It was rainy and fairly warm yesterday and I did something I haven’t done in AGES. I spent the entire day on the couch in my fuzzy jammies with the snowflakes on them. We watched “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase…a must every year. Then I put on my headphone while Mr. FixIt watched football and played on my computer all day. Yes, I fiddled a little with the websites, but not like…work. Just tweaked a bit here and there. I made brownies and beef stew on Friday so they were both even tastier yesterday. And my long time friend, Anna, called me from Belize. We talked for an hour and it was so much fun to catch up with her!

My friend Marion sent me this photo of our hometown. It’s black and white and was taken at night in the 1950’s during the Christmas season. OMGosh! It takes me back. In those days, downtown was where you shopped. There weren’t any shopping centers or malls. Our only “big box” store was Sears. There were a couple of large locally owned department stores and the likes of GC Murphy’s. Jewelers, shoe stores, a fabric shop. Typical small town shopping at its finest.

One night, a few days before Christmas, Dad would get us all in the Oldsmobile and drive us downtown to see these very same Christmas decorations. On our way back home, we stopped at Dr. Fankhauser’s house to see their display. They always had carolers and a Nativity. And one year they had Santa sitting astraddle a rocket! It was tradition.

My friend Sharon lived down the street from me and we always gathered a group of kids together to go Christmas caroling around the neighborhood. We watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman on our little Zenith TV with the picture that rolled and rolled. Dad would fasten aluminum foil to the rabbit ears and try to get better reception, with little luck.

Sledding down 56th Street hill was a huge neighborhood activity and we’d come in half frozen with wet gloves and soaked feet. Mom would make us hot cocoa and we’d stand straddling the furnace grate in the floor. My brother and I would fight to stay awake to see Santa but we never made it past 10:00. Then we’d wake our parents up LONG before dawn and squeal with delight when we saw presents under the tree.

We didn’t have a lot of money but there was always a little something for each of us. I begged mom to wrap each present separately so it would look like there was more there. As an adult, I totally understood why there were five things in a box. She was tired and wrapping paper cost money and got thrown away. We saved wrapping paper, ribbon and bows and used them from year to year. We recycled old Christmas cards into gift tags. We used the empty paper rolls as swords and trumpets!

We treasured our Christmas ornaments…some of which belonged to my grandparents. We were always so careful when we put them up and Dad was really particular about the decorating. The smallest ornaments at the top…the largest at the bottom.

We each had a stocking and in the bottom were mixed nuts in the shell, a tangerine, a candy cane, and if mom and dad had a little extra, there were Swiss chocolate ball and bells wrapped in colorful foil. There was always, without fail, a Lifesavers “Story Book”. I immediately gave the butterscotch roll to my mom. They were her favorite.

One Christmas was really sad. I don’t know what was going on in our family, but money was tighter than usual. Mom ordered gifts for us from the Spiegel Catalog but they didn’t get to us in time. When we got up on christmas morning, there was a letter from “Santa” telling us our gifts had somehow fallen out of the sleigh on his way to our house and he would have to bring them to us later in the week. Then, when the box arrived, my dad made mom send it back…unopened. That was so disappointing, but I never realized until many years later how hard that had to have been for my mom back then. 

There are some unhappy Christmas memories that involved my dad’s problems with alcohol, but I’ve decided…at the age of 66, I don’t really need to rehash that all over again every year. I’ve told the stories. They’re out there in the blogosphere. That’s enough of that. When I look back now…my dad is in the background. We love(d) each other in our own ways, but now he remains a shadowy figure that no longer haunt me.

Who says you can’t rewrite history?

I want to remember this picture. And mom’s wool winter coat with the brooch on the collar. The thin gloves tucked in one pocket…a floral hankie in the other. There were always pennies and sticks of gum in her handbag for good girls and boys. She smelled like Evening in Paris and wore red lipstick and house dresses with patent leather heels. She had a pair of clip-on earrings for “fancy”. She pretended to be thrilled with a ten cent bottle of cheap cologne from Kresge’s. I don’t know…maybe she was. I do know this…I adored her and I miss her every day.

Yes…this picture makes me smile.

❤️

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

1 Peter 4:8 NIV