Gen X

New Year’s feelings

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

This New Year’s is getting me down. I had so hoped that 2025, the year I turn 60, would be the year we’d finally stop seeing his ridiculous orange face and hearing his racist, lying voice forever. I had thought if we could just get through the November election, he’d fade from our consciousness. I worked hard to try to make that happen.

Instead, the shitshow continues. All the anger, fear and bitterness of the past nine years is back. I’m suspicious of old friends who seem to blame all their problems on immigrants. I’m worried that racism or god forbid—gun violence—is going to affect my family. I’m so sad for the planet. I’m scared that our new leaders are truly just self-dealers.

I used to want to try to make the world a better place for all our children and grandchildren. Now I just want to try to protect my own children and grandchild in whatever way I can.

All the expansive positivity, American pride, and hopefulness for all women I felt watching Kamala Harris accept her nomination for president is gone.

I am taking solace in the unparalleled personal, private, internal joy of becoming a grandmother. Maybe my love for this one child will save me.

The first time I got to hold my granddaughter was magical. I loved her immediately. (Photo taken by my daughter 9.24.24)

Consider the source

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

These days everyone is encouraged to “look at the source” of information they take in. “Don’t believe everything you hear” is a common refrain.

Well, my husband and I have the same policy with TV and movies. Certain people are in the “respected recommender” category. If Alissa or Ann or Gina tell us we should watch something because we’ll love it, we listen. I even jot it down for future reference.

Other people are in “the grain of salt” category. We’ll listen to their recommendations, but we have to consider the source. They might be someone we like very much personally, but we just don’t share their taste in TV and movies.

Some people who were once under consideration to be respected recommenders have recently been categorized “grain of salt” based on highly touting a pretty stupid show on Netflix. (I’m not going to say the name of the show, because many are finding it delightful.)

Now that Boston Globe TV critic Matthew Gilbert retired, I feel a little lost sometimes. If you’re the kind of person that eagerly awaited each new episode of Succession and is sad that both What We do in The Shadows and Somebody Somewhere just ended forever, then I’m listening.

We’re already aware and are excited for new seasons of Severance and White Lotus starting soon. And I went ahead and bought tickets to see A Complete Unknown on New Year’s Eve, because even though it’s getting mixed reviews, Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan. And I like to see all the big rock biopics on a big screen, with that big Hollywood sound.

You feel me?

My 80s friend

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

At Christmas dinner yesterday, my father told me he had run into my old friend Debbie at the fish market. They recognized each other and exchanged some quick pleasantries.

Debbie and I were neighborhood friends who ended up becoming close friends for many years. She knew my parents well and I knew her family too. Her dad was a great guy. We took several trips to California and Florida in our late teens and twenties. We did a fair number of edgy things together including lots of underage drinking, shoplifting, dine-n-dashing, and at least one crazy 80s Spring Break trip to Fort Lauderdale. (Wet t-shirt contest anyone?) Debbie was 18 months older than me (a year ahead of me in high school) and liked to party and dance. I’m sure my first nightclub experience was with her. Even though she was a true redhead, she loved the sun like I did and we went to the beach as often as possible. We went skiing a few times too and once spun out in my mother’s car driving in a snowstorm. We did a 180 and hit the guardrail. (Debbie was driving at the time and we were fine.) In fact, we wanted to carry on with our ski trip with one headlight dangling, but when we called my parents from a gas station, they made us come home.

Debbie and I stayed friends for many years through a variety of life experiences including her being severely burned in a freak accident. (I remember visiting her in Shriner’s Burn Center where I saw the most horrifically scarred young children.) We knew each other’s deepest, darkest secrets. We attended each other’s weddings and then drifted apart as we became mothers and got busy raising kids. Still, we sent Christmas cards and occasionally saw each other in person.

Then, at some point during the second Obama administration her right-leaning political posts on Facebook caused a tiff between us. We unfriended each other and that was that. Some years later, I felt badly about it, but figured she had probably morphed into a Trump supporter, so what would be the purpose of reaching out. We were too different by then.

You know that expression about some friends being for a reason, some for a season, and some for a lifetime? Well, at one point I might’ve thought we’d be friends for a lifetime, but it turns out we were friends for a season. And our season was the 1980s. Big time.

Christmas 1989 (towards the end of our close friendship)

If I had to pick one song that tends to trigger a Debbie memory, it would be Kool & the Gang’s Celebration. I picture us dancing around in front of a mirror, sipping some alcohol, while we made our hair as big & fluffy as possible for whatever came next.

A Milestone Christmas

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

This year is a milestone Christmas for us—our first one as grandparents.

We know our sweet little baby granddaughter won’t remember this Christmas, but we hope to have many more where we’ll make memories she can remember.

Christmas already feels so exciting again just having this perfect little girl in the world.

Twenty years ago we were a family of four. We stuck together through good times and some not-so-good times and now we have a whole new person to love. A whole new person. Imagine that.

Merry Christmas 🎄

XOXO

Mary

Candy cookies

~ MaryG ~ 12 Comments

I’m not sure when cookies with pieces of candy in them were invented, but I feel like they got very popular when I was a kid in the 70s. In fact, I’m just going to go ahead and claim them for GenX. We may not have invented candy cookies, but we sure made them very popular.

I fondly remember my first “hidden treasure” cookie—a powdered sugar-covered cookie ball with a Hershey’s Kiss in the center. My mom made those every Christmas. And remember those first M&M cookies? Those were my second favorite type of Mrs. Fields cookies to get warm at the mall.

As every American who has ever trick-or-treated knows, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the best mass-produced candy in the US, which of course leads to numerous recipes which incorporate them.

These Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies (recipe from Sally’sBakingAddiction.com) are perfect because you sink the candies into the hot cookies and then put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes to prevent too much of the chocolate melting. This results in the perfect integration of candy and cookie. The cookie dough itself has peanut butter in it and is rolled in granulated sugar before baking. It elevates the already perfect peanut butter cup to a whole new level.

As my son says, these are FIRE.

This batch of cookies officially concludes my 2024 Christmas Baking Extravaganza, which may or may not have been partially motivated by election-related escapism. I hope you’ve enjoyed it!

Fortunately, my son has been home to help eat all these cookies.

Related posts:

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

More White Chocolate

The Holiday Spritz

Elfie

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

I was recently complaining that I’m no longer able to answer the WordPress “Daily Prompt” because I’ve completed a full year of them and apparently, that’s all you get! Several smart people (including my daughter) said why don’t you just write your own prompts. Good idea.

Even easier, why don’t I choose one of the many daily prompts readily available to me through the Apple iPhone Journal feature, in which I’ve been dutifully logging my yoga workouts, manicures, and doctors appointments for almost a full year.

Prompt from iPhone Journal

This is Elfie.

He was given to me in the mid 1960s by a babysitter. I was a tiny toddler at the time and apparently I really loved Elfie. He’s not only cute, but he has a gentle bell in his tummy that makes a pleasant kerplunkety sound when you rock him. My parents made sure he never got lost and eventually passed him on to me when I was settled in my first home.

Each year, I take him out of the attic, where he lives with my other Christmas decorations, and sit him on the piano. Don’t you just love his little red nose and skinny legs?

At this point, I think I cherish him because he’s SO old. He’s old enough now to move to a 55+ living community. Maybe I’ll bring him with me if I ever move to one of those places. Also, Elfie reminds me of the pure magic of Christmas I felt as a little child…that gasp of delight when I descended the stairs on Christmas morning.

Blue Christmas

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

More and more churches are offering a “Blue Christmas” service for people struggling during the holiday season. The holidays aren’t the easiest time for everyone, and there are many possible reasons why people might be feeling “blue” during the holidays. Grief is a big one.

My Unitarian Universalist church offered a Blue Christmas service on Tuesday. It was offered both in-person and on Zoom, which is so nice for our elderly and/or homebound members.

I’m not feeling particularly blue this year, so I didn’t go, but it’s good to know that these mixed feelings about the holidays are acknowledged and supported by my community. I’m sure some year I will want to go. The blues come for everyone.

My thoughts are with one particular friend who is missing her late, loving husband so terribly this season. 💙

My Christmas tree last night

Blogging challenge

A logo for "50 Happens," [a site dedicated to Gen X women with children and grandchildren] [who embrace life's challenges with humor and resilience], [featuring a modern and uplifting design] [that embodies strength and positivity] [with an elegant and playful style] [and a harmonious blend of colors like pink, fuchsia, purple, and blue].
~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

Thank you Stephanie for nominating me to participate in this fun blogging challenge.

How did you come up with your blog name? 

I turned 50 (as one does, if one is fortunate) and felt the urge to do something new, like start a blog. Fifty just sort of “happens” — it sneaks up on you and seems a bit more dramatic than either 30 or 40. Whereas there’s a good chance you’ll live to 60 or 80, there’s only a very slim chance (0.0173%) that you’ll live to 100. You can be pretty sure your life is more than half over at 50.

If your blog was a person (fiction or real), who would it be?

Hmmm…this one is hard. I’m obviously no Anne Lamott, but if she had a blog, I have no doubt I’d read every post.

What helps you create new content if you feel like you need some inspiration?

I like a writing prompt like this one (thanks Stephanie) or the WP Daily Prompt.

Do you have a specific style of blogging?

Gosh, I don’t know. Let’s ask ChatGPT.

“Her writing style is confessional, characterized by personal reflections and candid expressions of her thoughts and feelings. She discusses topics ranging from family traditions, such as holiday baking, to her reactions to current events, often conveying a sense of humor and resilience. This confessional style is popular among bloggers, as it allows for a personal connection with readers through the sharing of intimate experiences and emotions.”

Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with?

I do love 80s memories, music, and trivia. Maybe a bunch of GenX bloggers could all tackle a shared topic like “where were you when…(the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up)” or something like that.

Is there anything more you wish you had or would like to learn as a blogger?

Honestly, no. I like my blog, I love my regular readers (I like reading their blogs too) and I really have no desire to write fiction or get published.

I would appreciate it if WordPress would come up with some new Daily Prompts. After responding to them for a full year, it says I’ve already “answered” each one daily and doesn’t offer a new one.

My nominees:

S.J. Asher

Anyone else who wants to join in the fun!

The Holiday Spritz

~ MaryG ~ 16 Comments

I am baking up a storm over here in the land of incredulous liberals who are (to a person, I believe) avoiding the news. (I did take a quick peek at Facebook earlier and saw that the incredible Randy Rainbow has just dropped a new video, which basically says it ALL.)

Back to baking…the holiday spritz is a tradition for my family. I received a fine Italian-made cookie press from my childhood friend Bethanne at my bridal shower 30+ years ago and have been making these cookies pretty much every year since. (My mother had a cookie press and she made them for years too.) They are strictly a holiday cookie. I’ve never made them at any other time of year.

I also received a cookie cookbook from Bethanne at my bridal shower (we had baked many batches of cookies together as girls), and I still use the recipe from that very same cookbook:

If you’re not familiar with how a cookie press works, you stuff a pump/barrel full of cookie dough and then squeeze it out through little silver discs, which form various decorative shapes. (There are about 12 shapes to choose from.)

Based on input from my son, the fleur-de-lis 🇫🇷 was added to the more seasonal snowflake and tree shaped cookies this year.
Voilá
And just for fun, here’s a photo of Bethanne (top right) and me (bottom right) with my mother and two other friends, circa 1977.