What do you remember most about your grandma?

[mkymouse1928]

My grandma was the sweetest, kindest, most accepting person I have ever known, and I pray every day that this particular trait is in me. She had 17 grandkids and adored each and every one of them, though it was clear that the youngest was her favorite. I certainly don't begrudge them their special relationship, though, as they brough one another immense joy.

Grandma had this uncanny ability to be able to get any baby, no matter how cranky, to settle down simply by laying the baby across her lap and rubbing its back. Noone has been able to duplicate this. She just had that special touch.

She also made the best homemade spaghetti and meatballs and goetta. Thankfully, both recipies were passed on to my mom, and I am learning how to make both.

I loved her dearly, and I still get teary eyed just thinking of her.

 

[61292cna]

My dads mom was such a mousey person that I only remember 3 things about her.

1) She would iron in the living room, while watching :As The World Turns"

2) She made the best pumpkin bread ever!

3) Very rarely she would look at my DGP & say Now Marion in a quiet iron willed voice & that was the end of the discussion.

I wish I had known her better, but we didn't see them often.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

I remember so much about my mom's parents.
I remember their house in Holiday, FL. The big old tree in the front yard which my sister and I played under. The fruit trees and gardens in the back. I remember the Mercury Cougar that my grandpa bought brand new. I even remember the refridgerator they had. It had the freezer in the bottom. They had tons of antiques as my grandma owned an antique shop for 30 years before retiring.

My grandma would always fix us the foods we loved best. She also knitted and crocheted anything you can think of. We still have and use afghans that she made and the bedspreads (though we don't use them anymore).
She also hand wrote books to all her grandchildren about each and every President up to that point.
She cut out artwork that contained important information about US history such as the Bill of Rights, speeches made by several important leaders, etc and shellacked them onto wood "frames" that were made by my grandfather.
She also painted pictures to give to all her grandchildren. At one point, she also made paperweights.

Many of these items she and my grandfather made we still have. Many others, we do not. When my grandpa died in 1983, my grandma went into a nursing home. By that time she was getting pretty bad due to Alzheimer's.
I got to see her once more in the nursing home where she had no idea who I or anyone else was before she died in 1988.

I still miss them both so much.

 

[ozarkmom]

I wasn't around my dad's mom very much, buy I adored my other grandma. She was so pretty and a great cook. My dad used to joke that if he'd only met her first haha. One of the last times I saw her she had made two chocolate pies for me. I had been there one day and had eaten about 1/2 of one of the pies and she asked me when I stopped liking chocolate pies lol. Her breakfasts were great. I've never been able to make sausage or gravy taste the way she did. Her biscuits were out of this world. I can remember visiting her when I was little and she would take me to the "country" and we'd visit some of the older relatives. She would talk to me about anything and I was always fascinated by her life. She was divorced and raised three kids and was just a remarkable lady.

 

[Deb in IA]

Nothing at all.






I never met my grandmothers.


My paternal grandmother died before I was born.

My maternal grandmother died during the height of the Cultural Revolution, under much torment and persecution from Mao's Red Guards. To this day, we still don't know much about the exact circumstances of her death.

All I remember is that my mother got a letter telling her the news a year after she died. I was about 6, and came home from school to find my mom crying in her bed.

 

[Handbag Lady]

My grandmother Hazel was an actress. I loved her dearly. I remember a lot about her but the number one thing is that it took her about an hour to apply her make-up every day. She had a large case that she kept in her breakfast nook and daily she would painstakingly apply her whole face one tiny stroke at a time starting at her eyebrows and working her way down to her lipstick.

Yes, she would apply her lipstick one tiny stroke at a time using a paintbrush.

She was a clean freak and always had a tidy home. She was insanely frugal and shopped for bargains at Pic N Sav yet her home was a elegant as she could afford.

She had a davenport which I thought was a "damnport" and was laughed with about my error, and then she kindly explained my error and assumed I'd never make that mistake again.

She had lovely hats with veils. She smelled nice. She kept everything old in her drawers in both her hallway and her bedroom. We found everything from newspaper cut-outs to photos of her and grandpa in nightclubs from the 1940's. She was gorgeous and had red hair in the Caruso cut (I think that's the spelling, long wavy hair coiffed just right?)

I own her vanity and can't wait until I have my own house to use it.

 

[kathymc]

I only knew my mothers mom. She was a sweet lady who loved all of her grandchildren. She used to always drink Zarek in those tin type cups that were freezing. Loved pickles with potato chip. Smelled like Jean Nate. Always carried these little black mints/candies. She was heavy with a big chest and when she gave you a hug you could hardly breath. Always used her salad bowl for the potato - gets a mention every holiday. And once while we were watching Dance Fever said that one of the dancers had the heebee jeebees!

She passed over 20 years ago and I still miss her.

 

[tazdev3225]

I have always considered myself fortunate to have both of my grandmothers until I was in my 40's. My maternal grandmother was not the greatest grandmother in the world. She was an alcoholic and could be a bit of a witch. She did teach me manners. She owned a bakery and would let me have whatever I wanted. One time I had a whole cheesecake. I had to ask please and say thank you or there was heck to pay.
My paternal grandmother was my Gram. The smell of fresh coffee and bacon always makes me think of her. She let me have whatever I wanted. One time I stayed with her and she got me a steak for dinner because I wanted it. She didn't have a lot of money but she got it for me anyway. When I was little she took me to the Jersey shore every year. I won on one of the betting wheels when I was about 8 and wanted a doll that was way up at the top of the display, it was the only one. She made the man working there stop the games and climb up and get it. Another time I won a HUGE stuffed dog. The bus driver, Gram didn't drive, tried to force me to put it in the luggage hold. Gram took one look at him and my dog came on the bus with me. I have so many wonderful memories of my Gram and hope that I can be half the grandmother she was to my grandkids. She was the one person who truly made me feel loved no matter what I did. Gram will be gone 8 years in 3 weeks and I miss her more every day.

 

[hichewlova]

My grandmother had so much energy. Not to mention that she was an amazing gardener. Spending time with her in the garden is my favorite memory with her.

 

[piglet50]

my grandma on my mom's side was a practical joker. she died when i was nine but i remember her putting salt in my mom's coffee one time. mom came back to take a swallow and was freaked out! That's some funny stuff to a kid.

my grandma on my dad's side was a crafter, sewer, baker, and gardener. she could grow anything. she always made grape kool-aid for us in the smmer. she was a lot of fun. she taught me all i know about needlecrafts and gardening. i do ok on needlecrafts but i'm not so good at gardening.

these ladies were both fun to be around. they both told stories about my parents when they were growing up. it was obvious that they loved their granddaughter.

i miss them.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I do not remember much of my paternal grandmother, who died when I was 6 or 7. I remember that she smoked, because I told her off for smoking in my parents' house when I was 3. I remember she had a raspy voice. I remember that when we went to visit her in her nursing home in another state, she did not recognize me or my mother. I remember her funeral and my dad giving the eulogy.

My maternal grandmother is my only living grandparent.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Thanks everyone for sharing these memories...it's refreshing

My grandma was the sweetest, kindest, most accepting person I have ever known, and I pray every day that this particular trait is in me. She had 17 grandkids and adored each and every one of them, though it was clear that the youngest was her favorite. I certainly don't begrudge them their special relationship, though, as they brough one another immense joy.

Grandma had this uncanny ability to be able to get any baby, no matter how cranky, to settle down simply by laying the baby across her lap and rubbing its back. Noone has been able to duplicate this. She just had that special touch.

She also made the best homemade spaghetti and meatballs and goetta. Thankfully, both recipies were passed on to my mom, and I am learning how to make both.

I loved her dearly, and I still get teary eyed just thinking of her.

I believe I was my grandmas favorite...out of 7

And..my grandma would always somehow have dogs and cats come to her, even though she didn't care for animals. We'd joke about that all the time.

 

[torinsmom]

I remember that my grandma used to throw candy corn all over the floor for all us grandkids. Then she would call out "Here biddy, biddy, biddy!" and we would all scramble to eat the corn. LOL, I know it sounds weird, but we sure did love it!

She also made great hot cocoa from powdered milk, cocoa and sugar on her old wood stove. Best hot cocoa ever and she would cook butter toast in the over--yum!

Marsha

 

[JR6ooo4]

Dad's mom would scratch my back..... mmmmmmm
and she made the best perrogies and pies.

Mom's mom had a pool! and grandpa.

Mikeeee

 

[Inigo]

I was my Mamaw's favorite grandchild out of the 26 of us. All the cousins agreed with that, except for the one who thought he was the favorite. (He's wrong, of course.) I was the youngest of the grandchildren, and the youngest child of her youngest child, her 11th child. My cousins have kids older than me. My oldest cousins are 84 and 85. I'm 43 now.

I grew up in a small rural town. I used to walk to her house, 1/4 mile, every day from school to eat lunch with her. She kept her gray hair long and in a pony tail down her back. She'd tell me stories about her family, and about the history of our town. Her ancestors founded the town in 1819, and the town name is the same as her maiden name. Hearing her stories is part of the reason I love history so much, and why I majored in history in college.

In the summer, the three youngest of the grandkids would go to her church for Vacation Bible School. All the other kids could wear shorts or pants, but Mamaw said one should always dress up for church out of respect for the lord, so we wore dresses or skirts, even to VBS. I still feel weird if I go to a church service in pants, and I'm not religious at all.

She had two snowball bushes side by side in her front yard, and we'd crawl under them to play. She had lilac bushes and daffodils in her yard. A few years ago, I went to where her house used to be, and dug up some of the daffodil bulbs to plant in my yard.

She died when I was a freshman in high school.