September 27, 2021 – Favorite Joke or Family Fun!

Humor is in the eye of the beholder!  One-liners are usually groaners, but family jokes that tumble out are the best for remembering and re-telling.

From the time I was a little girl, my Dad brought laughter into the house, not with jokes, but the stories of when he grew up with this three brothers, Jacob, Dietrich, and John.  His Dad, Jacob IV, was a wordsmith, and told Bible stories just as my Dad told later did.  Stories as if you were there, and part of the story.

After we were married, we had children. Dan, Paul, Tim, and Anna. They loved Grandpa’s stories, too.  As they grew into the ages of Junior High, One Halloween, I wondered what I would do with all the candy I purchased, and since we lived seven miles from Dodge City, chances are, there would be no trick or treaters.  Suddenly I heard a knock at the door, and there were our three sons, Dan, Paul, and Tim, on their knees, grinning. With little boy-voices, they parroted, “Trick or Treat!”

When our four children were in high school our supper times were filled with laughter.  Paul’s, our second son, goal was to make his Dad laugh.

After they watched a Spanky tv show, they lifted part of the script. They drank many glasses of milk at the supper. One evening, I saw them snicker, and pick up the gallon jug of milk, and say in a stage whisper, “Don’t drink the milk, it’s spoiled!” When I realized what they were loudly whispering, I listened, and thought, oh, no, another trip to Viviano’s Grocery store is in my near future. I usually purchased 3 or 4 gallons of milk weekly. Then I knew they were teasing me again.

Their little sister, Anna, didn’t always catch on. I often understood what she meant by her comment, which always brought laughter to her brothers, “I don’t get it!”

One day the boys invited a friend to eat supper with us. The friend, Steve, was confused when the brothers shouted out numbers and then laughed and laughed as if they had heard a joke. They finally explained that numbering the jokes saved a lot of time telling the jokes.

My Dad used his story-telling ability to teach a Sunday School lesson to Junior High Boys.  He practiced the Bible Story after we were ready for bed on Saturday nights.Just as he learned from his Dad, then I listened to our third son preach a sermon on the 26^th of September.  I realized that the gift of story-telling had found its place in his grandson, Tim when I listened to his sermon on the 26^th of September from Mark 6.  Then I remember how Paul is a story-teller, too, with written word.

Then there is the word temporary.  Every ‘fixit’ job would always be temporary, according to Ed.  I never thought much about it, until I came home from a day of teaching and walked to my bedroom, and nearly chinned myself on the antenna wire, Ed strung across the hallway!  Now, I realized, we are here only temporarily…this world is temporary until Jesus comes.

Of course, after years of teaching, I learned I, too, am a storyteller.  A new student looked up at me and asked, When are you going to tell the chicken-story?  The word had gone out, and he looked forward to hearing about when my brothers drowned a chicken.

My Dad raised chickens and Mom said we would take the feathers off the chickens waiting for her to cut up, to sell to a local restaurant.  After we tore the skin of one chicken, Mom warned us not to tear anymore.  We had a tub of water, and we needed a chicken.  The problem was we needed to kill the chicken. Jim said for Gene and me to hold the chicken while he chopped the head off.  He tried three times, and just knicked the neck three times. Each time the chicken croaked and turned his head.  Gene decided to do it like Dad did, and stretched the head with his fingers, holding onto the chicken’s feet.  Again, the chicken croaked, pitifully.  Then all three of us eyed the tub of water.  We held the chicken under water until it didn’t struggle.  We carefully removed the feathers.

One evening, we created tombstone epitaphs for each other.  They said agreed, mine should be, She was just trying to help! That perplexed me.

There were other stories to show storytelling is well and strong in our family and when we are together, there are many memories beginning with, “I Remember When!”