How to Haul Home a Christmas Tree in a Sports Car

 

Photo by (c) Wednesday Elf

Our first Christmas since retiring was fast approaching when we realized that part of our retirement downsizing and moving included getting rid of the 7-passenger VW Van we'd used for years while the children were growing up.  We had decided to just go with Bob's 2-seater Austin-Healey kit car sports car.

Since our Christmas Trees were usually a live tree around 6 feet tall, without a van or a pick up, how were we now to get this tree home?

Bob said to leave it to him (my master problem-solver) and off he went to town to choose a tree. The tree he selected was wrapped in plastic, which helped eliminate too many pine needles in the car. It also kept the breezes generated by driving down the highway from 'lifting' the branches of the tree that might have caused it to 'take flight'.

Photo by (c) Wednesday Elf

You see, our little sports car was a convertible. Bob simply put the top down, put the tree in the passenger seat, tied it down with some rope, and successfully transported it home.

Problem solved! And, yes, he DID receive some pretty funny stares and shouted comments from fellow drivers on the road. Naturally we had to take pictures, since no one would believe how we got that tree home!

Photo by (c) Wednesday Elf

Written by Wednesday-Elf on 12/15/2013 on another site no longer published.  Updated on 12/18/2020

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A Grandmother By Any Name is Sweet

 Grandmothers are special, no matter what name their grandchildren call them. Over the years, I've heard many names used by kids to identify their grandmother. Some are commonly used, like Grandma, Gramma, Grammie, Grandmama and Nana. Some are pet names or unusual names passed down through generations, like Mimi and MeeMaw.

My Grandmother

My Grandmother, Anne

My grandmother was barely into her 40s when I was born and for some reason – perhaps she thought she was too young to be a grandmother – she taught us first-born grandchildren to call her & my grandfather by their first names ~ Anne & Ernie.

So my darling grandmother, the sweetest woman in the whole world, was always 'Anne' to me and my siblings.  She became simply 'Grandma' to my younger cousins several years later. 

By the time I became a mother, her 'grandma' name got changed again by my baby son. Anne had come to visit when Chris was a tiny toddler and as she came in the door she said “Where's my little GG” (meaning her great-grandson). My son thought that was her name and from that moment on the entire family began to call her 'GG'. :) My sister was the only exception. She decided to call Anne 'Best G' for 'Best Grandmother', except Anne used to laugh and say “but I'm your ONLY grandmother”. Didn't matter – she was the BEST. :)

My mom and hubby's mom were both just 'gramma', or grandma used with the last name when identity was needed.

Different Grandma Names in a Family

Great Grandparents

Separating one grandmother or great-grandmother from another when there are still several on each side of the family gets to be confusing to kids and different names are needed to distinguish them. Since my grandmother was GG, my husband's grandmother became “Grammy-Great”. I called MY great-grandmother “Banny”, a name that has always been special to me and I have no idea where it came from. I've never heard it anywhere else, so perhaps it was a pet family name.

When my first-born grandson was born, my daughter-in-law asked me what I wanted him to call me and I considered 'Banny', and wish now I'd used it, but it was MY Banny's name, so couldn't bear to part with my memories of her. So, I became just plain 'Grandma' to my 5 grandsons, with exceptions (see below). 

My teenage grandson recently decided that 'grandma' is too long, especially for text messages, so he shortened it to G-Ma! 

In different countries, the word 'grandmother' takes different forms depending on what the word means in other languages.  My son's wife is from South Korea, so when the 2 youngest grandsons in that family came along, she taught them to call me Halmeoni, the Korean word for 'grandma'.

Grandparents Day

National Grandparents Day is a holiday celebrated in various countries to show the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. It is always celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. I had a very special bond with my grandmother, Anne.

Happy grandparents day classic round sticker
by KeyholeDesign

Related Grandmother Posts:

• My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - a Book Review
• New Grandmother Gifts

Grandmother Article Written by Wednesday Elf (9/13/2020)

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”