Hi there everyone,

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Day, and a great relaxing time afterwards. It's been fantastic to be on holidays. We've been catching up on a lot of sleep, and doing a few of the odd jobs which really should have been done some time ago, but we never seemed to have the time.

Christmas Day here was a really pleasant day, not as hot as they had first thought, but really nice. We spent the day with Rod's family and it was nice to catch up with them all. A great day was had by all.

As I write this, it is almost New Years Eve, and so very soon will start another year. I mentioned that we would be away for a time during January, and so this will be the last digest for a while. We will be leaving on New Year's Day. We are heading home on January 17th, so you might want to look out for a new digest sometime in the week following this date.

We are heading up to stay in the Blue Mountains for a week and then going across to Sydney for another week. We are all really looking forward to it.

Well I'll talk to you again really soon and I wish you all a very happy and

safe 1998.

Goodnight everyone,

Karen.

Hi Karen and all the Walton fans,

I wish you merry, merry Christmas from Germany!!!!

ALFRED

KAREN'S COMMENT: I hope you, and everyone on the list, had a wonderful Christmas Alfred.

Hello everybody! I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" again last night for about the hundredth time and still enjoy it. I realized long ago that there was a Walton's connection to that movie because Ellen Corby had a scene in it. It hit me last night that there was also another connection -- Beulah Bondi. In the movie she played Jimmy Stewart's mother. On the Walton's, she was Grandpa's sister-in-law I believe. I wonder if she and Ellen ever talked about when they were in the classic Christmas movie together.

Paige

KAREN'S COMMENT: What wonderful Walton spotting Paige. I'll have to have a look. Congratulations! Beulah Bondi, of course, played old Martha Corinne. I've just checked the IMDB and yes, you're right. Ellen Corby played Miss Davis and Beulah Bondi played Mrs Bailey. It was made in 1946.

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. With any luck we'll get those flurries Christmas day they're calling for.

I wanted to answer the question/comment about the weather in Virginia in the winter. If you're into getting it all in one state, that's the one to be in. In Central Virginia, which is where Charlottesville and Schuyler/"Walton's Mountain" are, it actually depends. In late October and November the sky turns gray and it rains a lot! If you're really lucky it'll snow an inch or two before December. The temperature falls to the 30's (Fahrenheit). Then in December, the temps hit the low 30's and it rains more. There is generally a white Christmas about three years or so - meaning that you get white Christmases often enough but you get used to not having them too! January is really when winter weather arrives. The temps average in the 20's with about a week or two of highs in the teens. In the four years I was in Charlottesville, there was only one or at most two times when the temps would fall below zero overnight. In January at 8:30 am, it was a cold walk to school - temps could be in the single digits or teens easily. And for whatever it's worth - Central VA has "wet" cold and "wet" snow. So things felt worse. It is also in January that we usually got the (relative term here: big) snows. That means about 6 inches from one storm. That happens about twice a winter. In February it's still cold but not so much snow. By March things are starting to turn towards spring.

The Appalachians and Blue Ridge Mountains run north-east, south-west so any storms which head east across the US are usually diverted north and don't cross the mountains. The only time bad weather strikes is when a storm comes up from the south and can slide up in front of the mountain before heading north. In northern Virginia, it snows more readily without turning to rain first. In Southwest VA it's kind of the same way. In the southeast corner, near Virginia Beach area, it hardly ever snows at all. That great blizzard of 1993? Got 18 inches in Charlottesville; got 1/2 inch in Portsmouth at my parents house. Boy was I happy to move to Charlottesville!

Of course these are only averages - sometimes Charlottesville can get three feet of snow like it did in 1996 (?) and sometimes we were lucky to get six inches a year.

So, sorry for rambling on so long. As an aside, I thought it would be neat to point out that Sissy Spacek who has appeared on the show several times has a farm in Albemarle County. Guess she liked the area and decided to stay!

Best Wishes to you all,

Larissa (who misses the beauty of Charlottesville but loves the winters in Toledo!)

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for the information about the weather, Larissa. It will be much easier to imagine now. Quite a few Waltons actors seemed to like the country enough to settle there it seems.

Re. Jeffrey and Selena....they come into the series originally by a visit.

Rose's son is the children's father and it turns out that he had been beating the children and Rose was originally trying to hide it...the relationship between the children and the original Waltons started out a little tumultuously, but apparently it got wrinkles out because they became residents....Here's a Walton stumper? (I dont have the answer...) What is the address of the Waltons house? Or didn't they have addresses then...as all mail was delivered to Godsey's general mercantile.

Happy Holidays...Marcia

KAREN'S COMMENT: Yes it was interesting the way Rose and the children were introduced. Someone might be able to tell us for sure, but I thought they didn't have an address.

Mary Beth McDonough - Erin Walton: Was she on a Montgomery Wards Christmas commercial on television?

KAREN'S COMMENT: Can someone let me know about this one please? Has she done this commercial recently.

Hello to Karen and fellow digest members:

After several months of being on the list, I am finally writing! My name is Claire, and I'm writing from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I'm a graduate student, getting my MBA at the University of New Hampshire in nearby Durham. That's why I haven't written until now. When I'm in full swing with schoolwork, I'm usually among the missing, quite out of touch. Finally, Christmas break has given me a chance to say hello.

In fact, I hadn't even read the past 20+ digests until last week! I printed them out in one fell swoop (don't ask how much paper I used), and brought them with me to my sister's house to read over the holiday. So, over a matter of two days, Karen's boys finished up 3rd term, went straight through 4th term, and started summer holiday! The weather in Australia went from hints of spring into summer heat, and I've loved every minute of reading about it.

I'm originally from Boston, where I lived until I was 27 and moved here for graduate school. I'm the youngest of 6, so the family is almost as big as the Waltons...but Boston certainly is about as different from the mountains of Virginia as possible. I recall one of my sisters being a faithful Waltons viewer during its original run, but for some reason I didn't watch it until it showed up on the Family Channel. I am absolutely hooked now. My VCR timer gets a real workout when classes make me miss the morning viewing and group projects make me miss the evening viewing.

I'm getting long-winded, so let me get to the real Waltons meat of my letter: some Waltons sightings I've been stacking up for a while. (Forgive me if any of these were in early digests which I haven't downloaded from the web site yet.) Miss Mamie was in the brilliant film "The Manchurian Candidate." Mary Ellen has been in two episodes of the show "Millenium." Millenium is one of my favorites, definitely one of the best things on American TV right now, but certainly not family viewing like The Waltons. Mary Ellen was on one show last season (the final show, I believe) and on another show early this season, playing two completely different characters, not a recurring character. And, I spotted Curt Willard in a really weird movie with a title something like, "The Last Time I Committed Suicide." I showed up to a friend's apartment one evening this semester, and he was in the middle of watching this movie, which he rented. I wouldn't recommend wasting your money on renting it, but if you ever happen to catch it on cable TV, Curt has a very small part as a police chief or something like that. Tape it and then fast forward through all the garbage to get to him. That way you don't even waste any time on it.

OK, that's about it! I've really enjoyed all these digests...thank you Karen! I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and I'll try to write again, even after this next semester has gotten into full swing! All the best, Claire

KAREN'S COMMENT: I'm glad you've finally written Claire. Are you trying to tell me that I'm really putting a book together here with all these digests? :-)) Glad you caught up. Well done with your Waltons spotting too. I knew about Millenium (haven't seen it yet mind you) but I've never heard of the others.

Karen,

Just a quick note to let you know that Rose was a cousin of Olivia's. This was mentioned in an episode entitled, "The Kinfolk," when Rose and the children came to live with the Waltons. Thanks. - Jim

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for this Jim. I liked Rose and the children.