Christmas Punch and Gifts from Baby Boomers

This post is for Tim and my story is about gifts from the Baby Boomer generation.

Raspberry-Orange Sangria Punch


Prep Time:
5 min

Makes:
2 qt. or 8 servings, 1 cup each

1 tub CRYSTAL LIGHT Raspberry Ice Flavor Drink Mix
1 qt. (4 cups) cold reduced-calorie cranberry juice cocktail
1 cup cold orange juice
1 cup cold white grape juice
2 cups cold club soda
ADD drink mix to combined juices in large plastic or glass pitcher; stir until mix is dissolved. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
POUR into punch bowl; stir in club soda. Serve over ice cubes.


The Baby Boomer generation is well remembered for the changes that they made in our everyday lives. Such ideas were not so easy for the past generation to accept especially when it came to babies. Disposable diapers and disposable bottles with liners replaced glass bottles and cloth diapers. There were other changes too. There was a movement to change the furniture used for babies for safer products. When we were expecting our first baby, Jimmy and I invited his mom to be with us when a salesman came to our house to sell baby furniture. She was a wise woman and saw right away that his presentation was high pressured and geared toward emotional, young expectant parents. To "qualify" it had to be your first baby and you had to make a decision that night. The products were not sold in stores... "now or never". Sound familiar? Those approaches don't work so easily now for me, but that was then.

The film he showed us was of a baby falling from a high chair on their first birthday and dying. The product... a chair that could not tip over. It was a combination walker, high chair, baby bath and as the child grew older, a table that could be slanted to be a drawing board. You also got a car seat (which was also something not used before)and a netted playpen.

We stepped from the room to talk in private and pray about the decision which "could not wait". My mother-in-law argued with the salesperson about the products. The safety of our child overcame our concern of adding strain to our budget. When we returned with our decision to purchase the items, my mother-in-law was upset that we took on a debt for things she did not think we needed.

The chair would not sell today. It was square shaped and cumbersome but it was exactly what we needed. Jimmy had lost one leg in Viet Nam and had severe edema in the remaining one. He had just gotten out of the hospital for phlebitis (vein inflammation) in his leg so standing for long periods was not good. All we could see was a chance for our child to be safe and that Jimmy could sit in a chair if he wanted to give the baby a bath. We used all the things we bought for three children and never regretted the purchase. I told myself I would do better when the time came and not give my children unsolicited advice. We say, do and become what we say we never will.

I am thankful for the Baby Boomers who pushed for safer cribs, car seats and other ways to keep our children safe. I am also thankful for a mother-in-law who loved us enough to be angry when what she saw was someone taking advantage of us. I hope I can love my children enough to be that honest but accept,as she did, when their choices are different than our advice. She is one of the most courageous women I have ever known. She lost her son three times...once to be taken away to war where the boy became a man, once to cancer watching helplessly as the quality of his life declined and finally she lost him in death at the age of 32.

In the span of ten years I became a new bride, a mother and a widow. Those years held more joy and challenges than I can express and I would not change one day of them. It is said that we walk our path in life alone but with the spirits of many brothers and sisters around us. We are surrounded with love, prayers and hope. As you enter the holiday season join me in a toast to all mothers. May we be strong enough to love and courageous enough to let go when we must.

Psalms 61:8 I will ever sing praise to your name and fulfill my vows day after day.

Love,
Nana