Celebrations: they’ve always been special to us. In the early days of Carpe Diem we would take our birthdays off and play for the day. One year Jane made blow-up pictures of Gussie and secretly posted them in the different places we went to play, the back of the door in the ladies’ room at the movies, under the menu at the restaurant, in the post office box. It was pretty impressive.
One year Gussie set up a Basenji agility course in honor of Jane’s birthday, complete with life sized cut-outs of her precious Cleo tunneling through obstacles and zig zagging though narrow pathways. Again, it was impressive. Another year we had masks made of our driver and asked some of our customers to don them when he showed up to deliver. We even had the town chief of police pull him over…..that’s right, he was wearing the mask. Small towns are great. One year we caught wind that an employee wanted to try a rice cooker, so we got her one AND about thirty pounds of different rices to cook in it. It was overwhelming to her but fun to watch her open bag after bag of different rices.
One particularly gruesome and snowy April Fool’s Day, Jane set up a bunch of Burma signs headed north on Route Four before Gussie’s house instructing people to honk in honor of her birthday!!!!! It was a noisy morning. No kidding.
The celebrations have had to tone down some with the advent of more business. But we always bake an in-season fruit pie for lunch.
For Christmas, we have a tradition of doing a Yankee Swap at our party. The very special, and according to some, very stressful part is that each person must MAKE their gift. No cooking or baking allowed. It is great fun to ratchet up the pressure starting around June first when the clock starts winding down. A frequent question might be, “How’s your project coming along?” Early on the replies are light and jovial but as the deadline approaches there is a noticeable change in tenor until a confident, “All done!” is proclaimed. We all manage to show with some amazing creations. Sometimes they might be a little tacky from wet paint or stain, but they are there to swap. We’ve seen a wooden cooler, tables, chairs, lamps, games, ornaments, a hammock, insect repellent, a coat rack, a wine rack, a home spa treatment basket, serving trays, a bulletin board, a tool box, a blank book with a leather cover, greeting cards, a hidden shelf, a bench, a toilet paper dispenser, an iPhone charger, a foot stool, a clock, a calendar, place mats, a box, coasters, and an enormous angel for a Christmas decoration.
The enormous angel appeared years later hanging over Gussie’s garage door in celebration of Christmas. Any guesses who might be responsible for that?
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Celebrations: they’ve always been special to us. In the early days of Carpe Diem we would take our birthdays off and play for the day. One year Jane made blow-up pictures of Gussie and secretly posted them in the different places we went to play, the back of the door in the ladies’ room at the movies, under the menu at the restaurant, in the post office box. It was pretty impressive.
One year Gussie set up a Basenji agility course in honor of Jane’s birthday, complete with life sized cut-outs of her precious Cleo tunneling through obstacles and zig zagging though narrow pathways. Again, it was impressive. Another year we had masks made of our driver and asked some of our customers to don them when he showed up to deliver. We even had the town chief of police pull him over…..that’s right, he was wearing the mask. Small towns are great. One year we caught wind that an employee wanted to try a rice cooker, so we got her one AND about thirty pounds of different rices to cook in it. It was overwhelming to her but fun to watch her open bag after bag of different rices.
One particularly gruesome and snowy April Fool’s Day, Jane set up a bunch of Burma signs headed north on Route Four before Gussie’s house instructing people to honk in honor of her birthday!!!!! It was a noisy morning. No kidding.
The celebrations have had to tone down some with the advent of more business. But we always bake an in-season fruit pie for lunch.
For Christmas, we have a tradition of doing a Yankee Swap at our party. The very special, and according to some, very stressful part is that each person must MAKE their gift. No cooking or baking allowed. It is great fun to ratchet up the pressure starting around June first when the clock starts winding down. A frequent question might be, “How’s your project coming along?” Early on the replies are light and jovial but as the deadline approaches there is a noticeable change in tenor until a confident, “All done!” is proclaimed. We all manage to show with some amazing creations. Sometimes they might be a little tacky from wet paint or stain, but they are there to swap. We’ve seen a wooden cooler, tables, chairs, lamps, games, ornaments, a hammock, insect repellent, a coat rack, a wine rack, a home spa treatment basket, serving trays, a bulletin board, a tool box, a blank book with a leather cover, greeting cards, a hidden shelf, a bench, a toilet paper dispenser, an iPhone charger, a foot stool, a clock, a calendar, place mats, a box, coasters, and an enormous angel for a Christmas decoration.
The enormous angel appeared years later hanging over Gussie’s garage door in celebration of Christmas. Any guesses who might be responsible for that?