Enjoy the Neighborhood Decorations: Check
Decorate with Glitter: Check
Attend Christmas Concert: Check
Set Table for Family Birthday: Check
My brother-in-law B turns 50 on Christmas Eve. We celebrated the event a few days early.
Hang a Favorite Ornament Front and Center: Check
I mentioned a few days ago that Mom loved to help my sisters and me make holiday decorations. Here’s one of our early creations.
Hang Advent Calendar: Check
Mail Christmas Cards: Check
This week I’m focusing on handling all the items on my holiday checklist.
Nearby in a Manger
My mother was always very artistic and crafty, a talent that she shared with us throughout her lifetime. Each Christmas season, under Mom’s tutelage, my younger sisters and I would make a variety of holiday decorations… this nativity being one of my favorites.
The first photo shows how the nativity was originally displayed in 1967. The second (family) photo shows my sisters and me the year we made it. We lived in Florida at the time (I love that huge poinsettia bush behind us). When I look at how young we were, I can only imagine the patience Mom must have had as she helped us develop our creative skills.
We’ve passed this family treasure back and forth between us over the years, and it now resides at my home; as the bottom photo shows, it (and its inhabitants) have aged quite nicely.
Mix and Match
I’m not known for my fashion sense, but I always hope to do better than this. By the time my sister pointed the shoe faux pas out to me, I had already been to the dentist and run a couple of errands. This past weekend she mentioned the coffee stains on my “clean” sweatshirt. I’m somewhat apprehensive about what this week might hold.
A Short-Lived Christmas Tradition
Yes, that is my father in the early 1970’s playing Twister. Mom and Dad belonged to a very active bridge club, and I believe this is their annual Christmas party (that’s our neighbor with him). I want you, however, to look past the shenanigans of the game and at the wall behind them. Do you see that green sparkly ball? That was our holiday tree that year – or as we like to call it, the Christmas Bush.
For reasons never quite understood, Mom had decided that my sisters and I needed a tree of our own to decorate, and a bush for the front lawn was just the answer. I remember raising an eyebrow at this notion, but when my mother made up her mind, it was a done deal. We prettied it up as best we could with tinsel and paper ornaments, draping a white sheet to hide the root ball… but a bush is still a bush no matter how fancy you make it. Today my sisters and I get a big laugh out of this episode, but it was a little traumatic back then. I assume that the bush, now considerably larger, is thriving in the yard of our old house.
Tree Fishing 