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Dec. 22, 2022 - Ron Paul Liberty Report
26:38
Flashback 2021: A Paul Family Christmas With Carol And Kelley Paul

The Paul's are big family. What's it like getting together for Christmas? Carol and Kelley Paul shared their thoughts about it last year. We hope you enjoy it again!

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Time Text
The Paul Family Singing 00:05:48
Hello and welcome to a special Christmas edition of the Ron Paul Liberty Report.
My name is Kelly Paul.
I am Ron's daughter-in-law.
I've been married to Senator Rand Paul for 31 years.
And today I have the extreme pleasure and privilege of interviewing my amazing mother-in-law, Mrs. Carol Paul.
Carol, it's just such fun to be able to do this today.
I know everybody out there loves you and is always asking about you.
They want to see more of Lovey as you are known to our family.
You are someone I admire so much.
You're not only an amazing support to Ron, but you are a true matriarch.
You're the true heart and soul of our family.
Last night was the perfect example as we had our pre-Christmas gathering of how many people did we have last night?
Well, last night we all circled the whole kitchen and dining area and after the prayer they decided to count off to see how many there really were there for dinner and we had 52.
Pretty amazing.
Just my kids.
Now just kids and grandkids because you know my husband Rand is one of five.
You have five kids.
How many grandkids?
19 grandkids and 11 great grandkids.
Including the newest.
Oh yes.
Finley is seven months.
Six or seven months.
The thing I love about the Paul family is when you have a family this big, there's almost always a new baby or at least a toddler, which makes Christmas and the holidays so special.
It really does.
And so much fun.
It really is.
What are some of your favorite traditions that we do at Paul Family Christmas?
Oh goodness, we have so many and they go back so far.
Give me a, give me a well for me, I love the singing.
Oh yes, okay.
Singing is really great.
Our oldest grandson plays the guitar and our granddaughter who has four little stair steps from 12 down to five and more.
We have kids that come in from, let's see, who came the farthest?
I hadn't thought of that.
Well, so we all fly in like of the 19 grandkids and we took that amazing picture last night.
They were all there, the 19.
So I have, we have three sons in our family, one in Washington, D.C., one in Cincinnati, and one in Norfolk, Virginia.
They all flew in.
Okay.
And we have quite a few from here.
Valerie's from.
Valerie's our fellow Kentuckian like us.
Of course, Rand and I flew in from Bowling Green, well Nashville, our closest airport, with our son Duncan.
And his girlfriend lives in Bowling Green, so we all flew together.
I thought that was nice.
We had different people picking up different people at every, seemed like every other air stop all day long.
But we're really, really, really fortunate.
It's the first time that we were able to get a picture of all 19 grandkids all there at the same time.
Somebody always has something going on that they have to be somewhere or other, but the 19, it was exciting to have them.
We didn't try the 11 little ones because they don't always sit for a picture.
No, I think we did actually get one.
Yeah, we did.
He did get a great grands too.
Oh, that's great.
But yeah, you're right.
Matt has always been the leader on the guitar.
But then now, of course, we have Laura's husband, Kent, plays guitar.
Our sons play guitar.
So someone's always picking up a guitar.
And then Matt's son was on the piano, too.
Well, all of them play the piano, but they're all, you know, some very beginners.
But, no, we're really proud of all of them that we have some great athletes coming up, and that's exciting.
We always have a sporting event to attend if we can.
Yeah.
Well, when people ask me to describe Paul Family Christmas, this is the way I describe it.
I say the great thing about a huge family when you have this big gathering is that there's all kinds of things going on.
If you want to go out and play basketball, there's probably somebody outside playing basketball.
If you want to do a puzzle, you know, Lovey's got the great puzzle table.
Yeah, I do have that sent into the garage this year.
We have an overflow room for the puzzlers this year.
There's always somebody sitting by the fire singing a Christmas carol.
Yeah, they got warmed up last night starting with little practice sessions, but the girls did good.
Vicki's kids are amazing singers.
Yes, they are.
And Caroline, being an only one coming from Louisville, Kentucky.
Louis, Kentucky.
But she likes to sing with them, and she's good too.
She has a beautiful voice.
She does have it.
And they like to sing, and they don't mind being pressured into saying, How about kids singing?
Oh, I love that.
They will stand up there and they will perform.
I mean, I think my favorite songs that they do are Happy Birthday, Jesus, in Sigma.
Signing.
That is so beautiful when they all sing that.
We do have a family member that's deaf, so it's just really moving when they do that song.
And then my other favorite is when they do Seek Ye First, the Kingdom of God.
They're good.
Yes, they're good.
Running Up That Hill 00:08:09
Well, it was exciting as we all held hands around our centerpiece.
And I can't remember who started the grace.
It's always whoever isn't ready, we call them.
Yeah.
But at the end of it, they were saying, everybody's here.
And they said, okay, let's count off.
I know.
And then we counted off, and I think we got to 51 or 52.
52, I think, with the new baby.
So it was really, it was a special night.
And we have three more nights of it.
So I'm so excited to be part of it all.
I know I certainly love all of our traditions.
And the food.
Now, you're the architect of all of these joyful traditions.
The amazing food.
It's always delicious.
The decorations, the sense of just family and togetherness.
Well, I couldn't do it all without a lot of help.
So that is really a good thing.
Well, you are an amazing cook, and we have a lot of other great cooks in the family, but you started with the traditional Paul family recipes.
You did these amazing cookbooks back in like the 1976.
That was our secret weapon when Ron was running for office.
And he said, a cookbook?
But it has been well received.
And people have sent recipes from all over the country.
Yeah, you started this, and basically people wanted to be on the Ron Paul mailing list so they would get the annual cookbook.
And you did, what, 12 different years of these cookbooks?
Yes.
Starting, I guess, basically with the family favorite recipes.
I think that's the first one.
First cookbook.
So you have your Snickerdoodles in here?
The what?
Your Snickerdoodle cookies?
They are in there.
They are.
But my mother and Ron's mother both have recipes in there.
The only thing I found out is that back in their day when these recipes were put in, they used a higher temperature on the ovens because our ovens are so much hotter now.
You have to drop down maybe to 350 instead of 375, even, you know.
But that was the only thing I've noticed that needs may be corrected.
I keep saying I'm going to put them all together one of these days and do a finale book, but I haven't done it yet.
I just keep telling myself I'm going to.
What have you been doing with your time?
Oh, my goodness.
I know.
I know.
I tell you, you would stay busy in our family just going to the sporting events that all the kids are in.
And we are very lucky to have some very, very good and upcoming athletes, and we've had very good athletes.
In fact, you wanted to know how I first met Ron.
I did.
Yep.
So let's go into that a little bit.
Let's tell a little history here.
I guess I was in the eighth grade, and I had a friend who was a big senior in high school, and she was going to take me to a track meet.
I'd never been to a track meet.
So we went, and just about the time that we got there, they were running the 330, 340.
How am I right?
I can't remember.
Anyway, it was a relay.
Relay race.
Relay race.
Yes, it was a relay race.
And our team was losing and they were way behind.
And Ron took the baton.
He ran the whole, he caught up with everybody anyway.
They won it.
And I was very impressed.
Of course!
Yes!
Oh my gosh, that's pretty dramatic.
Yes, yes, it was, especially for our first track meet.
But Ron was a state champion track, and he was good in the 330 and the 440 and the 100.
And I knew he did them all the quick races, not the mile and things like that.
But he was good.
Yeah, great athlete, super smart, and pretty good looking.
Oh, yeah, I would say so.
I would say so.
And so you saw him run the track meet, and then tell me a little bit about how you went on your first day.
I really probably didn't see him for the next, you know, couple years, really.
But seeing that I have a very unusual and special birthday in that it's on February 29th.
And, you know, that only comes once every four years.
So my dad, from the time I was a kid, saying, oh, on her 16th birthday, we're going to hire a hall.
We're going to do all this.
We're going to, you know, he just would build it up and he'd go to the desserts we're going to have and all this kind of stuff.
And he said, oh, we're going to have hollowed out candy bars with chocolate ice cream and vanilla on either end.
He just built it up.
And then finally, it came true.
It had to happen.
So all the girls were invited and they invited a date.
And I invited Ron.
And he was not really, he was a sportsman.
He wasn't really a dating person.
But his brother said, oh, come on, you have to go.
She's invited you.
And it's her party, you know.
And he, well, he grumbled a little, but he came.
So that was our first day.
It was my 16th birthday.
So that was special right there.
Now, I was going to tell you more about it.
And you all dated then the rest of high school, I guess?
Well, off and on.
I mean, we just off and on.
And then he went to college.
And, well, I hadn't thought of this, but we had my mother and I had a symbol.
I lived about maybe a half a mile from the school.
It was over Hill and Dale, but you could see our kitchen window.
And if I had a letter from Ron, she would hang the dish towel out the kitchen window.
And I would know that I had a letter from Ron.
That's the first time I've ever heard that.
That is so sweet and romantic.
Isn't that like?
Oh, it was neat.
Well, he was not a long letter writer because he was very busy being a good student and honor and all that kind of thing.
And he ran track.
No, he didn't.
He ran a little bit.
He had his knee injury.
And so, working to rehab his knees, he swam on the Gettysburg College swim team to help his running.
I didn't know that either.
But they were great years and carefree.
And so when did he propose marriage?
Well, let's see.
Well, I can't give you a date, but I can tell you where we were.
We were in a park on a hill that overlooks the swimming pool.
It was a 50-meter swimming pool.
And that was something for those days.
They didn't have them then.
And we were sitting up on top of the hill and we were commiserating.
I was at Ohio University and he was at Gettysburg and all this kind of thing.
And so all of a sudden he pops up with his ring and he says, well, you know, we got to finish school.
So, but he gave me the ring that night.
And I can't remember if my parents, I guess they knew about it ahead of time, all that formalities of those things.
But I was excited about being engaged.
And we finally married his last semester of school.
It was really fun on the campus because we got to be chaperones for the fraternity parties.
Oh, okay.
So you were married while he was still in school then?
Just three months, the last three months of his college.
You all were the old married couple.
Yes, we were.
Yes.
I had to do my education quick so that I could make the most money to put him through med school.
I didn't do it alone, of course.
We had a lot of family help.
But we were very fortunate to be able to do all the things that we had planned.
So right after graduation, he went to med school at Duke University, right?
Right.
And you all moved to Durham.
Yes.
Married While in School 00:03:23
And at Durham, to make enough money and, you know, pad our currency, we raised collie puppies.
And so we had one collie puppy that had 12 puppies one year.
And we were so excited about these puppies and all.
Of course, by that time, we had two kids.
Ronnie and Lori were like nine and a half months apart.
And they, the people back in Pennsylvania, when we were a Duke, wanted to meet these kids and see these kids for the first time.
So we had to go back.
So we had to raise these, we raised these puppies and sold them to make enough money for gas.
And Ron knows all the statistics.
He'll say he had X number of dollars in his pocket and that bought gas all the way to Pennsylvania and back to North Carolina.
So you got to go home for the holidays and show off those new babies.
Yes.
My beautiful children.
Selling that little, of course, we added three more to end up having five, which made it rounded out.
We had a boy and a girl, and then three boys in a row after that.
Two boys in a row after that.
After that.
Rand and Robert.
And then Star was born.
I see on the cake.
Yeah, we had baby Joy.
Yeah, yes.
And baby Joy, of course, is a doctor now, OB doctor.
So she's grown up and has six kids.
So she did add to the numbers.
She did.
Joy did more than her part.
I always say Joy makes me feel like a low achiever in life.
She's an OBGYN, successful busy practice, and mother of six amazing kids.
They are.
She are.
I'm proud of all of them.
I mean, they are 19 grandkids is a great thing.
And did I tell you that we counted off?
Yes, we did.
We did last night.
So I think a couple may be leaving today, so our numbers will be a little bit diminished tomorrow, but we'll still probably have in the high 40s for the rest of the weekend, I think.
Oh, yes.
I think we will because I think we have some extra people that couldn't stand not coming and seeing the crowd.
It's always fun when everybody have some drop-in people.
I know my kids were already up this morning.
Well, my kids, my sons, they're grown now, but their favorite thing is always waking up at your house and having the pigs in a blanket.
They can always smell those pigs in the blanket cooking, and you're pulling them out of the oven and that, and the array of Christmas cookies that are everywhere.
Well, I couldn't do it all without Flora.
I have this wonderful friend that has worked for me for almost, well, 15 years, maybe more.
She knows better than I do.
But we couldn't do it without her.
Oh, she's amazing.
I love her so much.
She is.
Absolutely.
She is so amazing.
But I've been so happy to do all the things that go with along with kids, you know, going to all their events and things like that.
And my mother and dad wanted to be part of all that, and they moved to Texas and their last few years lived with us.
But Kelly brought samples.
So this is how, the other thing that you are amazing at, in addition to your many other accomplishments, is you're an incredible seamstress and knitter.
Amazing Seamstress Gifts 00:09:01
And I want to talk a little bit about all of the things that you make for the grandkids.
But these are some of the stockings that Graham made for our mother for the grandkids.
My mother knit those.
Yeah, and so my boys loved those.
And then by the time I had my third son, Graham had retired from the hitting.
She had a cataract surgery.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, that's right.
And so you made Robert's stocking, and I have it, but it won't show up on the green screen.
But it's twice as long as the other one.
So you did it.
You knitted that one.
But you know how to spoil these grandkids because my feathers would be like, why is Robert's stocking so much bigger than everybody else's?
But the one thing now that you do that I think is so special and it's amazing that you have made 19, well, I guess all of them haven't graduated from high school yet, but every grandchild that graduates from high school, you create these special t-shirt quilts.
Tell everybody about those.
Well, we save their t-shirts from young kids on and special t-shirts, and I make a t-shirt quilt for them.
And the one that's coming up hasn't gotten me his shirts yet, and he's in trouble.
Oh, yeah.
They got it.
I remember telling him I was, but then when you made them as their high school graduation gift, they are so special.
All my sons took them to college and they'd have them and people would be like, oh, my goodness.
You know, you basically say, save all your sports or your band or your fun dances or things that you go to.
You have all these commemorative shirts and it's just such a really cool way to keep those.
Well, and then Rand wanted one for all his political things.
So we did make him one and he had it in Washington for a while.
I don't know why.
Oh, he has it.
It's still in Washington.
It's very prominently displayed in his office.
You did, because he was like, wow, when he saw one of our kids, he's like, Mom, I need one of those.
And so you took a lot of not only his Rand Paul t-shirts and campaign shirts from the first Senate race and the second, but some vintage and really cool Ron Paul shirts from like back in the 70s.
Some were kind of thin.
Rand had worn them a lot of times.
Yes.
And I worried about putting them in the quilt, but they have good backing, I think.
Yeah, no, you made such an amazing piece of art out of those shirts.
And I have to thank you because Rand never wants to throw anything away.
And he will wear a shirt until it's completely got holes in it.
So this way he can kind of keep it.
He doesn't have to throw it away.
He has this great memory of some of these shirts because he loves to keep things long term.
Boys and girls all like the shirts.
So, I mean, it's one thing that they think about.
And I keep worrying about that I'm not as good as I used to be.
It's pretty amazing how many of those that you have made.
And you also make other beautiful quilts.
I mean, you are a true artist.
All my new brides usually got a quilt.
So we'll see if I can keep that up.
And it's usually a king or queen-size quilt.
So that takes a little.
Oh, I brag about you all the time to people.
I'm like, my mother-in-law is in her amazing sewing room making these exquisite quilts.
And you know, you have to be special to get invited to my sewing room.
Yes.
It's really a mess.
I'm sorry, it is a mess.
But if I had to put everything away every time, that would take the time away from being able to sew.
So sometimes things are half done on the machine and on the table and on the cutting rack.
And I get an idea and I think, well, you know, if I had that and I'd drag out something to look at to make sure I can do some more.
Yep, that sewing room is a true treasure.
It's not only got all your works of art in progress, but then it's also the place where you have all of the various Christmas gifts you buy for 19 and all the stocking stuffers.
And one year I was in there.
Remember, I found all this stuff.
I'm like, how come you have me?
Who's this for?
And you're like, oh, I don't know.
I bought it and I haven't given out.
We basically created a dirty Santa game out of all of the stuff we found in your sewing room.
It was a lot of junk.
But we had good things.
We had some fun things.
I still have a tablecloth in there that mother embroidered and different things that I have that are really kind of new, but they're old, old pieces of work.
But mother was good at handwork, too.
So that was kind of fun to carry on that tradition.
But that room is a mess.
But I came across an item I was shopping last year and I found a glass case and it was on sale.
Well, it was on sale.
I had to get it.
And I can put all my quilts.
Each baby that's born gets a baby quilt.
And it's a heart quilt.
And since I'm lovey to my grandkids and anybody else that wishes to call me that.
Yeah, even their friends call you lovey.
I know they do.
I know they do.
When they can't, you know, they can remember better than I can.
I keep thinking, oh my goodness, I know I know that kid, but which was she a friend of which kid?
You know, etc.
But life goes on in the fast lane.
Yep, yep.
Well, your quilts are amazing.
I knew when I was dating Rand and we came down here, I remember it was November and you were taking the HALL Family Christmas photo and you had made sweatshirts for everybody and every kid had a color with their Christmas tree design on it.
And you know, it was like Lori's family was green and Ronnie's family was a different color and everybody had their thing.
And then as they got all their little kids had that color.
So you had all five of your kids with their various things.
And the next year when Randy and I were married and we didn't have any kids yet but we had our Christmas t-shirts on and I thought wow, this is an amazing woman to have all of this organized so well.
So I knew you were, you were something special and you truly are.
I was an only child and so and married Ron, who had was one of five boys.
So I learned about, you know, groups then and of course, my mother always was so worried because I was an only child.
You know that she wanted to make sure that I was well rounded and she would.
I had tap dancing lessons and etc.
Until I got good enough that I could be a teacher's assistant.
So I taught tap and ballet and twirling a baton.
In Michigan when he was in residency.
The next door neighbor had a brownie troupe and I said I had done GIRL Scouting and loved it with all my kids and all.
So I went over and helped her some with the GIRL Scouting and so she said, you know, you could, you could teach these kids to dance.
Why don't we have help?
Let's do a little dance studio.
So in the basement of this home that we were renting while Rand was in residency, I had a studio and taught tap, ballet and twirling oh my gosh.
And I used one of the clothes posts that you, when you hung your clothes out, you had posts that held the sheets and things up.
So I put it on the wall and made a ballet bar out of that and the floor was just tile.
So we did the tap dancing on that floor.
And that was when we were in Michigan and so I taught probably a year before Rand was born and Gather, which kid you know was in on the dance studio.
But we've done a lot of things and we've made it so and we worked hard and we loved every minute of it.
I mean it's been.
It's been a wonderful life I feel like Ron has given so much to his country, just and all the things he's done.
Yes, but you know you are the support, you are the.
You are the person that has made life so joyful and so incredible that he could do that, and I tried, and you know I.
Well, let's just close with one fun memory that I have that you told me about, and another political wife, when former first lady Nancy Reagan and Ronald Reagan came to campaign for Ron, What she told you.
They did.
As they were leaving, Nancy Reagan gave me a hug and said, oh, I hope our Ronnies win.
I just think that's so endearing and sweet.
Well, she was so cute.
She was really a lovely lady.
Wow.
Very, very sweet.
Well, so are you.
And I just want to this Christmas, thank you for all the joyful holidays and all the moments that you have created.
We're so lucky and we have such talented kids, all of them.
I can't mention all of them because there's too many, but they're all wonderful.
Well, I love you and thanks so much for doing this today.
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