a lot until he found a company that would replace it at all, forget the "6552." He finally

found "St. Louis Ornamental Iron and Window" to do the job.

I couldn''t remember which of the two houses up the street belonged to the Garagiola's

but one of them had a "for sale" sign on the front lawn. The house of the lady who worked

at Scruggs-Vandervort and Barney, still has the white-washed brick effect, and the multiple

white pane dividers. The Scheller house and the Candy house look the same, but so close, as

did the house to the west. The family was named Noonan. Originally, it was just Mr. &

Mrs. Noonan who lived there and when they both passed away, one of nephews and his wife

moved in.About once a week, Mrs. Noonan would go downtown by bus. She always wore sensible high-heeled shoes and a pair of gloves, usually white.

We didn't have time to look at Lafayette or Shaw Place, Spring or Detony Streets, maybe

next trip.