Christmases Long Ago

Christmas seems to bring out the sentimental side of me. Who am I kidding, I am always sentimental. I have ticket stubs from every Broadway show I've seen. I have file folders of maps I carried in my pocket on trips to far away lands. I keep far too much but refuse to change my ways.

My first Christmas! (I'm in the middle)
Under my grandparents tinsel covered tree.

I have total recall of the Christmas tree and decorations at my grandmother's house. It was always a medium to small tree and always a live tree. In a bucket.

My grandparents Christmas tree always sat in front of the picture window that looked out over the driveway between grandpa Don’s chair and the desk. If I close my eyes I can feel the texture of grandpa don’s brown chair with ottoman. It probably helps that I have that photo of it in a frame in my bedroom.

Grandpa Don in his brown chair.
I think we are getting ready to take on the Osmonds.
Right behind my sister is a brown stool where the tree goes.

For some reason in my head it’s always flocked. But now that I look at that first photo I know more often it was tinsel. It had the medium C-7 bulbs in multiple colors. You know the ones that weren't meant for outside but still gave off enough heat to burn you if you got too close. I was always too close to the Christmas tree. And bubble lights. I loved those bubble lights. I think they were my favorite part of the tree. If I remember correctly, I always got in trouble for touching them.

My own bubble lights that I can touch whenever I want.

I have three ornaments from my grandparent's tree. Two birds made of two Styrofoam balls and pipe cleaners. One pink and one blue.
One Santa made from a Styrofoam ball and pipe cleaners. They are on my tree in the living room right now.


Christmas Eve was spent at my great-grandparents until it became too much for them to handle then Christmas Eve moved to my grandparents house. It was one of those "all relatives" nights where you saw all the relatives you hadn't seen since the summer when we had the big potluck at the lake. On Christmas day it would be "just family" for dinner. That meant somewhere between 15 and 25 people trying to squeeze around my grandparents table. Children got moved off to the kitchen table.

Christmas Eve at my great-grandparents house.
In front of the piano, at the bottom of the stairs.

I also still have three small Santa head mugs that my great-grandma Myra used to serve me hot chocolate in. I tied ribbon to the handle and use them as Christmas ornaments now as well.