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Q&A: Aunt Peggy’s Christmas Edition - Paula asks her Aunt Peggy and sister-in-law Sandy questions about their favorite Christmas memories, traditions, gifts, and more.
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0:00
- Hey y'all. Welcome into my living room.
0:04
I'm here with two very, very, very special women.
0:13
This one right here I've known for 75 years,
0:19
and the other one,
0:22
we have been family since 2010.
0:27
Sandy spent the last nine years
0:32
of my brother's life with him.
0:36
When Bubba brought Sandy home,
0:40
we were thrilled beyond belief.
0:45
How Bubba managed to pluck an angel,
0:50
an angel from the sky, I'll never know.
0:54
I will never know,
0:56
but to me Sandy is the closest
0:58
to my grandmother Ire's that I've ever met.
1:04
My grandmother Ire's was the finest Christian woman.
1:08
She had a fourth grade education,
1:11
and when I would be able to go and stay with her some
1:13
she would read the Bible to me every night.
1:18
All these huge words that I certainly couldn't pronounce.
1:22
But yet she just read it like she was
1:25
had graduated from Harvard.
1:28
It was amazing to me.
1:30
And Sandy is that kind of person
1:33
the finest Christian woman you have ever met.
1:37
And she was so good to my brother
1:41
and she was right there with us when Bubba passed away.
1:47
We were all touching him, weren't we?
1:50
- We were all touching him.
1:54
And it's hard to believe that Bubba has been gone
1:58
three years and four months.
2:01
It's hard to believe.
2:04
And of course my aunt Peggy, what can I say about her?
2:07
She has been my mentor, my biggest cheerleader.
2:12
When I thought I couldn't put another foot in front
2:15
of each other, she would tell me, well you damn well can.
2:20
- (Paula laughs)
2:23
- And she would get in her car and drive over right
2:27
by herself from Albany because she knew
2:30
I needed that moral support, so very badly.
2:34
She's been such an influence in my life.
2:38
She's a fabulous business woman.
2:42
She's 93, did I forget to tell y'all that?
2:45
(ladies laugh)
2:47
- We should be so lucky to look like this at 93.
2:52
I'm glad to know I got some blood of her through my veins.
2:55
Y'all that may be hope for me yet.
2:59
You know, when I was a young woman, I read the book,
3:02
A Woman of Substance, and I said, oh my goodness
3:07
that's what I wanna be when I grow up.
3:09
I was 21, I think Jamie was born.
3:12
And I said, that's what I wanna be when I grow up.
3:16
I'm still working on it, y'all.
3:20
But these women are women of substance and I hope I can soak
3:28
up everything good that they have to offer.
3:31
So can you believe it's another Christmas?
3:33
You have spent 93 Christmases?
3:36
- I know, I know.
3:40
- What is your earliest memory?
3:42
- of Christmas?
3:43
- Of Christmas, yes mam.
3:44
- Oh, probably about four years old.
3:48
- And how was it?
3:50
- It was very simple.
3:52
And during the depression it was really simple
3:58
but we did not realize
4:01
- that you were poor.
4:03
- Right. Anyway, you that you look at it.
4:05
We just did not know that.
4:07
- Know any of that.
4:08
- And it was just, it was just a quiet
4:10
- Did you get anything for Christmas?
4:12
Did Santa Claus bring you?
4:13
- As far as I can remember, Paula, seems like we always
4:17
got a dog.
4:19
- And I wish you'd have said that.
4:22
- Maybe three items at the most would be what we would get.
4:25
Of course that would be a lot of beautiful food,
4:29
cakes, and that type of.
4:32
- Grandma's Japanese fruitcake.
4:33
Did she make it back being that far back?
4:36
- Yes. Yes. In fact, I never remember my mother when
4:40
she did not know how to cook and cook fine.
4:45
- Yes. You know, I didn't realize until I was probably
4:51
in my fifties that Grandmama was a gourmet cook.
4:56
- Yes.
4:56
- I didn't know that. I didn't know that.
4:58
I just classified her as a country cook.
5:02
But Grandmama knew how to back a turtle.
5:06
She knew how to produce a finest turtle soup.
5:08
She, I mean there was nothing that she, you know,
5:13
rabbit squirrel.
5:15
And to me that was real country.
5:17
But then when I got to go to New York
5:20
and I saw rabbit on the menus in these uppity restaurants
5:23
I said, "oh, grandmama, you was a gourmet cook."
5:29
- And she was her pastries and the food that came
5:34
out of her oven that she made, it was all just so good,
5:41
and you would not think of what a fine production it was.
5:49
But, and we were so, you know, well we used to that.
5:53
And you had thought that she had gone to a culinary school.
5:56
- Oh wow.
5:57
- Yes. Do you have any memories of mama at Christmas
6:02
- Your mother?
6:03
Oh, absolutely.
6:04
She was still really in charge.
6:06
- (ladies laugh)
6:09
- She was a redhead, now y'all.
6:10
- Yes. And she was, she was a really strong young person.
6:16
And her will, I mean, she did it her way until
6:21
she gave birth to you.
6:22
And just as soon as you came in, when just as soon
6:25
as you came in, she went out.
6:28
She just calmed down.
6:30
And I That's what you never heard her raise her voice.
6:33
- I never heard my mother raise her voice, never, never.
6:39
- Another
6:40
- Except maybe when she's spanking me, go up a little notch.
6:42
That's right.
6:44
- With me, she always had this motion she could slap,
6:48
she could slap me across the room almost.
6:52
- Cause she were a little old, skinny,
6:55
ratty, looking tomboy.
6:57
- I got pictures, I can prove it.
7:00
- (Paula laughs)
7:02
- And she didn't want me following her.
7:04
- Oh no.
7:05
- She didn't want getting into her path.
7:07
No, I, that was
7:08
- She was like two years older than you, but in looks.
7:14
- I was immature.
7:15
- Six, it was like five or six years difference.
7:18
- I was very immature, in fact, I still am.
7:20
- Mom was very, she matured very.
7:22
- (Paula laughs)
7:24
- Mama matured early.
7:26
- Oh yes.
7:29
- How about you Sandy?
7:30
What's your first memory?
7:32
- Oh wow.
7:33
I don't know if I have a first memory,
7:35
I just remember I was just sitting here thinking
7:37
about it that I always, when when I would get a doll
7:43
I love to smell their heads and I can
7:45
I can smell a doll's head now.
7:48
You can tell, I don't know if they really smell the same
7:50
as they did then, but they just
7:51
- What did they smell like
7:53
- I don't know.
7:53
They just smelled like a doll's head.
7:56
I don't know why, but in
7:58
- What kind of doll?
7:59
- Particular. Oh, I don't, I don't remember what kind I got.
8:04
That's a long time ago.
8:05
- I know.
8:06
Well, I remember my favorite doll.
8:08
I remember my fifth Christmas
8:13
because that was the Christmas that I was an only child.
8:17
- Oh, cool.
8:18
- Because Bubba was born the following February.
8:22
And I got everything in the world that Christmas.
8:26
I got a bicycle.
8:27
I got my Mary Hartline Doll that I wanted,
8:30
so very badly.
8:33
And somehow I kept her for years and years and years.
8:36
But somehow she went missing.
8:38
- Oh. (Sandy laughs)
8:40
- Along with my other 50 dolls.
8:42
- 50
8:44
- Jimmy Deen told me he said,
8:45
I'm tired of moving these dolls all.
8:47
So kind of think he might have
8:50
- lost the box maybe.
8:51
- Yeah. (Paula laughs) But anyway, Mary Hartline
8:55
was a cheer, she was a band member.
8:58
And she had that red and white outfit
9:00
with a little skirt and a baton and the white boots.
9:04
I adored her.
9:06
- She had a cheerleaders look, which you
9:09
- But she was actually a majorette in the band.
9:13
But it looked, she kinda looked
9:14
like a cheerleader except for those boots.
9:16
But I got a bicycle.
9:18
I got that Mary Heartland doll.
9:19
I mean, I got everything I wanted.
9:22
I don't think that ever happened again.
9:24
- (Paula laughs)
9:25
- After both.
9:27
- I came from the hills of Kentucky,
9:29
so we didn't have the designer dolls.
9:31
- Yes, yes, yes.
9:32
You probably got homemade dolls, didn't you?
9:34
- Well, we got dolls
9:36
but I don't remember a particular designer.
9:41
- And what about the food?
9:42
What do you remember about the food?
9:44
- Oh wow.
9:45
My dad always cooked.
9:47
- Did he?
9:48
- My dad cooked, yeah.
9:49
- I don't think you've ever told me.
9:51
- Cause he cooked in the military for officers.
9:52
So, and my mom didn't cook when they married
9:55
- (Paula laughs)
9:56
- so he taught her to cook.
9:57
But he did most of the cooking, so.
10:00
- Wow.
10:01
- It was always, it was always a treat.
10:04
- He was a good cook.
10:05
- Yeah, he's an excellent cook.
10:06
- What was his favorite thing that you remember?
10:09
- Beef stew.
10:11
And we'd come home from church on Sunday afternoons
10:14
and he'd always put ketchup in that beef stew.
10:16
I don't, I don't know why, but I loved the breakfast.
10:20
He could make the best gravy and biscuits.
10:23
- Oh my gosh.
10:24
- Always loved his breakfast.
10:26
- Well did your mother wind up becoming a good cook
10:28
after training under him for years?
10:31
- She didn't, she never really liked to cook.
10:35
She, she had a, my mom had a good business sense about her
10:40
after my dad passed away and she had to supplement income.
10:44
So she loved to, you know, she had some really
10:49
good experiences with selling World Book Encyclopedia.
10:53
- Oh my God.
10:53
- And became like the, the largest salesperson
10:57
of the year and got an an award.
11:00
And she never drove
11:01
- From the US, across the U.S.
11:03
- She never drove.
11:06
- How did she get around to sell those books?
11:07
- Walk and telephone.
11:09
She'd call people up on the telephone, sell
11:11
sell 'em a set of expensive encyclopedias
11:14
and then she'd call my brother to come and deliver 'em.
11:20
- Selling encyclopedias was a way of so many people
11:25
females and males making a living during the depression.
11:27
- Making a living.
11:29
- Somebody knocked on our door and I still have them.
11:33
The encyclopedias that mama and daddy bought,
11:37
and I was probably 12 or 13 at the time,
11:43
and like I said, they were white.
11:44
Do you remember your mama selling white ones?
11:47
- The World Book?
11:48
- Yeah. Yes.
11:49
The World Book.
11:50
The World Book.
11:51
- And everybody had a set in that home.
11:53
- That's exactly right.
11:55
That's exactly right.
11:58
- That's the only way we had access to the world.
12:00
- That's right.
12:01
- That was the internet.
12:03
- That was our internet
12:03
- Yes, yes that was our internet.
12:05
Yes it was.
12:08
So here we are at Christmas time.
12:14
Do y'all have any hopes or resolutions for the New Year?
12:24
- Would you believe that,
12:25
I haven't even thought about Christmas?
12:32
- (Paula laughs) (phone rings)
12:33
- So if she hadn't thought about Christmas
12:35
she sure ain't thought about the New Year.
12:37
- Well, I've been thinking about myself.
12:40
- (Paula and Peggy laughs)
12:44
- Aunt Peggy's primary doctor is located here in Savannah.
12:49
We set her up during Covid when we kidnapped her
12:53
and kept her for six months because Albany was running
12:57
rampant with Covid at the time.
13:00
So we got her out of there.
13:03
So she has to come over to see her Dr. Bozik,
13:07
she loves her Dr. Bozik.
13:11
So y'all know I've never, I have never been one to
13:16
make New Year's resolutions.
13:19
- No.
13:20
- You know why?
13:20
Because I'm just setting myself up for failure
13:23
and disappointment.
13:24
- Yeah.
13:25
- So I like to say
13:26
I'm gonna try to do so and so in the, in the New Year.
13:33
But no, I don't make resolutions. (ladies laugh)
13:37
I know I'll break 'em.
13:39
- I think most people are that way.
13:41
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:44
But I'm so glad that Sandy happened to be here.
13:49
Her dentist is still here in Savannah because like I said
13:52
she was with Bubba the last nine years of his life.
13:56
So she had her dentist and her doctor and everything here.
13:59
So she has to come to the dentist here and I'm so happy.
14:02
- (ladies laugh)
14:04
- Yeah, (crosstalk)
14:07
- I said isn't that strange that we both in time,
14:12
we ended up being here, and that's wonderful.
14:16
We don't wanna be sick.
14:18
- No,
14:19
- And besides the food is so good.
14:21
- (Paula laughs)
14:22
- Yes. It's just, it's just a wonderful opportunity.
14:25
Do we need to get in more doctors so we can come more often?
14:28
- (ladies laugh)
14:28
- Yes, yes.
14:29
- Yeah, I'll just stop pick you up from now on.
14:32
- (ladies laughing)
14:33
- Sandy went to Albany and picked up Aunt Peggy for us
14:36
last Wednesday.
14:39
And I was working, what was I doing?
14:42
I was working, oh, I was doing YouTube shows. I was filming.
14:49
So this has just been like a Christmas present
14:52
for me to have both of 'em.
14:54
Because Sandy doesn't need her dentist quite as often
14:57
as Aunt Peggy needs her doctor.
14:59
- (ladies laugh) (crosstalk)
15:04
- Right, right.
15:11
- Sandy will always be a part of my life.
15:13
And I don't refer to her anymore
15:16
as a friend or Bubba's girlfriend.
15:18
I refer to her as my sister-in-law
15:22
because she loved my brother
15:24
and they would together for nine years.
15:25
So there you go.
15:27
That's my story and I'm sticking to y'all.
15:31
- I agree with it all.
15:32
- Yes, yes.
15:33
And as long as I have her approval, I'm good to go y'all.
15:37
That's the only approval I need.
15:40
But I do wish y'all a merry Christmas
15:43
and I hope it's filled with things that you need.
15:49
I hope it's filled with peace and contentment and love.
15:52
- (dog barks)
15:53
And Lulu said she does too.
15:57
Lulu said that she agreed with what I've said.
16:00
So I thank y'all so much for the love
16:02
and the support that y'all have shown my family,
16:06
in the year 2022.
16:09
I don't know what I do without y'all,
16:11
without your love and support that you've given me.
16:14
I get so much beautiful mail.
16:17
- Oh wow.
16:18
- And my book signings, you know
16:20
people come and I get to talk to 'em.
16:22
I feel like I've known 'em for years.
16:24
So thank y'all for that experience and thank you for Eddie.
16:29
- ( Eddie laughs)
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