Look Up In The Attic!
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[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-03-02 AT 10:25AM (CST)[/font][p]My wife decorates the house for Christmas as soon as I clean up my mess on Thanksgiving afternoon. This year she added a child's antique wood/metal sleigh and a very, very old two foot high, aluminum, bottle brush tree with rotating colored light fixture that had never been out of the box (very tacky but 50's art). She placed these things on top of an antique ice-box/refrigerator that stands in the corner. Together these three very old items sorta invoke Christmas past - maybe even before my time. This morning at 4 o'clock I went up in the attic, dug around and found the fire truck I gave my son when he was 3 and the rocking horse I made my daughter when she was 4, lugged them downstairs, washed and polished them up and when I took them in the den, it was like a time machine taking me back some years. I 'parked' the truck up on top of the chest beside the sleigh and put the rocking horse beside the fireplace. We have two large tree, the smaller one on a turntable. This one has every ornament the children made or were given through childhood and grade school and the annual Hallmark ones their grandmother has continued to give them each year. The larger tree includes the ornaments I made for my mother as a kid. Another tree in a hallway has nothing but the annual ornaments from the White House going back 25 years. If I get tired of all this nostalgia this month, I can go sit out back under the bottle tree that will surely have some sort of lights on it. This weekend when you have some spare time, look around your attic or your 'junk room' and dig out some old Christmas memories and put them where they'll be seen this month. Here's a rule though: Don't worry about what people will say; they're gonna talk about you anyway. Another rule: If you can start the practice now and it's not too late at your house, don't throw anything that belongs to your kids or that they made. Box and label it and you'll never be sorry. Now, what are you going to look for?
Comments
I hope every one has a wonderful Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.
As for the grandmother who is celebrating Christmas elsewhere this year, my mom is also but I still have so many beautiful ceramic Christmas pieces that she made me. I remember the year I said, Mama, please don't make me any more Christmas ceramic pieces, I'm running out of room...don't I wish she was here to make me more? You bet!
Don, I love the title you gave the piece you wrote that started it all...Everyone have a blessed Christmas season!
Have a Merry Christmas!
I have yet to make the pilgrimage to the attic to bring down the Xmas decorations, but I know when we set up the tree this year I am going to be crying, smiling and laughing at the wonderful memories. For each year grandma told me the stories associated with each and every item. And my 18 yr old daughter talks about the future when she "inherits" these ornaments and has them hanging on HER tree. It's wonderful to see the transfer of memories from generation to generation.
Gee.... I am really in the mood now; I may have to start the decorating tonight!
Jean
Well you have really outdone yourself here. I was just talking with a co-worker yesterday about the fact that we are longing for the holiday mood but just haven't found it yet. It is so easy to get caught up in the tasks and forget what matters.
I lost my grandmother this year. I am not only missing her for the usual reasons, but was overwhelmed last night by the thought of removing her from our list of holiday cards and gifts. I almost sent one anyway but there is a new family living in her home and I didn't want to have it returned marked "deceased."
This year I will lovingly unwrap the little clay gingerbread man she made for my first Christmas. On the back it has my name and the year of my birth in her handwriting. I've always treasured it, but her loss draws those feelings into relief.
I will add the ornament to our tree which will already have our "foundation ornaments," -- 21 silver ornaments my other grandmother collected for me each year beginning with the year of my birth and then gave to me as a group on my 22nd birthday.
They both got sick of my mushy notes of thanks for having such a special reminder of how fortunate I am to be loved, but the grandmother who is alive is going to have to deal with another one this year.
Thank you Don D. I'm overwhelmed as I type, and owe you a warm smile one day when you need one. I don't know a better way to find the "holiday mood."
Jessica
Boy, times have been good for my family lately and I'm thankful!!
Happy Holidays
getting a house. America is truly the land of opportunity. The attic is empty now, but I am sure we will fill it up as the years go by.
Have a Merry Christmas!
Chari
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Congratulations! Cut out that quote and tape it up in the attic to remind yourself that you have a goal of filling it up within a couple of years. Then laugh at yourself as you fill it up within 10 months. And another idea. Take a picture of your empty attic and run a paper clip through the photo and hang it on your tree. This will give you a smile for years to come.
I remember the silver trees with the revolving lights on them. Guess it was the 70's ' cause who remembers the '60's?
I remember how my brother who died in 1984 loved Christmas and we always bring out a picture of him at Xmas to remind us that he is still with us in spirit.
I remember how my in-laws loved Christmas. My father in law would sit in the living room for hours watching the beautifully decorated tree rotate slowly as it played Xmas carols. My mother in law made some beautifully beaded ornaments with Austrian crystals. I inherited these and have many great memories hanging them on my tree. I find little ornaments that she had for many, many years that are almost distintegrated,but I can't bear to throw them away.
I also have a pink net Xmas tree with silver balls on it that my father in law brought my mother in law on their first Christmas together. He brought it all the way from Chicago to North Carolina.
I still have my parents, although my father is aging very fast and may not be with us much longer. My mother is a powerhorse that keeps us all together. I call her "Weezie" after Heloise because she is always in the kitchen.
Anyway....just a few of my memories. I will put the little red Xmas collars on my two best buds - my Yorkie pups and go to Grandma's House for Xmas!
Cheers and best of the holidays to you ALL!
In all of the hussle and bussle I think that we sometimes forget to stop and think about the important things. Thanks Don for helping us all to remember.
Susan