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the end of the year

I've shown this picture before.  It is a school picture taken of me in the first grade.  Look at that hopeful, smiley face.  Every day was an adventure.  And that is the way this year went, too.  Everyday was an adventure.  I traveled from coast to coast and saw a lot along the way.  Being with people (family) is special and full of excitement.  Being alone has its rewards, too.  That is when I am able to reflect on "things"--anything, everything.  And so I close out this year knowing that in two weeks I will no longer be seventy.  I will be "in" my seventies.  I've crossed the threshold into the next decade of my life. I'm excited to see what this new decade has waiting for me.  I will find out a bit at a time.  Goodbye to 2018.  Hello 2019.

the twins at Christmas

This picture was taken in about 1970.  We are living in the parsonage on Alabama Avenue.  Here's a fun fact about those stockings that Susan and Steven are holding.  They are made of a lightweight plastic and the white cuff is a puffy quilted plastic. There is a candy cane trim around the edges and our names are written in permanent ink on the outside.  The stockings came with a chalk pen that was used to write a "wish list" for Santa on the outside of the stocking.  Certainly Santa would see the lists on Christmas Eve as he filled our stockings hanging from the mantle above the fireplace.  The thing is this.  Those stockings were first used in the mid 1950's and this picture was taken at least fifteen years later.  Plastic stockings hold up well IF you take care of them.  And, we did!!  (I believe I still have mine although it has been hidden in a storage box for years. Shame on me.  Perhaps it's time for a retro remix.)  Anyway,  this is a very nice picture of my sister and brother captured on a Christmas morning long ago (yet, in my memory, not so long ago.)  merry, merry

tinsel on the tree

Look at all that tinsel hanging on the tree!!  It was put there strand by strand.  No throwing it on the tree.  Every piece of tinsel was placed on that tree individually...and with care.  And, guess what.  When the tree was taken down after Christmas was over (well into January), each strand of tinsel was removed one by one and placed on the original cardboard holder and then that holder was then tucked into the original cellophane wrapper that the tinsel came in from the store.  We were a thrifty bunch.  Waste not, want not.  Norwegian thrift, we called it.  That same tinsel lasted for years.  The only pieces that didn't make it back into the package were the shriveled ones that got too close to a Christmas tree light bulb and semi-melted.  Looks like my brother and I are having fun there inspecting an opened gift.  Christmas on Brookside Avenue.  My childhood remembered.

Christmas morning

Anticipation!!  Can't wait to attack those presents under the tree.  That's the five of us sitting under the Christmas tree that was set up in the office area of the parsonage on Brookside Avenue.  The tree location rotated each year between the office and the living room.  One year it was set up in the basement.  There were, also, two little trees that were set up in each of the kid's bedrooms (boy's room, girl's room) in the upstairs of the Cape Cod style house.  Yes, we got to decorate our trees, including lights, and we had a decorating contest of sorts.  We basically tied for first place.  Fair is fair.  But, here we are, sitting under the tree, waiting to open our gifts on a cold winter's morning in December of 1955.  Look at our bare feet.  When our Uncle Ed saw this picture he commented that he wanted to tickle our toes.  He chuckled about that!  What a lovely memory this picture brings.  Merry Christmas, everyone.

poinsettias in the chancel

During the Christmas season poinsettias always filled the chancel area of the sanctuary in the church  I attended.  The church was built in the 1950's and was constructed in a mid century modern style.  The alter area was broad and at Christmas and Easter it was filled with flowers.  I loved it.

my first grandchild

My Christmas present for 2010 (and forever) is my granddaughter, Ana.  Her birthday is exactly one week before Christmas.  She is the one person that officially made me a grandmother because she is the first of her generation in my family.  I love you Ana Bear.  I always will.