Haddock and Dill: January 5, 1957 Back to Normal and Back to Cleaning, Beef and Cream and A Cake and Salad

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"Our vacation is about gone but, as usual, we didn't get everything done that we hoped to. We have done a lot of work this week. B cleaned and waxed the floors in the hall and living room and we got the rug down. It shrank a good four inches in width so there is a strip of floor showing all around. The rug lost some of its body too so doesn't cling to the floor as well. A pad would help but it's all right and was certainly nice and clean. We also spent a day waxing the kitchen floor. Toni had borrowed a polisher so we got that and used paste wax on the floor.

We didn't go to church last Sunday either. We didn't get our clothes put away or ourselves organized until Sunday afternoon. I still haven't unpacked the silver. I want to polish it again and put some stuff on it to keep it from tarnishing so fast.

We broiled some sirloin one night and it was delicious. You should learn to use your broiler. I also used some boiling beef for vegetable soup and ground some for hamburger.

It was delicious and I didn't add a thing to it so maybe it will hold together easier with some eggs. We sure appreciate all the good meat and the nice Christmas presents. The meat was pretty evenly divided so it was no trouble to divide it with Buddy. We stayed long enough for cookies and coffee. Bessie gave the kids a bag of cookies. Buddy was going back to work sooner than he planned but I've forgotten when. The cream was good & sweet. I made some pumpkin pies & we had whipped cream on it.

We are going to Watterson's tonight for our Xmas party. The kids always exchange presents and we try to make it a family thing. I'm going to take a cake and salad. Toni will have the rest of the supper.