Here We Are
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Where has this year gone? The holiday week is always the last week of December, and it amazes me how fast it seems to come upon us after November 1st.
I bought some old glass ornaments at a thrift store and put them in a white bowl to "decorate" this year. I have two photographs from the 1930's taken in different years but of the same little girl next to a huge Christmas tree with presents all around. In both photos she is wearing a dress and a large bow in her hair. I never thought of them as sad pictures until this very moment. She is alone and not looking particularly happy in spite of all the dolls and stacks of presents around her.
My Christmases have not been like that, especially when I was a little girl. I bought the old ornaments because they reminded me of my childhood trees. It was always a treat to see my grandparents and stay with them. Grandma and I would watch the barges on the Ohio River below, and some of them were strung with colored holiday lights. I would hear my grandfather in the basement before dawn shoveling coal in the furnace.
The real action was at my Aunt Luellen's house, though. Everyone met there, and, as soon as you walked through the door, you were practically handed a bottle of Pepsi and couple slices of bread to make a sandwich. Remember the tall, skinny bottles that came in 8-packs? Old stories, new stories, Baby DumDum the cat, boxes of photos, Christmas cards around the doorways, several pies on the dining room buffet and fresh baked biscuits for breakfast. It was a comfortable house with a TV on in one room, various relatives and friends coming and going, the spirit of giving alive and well, and laughter everywhere, all around.
My aunt passed away years ago, and my cousin sold this big ol' Victorian house with a wraparound porch--which, I read in their local paper online, burned down today. The memories live on, though. Every year I think about the laughing fits, the jokes, the meals, the bargain hunting on December 26th, the old photos and stories. It would be nice to get together again. Maybe next year.
We have had snow here this week--not as much as Las Vegas, but some snow and more ice. The photo is another shot of one of my favorite views, at the top of the S-curves on Hemlock. The temperature was the only thing that didn't change today, hovering in the low to mid-30's. But we had snow, sun, wind, rain, hail throughout the day. The photo just puts it all in one package.
Where has this year gone? The holiday week is always the last week of December, and it amazes me how fast it seems to come upon us after November 1st.
I bought some old glass ornaments at a thrift store and put them in a white bowl to "decorate" this year. I have two photographs from the 1930's taken in different years but of the same little girl next to a huge Christmas tree with presents all around. In both photos she is wearing a dress and a large bow in her hair. I never thought of them as sad pictures until this very moment. She is alone and not looking particularly happy in spite of all the dolls and stacks of presents around her.
My Christmases have not been like that, especially when I was a little girl. I bought the old ornaments because they reminded me of my childhood trees. It was always a treat to see my grandparents and stay with them. Grandma and I would watch the barges on the Ohio River below, and some of them were strung with colored holiday lights. I would hear my grandfather in the basement before dawn shoveling coal in the furnace.
The real action was at my Aunt Luellen's house, though. Everyone met there, and, as soon as you walked through the door, you were practically handed a bottle of Pepsi and couple slices of bread to make a sandwich. Remember the tall, skinny bottles that came in 8-packs? Old stories, new stories, Baby DumDum the cat, boxes of photos, Christmas cards around the doorways, several pies on the dining room buffet and fresh baked biscuits for breakfast. It was a comfortable house with a TV on in one room, various relatives and friends coming and going, the spirit of giving alive and well, and laughter everywhere, all around.
My aunt passed away years ago, and my cousin sold this big ol' Victorian house with a wraparound porch--which, I read in their local paper online, burned down today. The memories live on, though. Every year I think about the laughing fits, the jokes, the meals, the bargain hunting on December 26th, the old photos and stories. It would be nice to get together again. Maybe next year.
We have had snow here this week--not as much as Las Vegas, but some snow and more ice. The photo is another shot of one of my favorite views, at the top of the S-curves on Hemlock. The temperature was the only thing that didn't change today, hovering in the low to mid-30's. But we had snow, sun, wind, rain, hail throughout the day. The photo just puts it all in one package.
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