Two Noras: January 10, 1914 and January 10, 2021

Nora Bauer: Saturday, January 10, 1914

Was quite a bit colder today. Was up to the bank this afternoon. Gertrude and I went to church tonight and then I did fancy work. 

Nora Spitznogle: Sunday, January 10, 2021

Wonky sleep. Today was a series of naps. Played online Euchre with my sisters [Beth and Ann] and Tim [Ann's husband]. Kassie and I un-decorated our holiday prankster fun and had dinner. 

I love the idea of setting aside time for fancy work. I feel like I don't do anything fancy - it's more about keeping up with laundry and dishes and vacuuming. 

According to Grandma Nora's ledger in the back of the book, she possibly deposited her $11/weekly salary in the bank today. She also recorded an expense of $2.5o for board - I assume that was paid to her parents. It looks like her room and board was $5/month. I would love to know more about that agreement. 

One of the unexpected things to come from the pandemic was discovering online video Euchre. We can play and most importantly video chat. We played several games today and I can't tell you who won, but I can report that we laughed, traded stories, and caught up on life.  

Last month my dear childhood friend, Kassie, and I anonymously decorated the "Merry" and "Christmas" signs in front of one of my brother, J.R.'s businesses. We had great fun setting up creche and Santa scenes and revealing our prank in the poem below. We were good citizens and took everything away this evening.  

'Twas the fortnight before Christmas, when all through the land

Not a creature was stirring, and no one had a holiday plan.

Two childhood friends were nestled all snug in their homes;

Mindlessly scrolling through Facebook on their phones.

When what to their wondering eyes did appear,

But photographs of signs from Nora’s brother dear,

Nora texted

Kassie

so lively and quick,

We must decorate the signs and play St. Nick!

More rapid than eagles Kassie’s reply came,

We will start tonight and

J.R.

shall not know our name.

With Nora’s HHR full of Kassie’s candy canes and sparkly things,

The friends drove across the yard and attached wreaths with strings

And then, in a twinkling, they saw a car shining lights on them so bright,

Nora waved a giant candy cane and the car turned and drove out of site

The two women giggled so merry,

Who knew it would be so fun to be a Christmas fairy?

J.R. posted an update the next day with the decorations so far,

The women were delighted and searched their stashes and loaded the car

Nora’s garage yielded statues of shepherds, a wounded cow, and a sheep,

Kassie made a toy bag and a trip to the store to find a baby doll for cheap.

Back they went in the dark of the night to make a creche and hang stars

They added lights and toys and hoped J.R. wouldn’t notice the ruts made by the cars.

The next day they checked Facebook obsessively

Kassie and Nora were hitting refresh quite aggressively

Another day passed, then two.

When would J.R. post an update with the new view?

They plotted and schemed and enlisted the help of a friend to poke,

They hoped that J.R. was not mad at their joke.

At last the new photographs appeared and it was time for the last piece,

Their toes were frozen as they anchored the tree, they should have worn fleece.

They walked around the signs admiring their work - pipe cleaners were so handy!

They toasted their caper with glasses of bubbly, it was so cold they wished it was brandy.

At last the sneaky elves had added all of the stuff that they could,

So they backed the car down the sidewalk as civilized and merry vandals should.

Then dash away, dash away, dash away all

Proving Christmas cheer can be spread without visiting the mall.