Memory Lane
When I was a 5
year old little girl. It was in 1949, We lived in Knoxville,
Tennessee in a beautiful two story house with a porch that
went almost all the way around the house. We had two
fireplaces in that house and a large kitchen, for some reason
that sticks out very clear in my mind. ( The Summer before )
It had been a wonderful summer that year and we had visited
my grandparents in a small town just south of Knoxville. My
grandparents were always a very important part of the
family, it seemed as if everything our family did revolved
around them. I remember my mom and grandmother already making
plans for the coming Christmas Feast. My mom and her mom, my
grandmother, and we three girls went to town that was a few
miles away from where my grandmother had lived. We were at a
store that sold all different types of things, kind of a
mercantile type store. Well all of a sudden I saw the most
beautiful, wonderful, baby doll that I had ever seen in my
life sitting on the shelf. I had to touch it, just one little
feel of it was all I wanted. My grandmother walked over
picked up the doll and placed it in my arms, the most
wonderful feeling came over me and I knew then and there I
had to have that baby doll. The money was as always very
close then and of course no matter how I felt I could not
get the baby doll, it was just not to be..... We went back
Home to Knoxville and soon my mind was on other things, but
that baby-doll keep coming back to mind more and more often.
( Christmas 1949 ) It was a beautiful white Christmas
morning I remember the fireplace being all decorated with
white and red and green garland. Three big red Christmas
stockings hanging very carefully along the top, filled with
all kinds of goodies. There were tiny little toys and small
rubber ball, some jacks and Christmas candies that my mom
had made and put in the stockings for us girls. Our Big
Christmas tree was standing in the corner of the living room
and the smell of that tree I still remember, very
fresh, cold smelling. We had made most of the decorations
ourselves and it was a beautiful tree that year. The time
had come for us to open our presents and we were so
excited. My sisters were running around throwing wrapping
papers here and there and just having a great time. I opened
my gifts from the family and was wondering where was my gift
from Santa. I had been a good girl and I didn't see my
present from Santa. My Daddy was sitting in his big chair
over by the fireplace watching all of the excitement and not
saying to very much. But when I started looking and looking
everywhere could think of my Dad reached down beside his
chair and said, "I want you all to look here what I
found. Santa must have laid this by my chair by mistake." As I
turned to look at what my daddy was saying, to my surprise
there she was, the most wonderful, and the most beautiful baby-doll that I had ever seen. It was the one from the store in
the small town where my grandmother had lived.
Retta~*
My mom and dad in 1939.They had been to a little county fair in the town where they had lived...I can remember my Mom talking about how cool it was and it had also rained that day, and how much her and my daddy were in love with each other.
