Everything he endeavored he achieved, except one thing. No matter how he tried the dear man could NOT get a Christmas tree straight in the stand. It was a Holiday tradition to hear him fussin' with the tree on Christmas Eve. Growing up we NEVER put the tree up until Christmas Eve and there was popcorn to string and light strings to test with bulbs to replace while Dad wrestled with the tree. My favorites were the "icicle lights" that had colored liquid and bubbles inside , sort of like mini lava lamps.
My sister Barb reminded me of the year Dad was going to build "A better tree stand." He started with a sheet of plywood, built a huge upside down box with spikes coming through the bottom to hold the tree. The tree was up and for once in his life it was STRAIGHT ! A true CHRISTMAS MIRACLE ! We had popcorn strings from the ceilings to the chandelier and also on the tree, the lights were on, the balls were on, he had just stepped back to admire his masterpiece when CRRRRASH, down came the tree. The spikes were not long enough to hold the weight, and DOWN came the popcorn strings , balls rolled all over and Dad uttered several non-Christmas like words in the process. I can still hear him muttering as he worked on the tree. We ended up with an eye hook in each corner behind the tree, and wires running through them and around the trunk to hold in in place but GOSHDARNIT the tree itself was a beautiful sight.
Ironically, he always helped put up Grandma's tree, and hers were always perfect. I thought it was because she always wanted the one with short pine needles, where we always got the Douglas Fir. I was reminded tonight, that Grandpap handled the tree stand and Dad did the lights. Ahhh, that was the secret !
Love ya' Dad :-)
Barbie's Christmas:
Like most little girls in the 60's, my sister Barb and I had Barbie Dolls. I learned how to knit by making a sweater for my Barbie when I was about 7 years old. Our older sister Betty taught us how. Barb being left handed ended up purling hers while I knitted mine, but they were something we "MADE" so they were great.
We had Barbie furniture made out of the plastic containers Mom bought tomatoes in and a Barbie sofa my sister Sharon had made out of an old Velveeta box, stuffed with old nylons and upholstered with leftover fabric from a sewing project. We thought Barbie had it made.
Dad was sick that Christmas and there wasn't a lot of money for gifts, so my older sisters snuck across the hollow to where Uncle Bill had his pine seedlings and "borrowed" one about 20 inches tall. They fashioned a stand for it and decorated it with beads and miniture lights. Then they made each of our Barbie's a fashion wardrobe out of scraps from many sewing projects, complete with matching "earrings" which were really colored straight pins. They made tiny little Barbie accessories, like a little notebook and I think there may have been a purse too.
They woke us up Christmas morning all excited because "Santa came for Barbie too !"
I remember this as one of my favorite Christmas presents, because it came from the heart. I wonder if Uncle Bill ever missed or figured out what happened to that seedling ?
Growing up in the country, we lived next door to Grandma and across the road from my Great Grandma. Up the hill were my other Grandparents and several Aunts and Uncles in a row. Both sets of Grandparents owned a lot of acres and as their children got married they were given land to build their own homes on.
So it was tradition at our house to have Christmas morning at home, then walk up the path to Grandma's for Christmas afternoon and dinner. As you can see in the picture above, the path is pretty steep.
Grandma (picture below) made some of the best homemade egg noodles around and they were Dad's favorite. One Christmas when the weather was a bit on the warm side, Grandma sent Dad home with a big bowl of her very best egg noodles.
As he was coming down the path, his foot slipped on the muddy ground,
DOWN on the ground went Dad, UP in the air went the bowl of egg noodles turning in 360 degree rotations as it went, PLOP went the noodles on Dad's head, looking like a very bad wig, THUD went the bowl as it landed on top and 4 little girls with giggle fits almost got into a LOT of trouble that day.
If you want the best egg noodles around now, you have to visit my Sister Barb. Mine are terrible.
