Party Pumpkins (for seniors shhh!)
My darling mother had a birthday last week and I’m always looking for ways to spend more time with her. This is a great activity for seniors, but please don’t tell my mom she’s a senior. She can say it, but I can’t.
We decided to make “party pumpkins” for my cousin’s eight- year old daughter. Mother and I both taught kindergarten, so this was easy as pie for us. Did you know I also worked in a nursing home and have a bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation with emphasis in gerontology? I can jam with 5 year olds and 95 year olds alike.
We started with lots of small “doo-dads” eight- year old girls like. Sparkly rings, balloons, bracelets, stickers, seashells, candy, buttons, hair bands and hard cold cash. Rolls of orange crepe paper wound it all together in a tight ball.
We rolled, and rolled, adding tiny treasures and ended with a green rick-rack stem.
As we rolled the cute loot, we talked. Mother told me stories of how she paid $7 a week rent to her parents when she was in secretary school after high school and then how she used her working money to help pay for tuition at Howard College. She also told me all about her old boyfriend before she met my Dad. “He was a beatnik.” Do I really want to hear this????
We laughed and drank lemonade and rolled crepe paper pumpkins all afternoon. Hers was the prettiest. We finished them off with green rick-rack stems and glittery stick-on leaves. I snuggled them down in a box of green paper grass.
We shipped the perky party pumpkins off to little cousin Bronwyn with instructions to unroll one when she needed a reward for accomplishing a helpful household chore or school work.
Senior day in the pumpkin patch was fun.
Leslie Anne, making sweet memories with your precious mom. The perky party pumpkins are so cute!
We really did have a grand time together. Thanks Pam.
I love this. You and your mother are wonderful. Alma was my sons teacher. I taught with her many years. I read your first book and can’t wait to read this one.
And she has such sweet memories of you as well. Thanks so much Mary Ellen!
Please say “Hello” to your beautiful Mom for me. I’m sure y’all don’t remember me, but I played the piano at Myrtle Grove Baptist Church from 1972-1974. I was a music major graduating from Pensacola Junior College and Sydney Kennedy said MGBC was looking for a pianist and childrens’ choir director. You were just a little bitty thing, but I have such fond memories of your Mom and Dad and my time at Myrtle Grove!😊
How wonderful to hear from you. I’m working on a story about something Daddy would say, “I’d give my right arm for a good pianist!” You are a rare breed these days. Thanks so much for the note. I’ll be sure to pass it on to my mother.
So sweet! Wish my mom were here to have those talks with. Miss her so much. You are blessed. AND so is the recipient of those precious pumpkins! 🎃
Thanks Sue. I have so many friends without a mother that I’ve taken their advice to spend more time with her doing things like this. It’s an effort, but always worth it.
Leslie Anne, making sweet memories with your precious mom. The perky party pumpkins are so cute!
We really did have a grand time together. Thanks Pam.
I love this. You and your mother are wonderful. Alma was my sons teacher. I taught with her many years. I read your first book and can’t wait to read this one.
And she has such sweet memories of you as well. Thanks so much Mary Ellen!
Please say âHelloâ to your beautiful Mom for me. Iâm sure yâall donât remember me, but I played the piano at Myrtle Grove Baptist Church from 1972-1974. I was a music major graduating from Pensacola Junior College and Sydney Kennedy said MGBC was looking for a pianist and childrensâ choir director. You were just a little bitty thing, but I have such fond memories of your Mom and Dad and my time at Myrtle Grove!đ
How wonderful to hear from you. I’m working on a story about something Daddy would say, “I’d give my right arm for a good pianist!” You are a rare breed these days. Thanks so much for the note. I’ll be sure to pass it on to my mother.
So sweet! Wish my mom were here to have those talks with. Miss her so much. You are blessed. AND so is the recipient of those precious pumpkins! đ
Thanks Sue. I have so many friends without a mother that I’ve taken their advice to spend more time with her doing things like this. It’s an effort, but always worth it.