Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

I ran across this holiday photo of my grandparents (my dad's parents) taken back in the 1950's. It brought back such a wave of nostalgia.  Anyone remember tinsel?  You know, those silvery strands of shimmer that adorned every holiday tree. I remember my mom telling us kids to put ONE strand at a time on ... which we did for the first half of the tree, but by the third box of tinsel my brothers and sisters and I were taking several at a time and literally throwing them on the tree to see where they would stick.  The holiday stencils that we would sponge onto our frontroom windows.  We would spend hours stringing popcorn and cranberries onto string and making paper garlands. In the background my mom would be playing her favorite holiday tunes from Andy Williams, Dean Martin and Rosemary Clooney (you remember, George's aunt)!

And you always knew that under the tree there would be packages wrapped in white tissue paper tied up with yarn from Grandma Ollie - and inside were her labors of love that she had worked on all year long - handmade aghans, scarves, gloves and sweaters.

Our holiday activities way back then always included taking our sleds up the hill from our house and seeing how many times we could go up and down before our hands and toes were numb from the cold.  And ice skating on the creek in our backyard with all the kids in the neighborhood from ages 3 to 18. Making snow angels in our front yard.  And dad driving us downtown to the civi auditorium to see Santa and we all got a bag of treats, which always included a piece of fruit, some nuts and a candy cane.

So on this day before Christmas eve, I hope you are making your own holiday memories and wish you and yours a very, merry Christmas!