Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Times Twenty


In our house, birthdays came and went
With regularity,
And though we tried, it was so hard,
To act with parity.

The cake was simple, ‘Mama’ made,
In chocolate or spice,
Then decorated more or less,
So it would look sooo ‘nice’.

But gifts! Oh, boy those were the test,
You wanted something great,
But fluctuating finance made kids
Happy or distrait.

As they grew older, Papa’d say,
In stentorian voice,
“All birthdays now are cancelled, kids!”
His kids did not rejoice!

But deep inside, his children knew
He really meant it not.
They really needn’t worry that
Their day’d be forgot.

The kids are grown and moving on,
Now their kids’ birthdays loom,
And once again we find that we,
Our duties we’ve resumed.

Instead of six, there’s twenty now,
And everything costs more,
Every other week we’re found,
Perusing. In the store.

This week my Husby tried that thing
That he had tried before,
Announcing that all birthdays
Would not be fĂȘted more.

But what a clamour then arose,
Each one outdid the next,
One didn’t have to look too hard,
To see that they were vexed.

But deep inside, his ‘grands’ all knew
He really meant it . . . not.
They really needn’t worry that
Their day’d be forgot.

And truth be told we love it when
They open up our gifts,
They may think it’s theirs alone,
It’s us that feel the lift.

So every other week you’ll find
With minimum of fuss,
That Husby and his loving wife,
Are there at Toys R Us.

Each month 'mid lives both old and new,
Our Karen gives us poems to do.
And now you see what we have writ',
Impressed, now, with our smarts and wit?
Karen of Baking In A Tornado: September Twelfth
Dawn of Cognitive Script: Another Year Has Passed
Sarah of My Brand of Crazy: 10 Years of a Lifetime
Lydia of Cluttered Genius: Unwanted Anniversary

9 comments:

  1. I love it because I too get so much joy from seeing the looks on faces when the gift I've chosen is opened.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love seeing folks open gifts too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's true! Seeing someone open a gift you've chosen IS a pleasure! Good luck with your weekly shopping trips :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your family sounds so great, Diane.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I remember once declaring that grandchildren would only get chocolate bunnies at Easter until they were ten years old. Very quickly my daughter said "what will they get after that?" I had to think quickly and say a smaller chocolate chicken.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Having read this I thought it was very enlightening.

    I appreciate you spending some time and energy to
    put this article together. I once again find myself spending
    way too much time both reading and posting comments. But so what, it
    was still worth it!

    ReplyDelete

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