This week's post is not steeped in history as I normally write, but, rather, is staunchly traditional---my family's Christmas traditions. Oh, there are bits of history strewn about, but it's centered on my family, a sort of journal of this Christmas season for my wife and I.
Even if you are not a family member, I do hope you enjoy it.
Back to my regularly scheduled programming for the next post~
And I pray to you that your season was just as joyful...and your new year is as blessed as any could be.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
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The Christmas season for me as a youth has always been a big to do. With my mom, it would begin a couple days before Thanksgiving when she would start playing her Christmas records on the console stereo. And then she would turn off the electric lights and then light the candles while my father would have a blazing fire going in the fireplace.
Think of it: Christmas music, candles aglow, and a fire in the fireplace.
Christmas dreams~~~~~
Eagerly I would await the Sunday paper of Thanksgiving weekend and grab the local TV Guide so I could catch when any Christmas specials would be showing on TV. Wait---there it is---Frosty and the Grinch were being shown on Wednesday! And Charlie Brown on Friday! In these days before streaming, before DVRs, Blue Ray, DVD, VHS, you had to catch the specials whenever they were going to be shown. Otherwise, you had to wait until next year.
Rats.
But as the Rolling Stones sang, things are different today.
In celebrating Christmas in my home today, I do my best to borrow from the past - sometimes long past, other times my own past - and blend the past & present together.
"But what about your wife Patty's past?" you ask. "She has a Christmas past too, you know."
Yeah, she does. But she's told me her Christmas's were nothing like Christmas with my family. She told me she has very few fond Christmas memories before hooking up with me (she had just turned 17 during our first Christmas together).
So I try - we try - to make the Christmas Holiday Season into something special for each other, for our kids, and now for our grandkids - like I said, the blending of the old with the new.
So let's begin with Thanksgiving, considered the opening day of the Christmas season here in the U.S. - -
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A happy, busy kitchen~ Our three oldest grandkids helping their Nonna in preparing for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. There was lots of excitement in the air - - and in the kitchen! |
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| After the preparation, we settled down to watch the DVD of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. |
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| Thanksgiving morning - my autumn decorations - all real / no plastic - were still on our front porch. I put them up in September and leave them there until the Monday after Thanksgiving. |
Rather than turkeys and pilgrims, I really enjoy the country vignette I create here in the city.
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| Our morning began by listening to The Beatles. |
I am a Beatle fanatic - I can never get enough of their music. And these remastered CDs from 2009 sound like you're in the studio with the band.
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| I am not much of a cook, so I did the holiday cleaning and decorating. I think having pumpkins and gourds we grew at the colonial cabin kitchen garden displayed in a wood crate works, don't you? And the pumpkins used for pies were grown in that same garden. |
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| No matter what, I always make time to watch "America's Thanksgiving Day Parade" live from Woodward in Detroit. It's Santa! I know him! (actually, I do know him - he and his wife and his sister-in-law are friends of mine)~ |
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| Okay - it's officially the Christmas season, for Santa has arrived! On with the Christmas music. Yep---I usually wait until Thanksgiving after Santa's arrival to begin playing carols. These are three of my favorite CDs - at least for this year. The center CD there? It is a British country Christmas, not an American country Christmas. There is a difference - this one is more "pub." Patty Loveless, on the right, is an American country Christmas. If you want to know more about my collection, please click HERE |
Sometimes I'll play Christmas music before Thanksgiving, and sometimes I don't. This year I didn't. But the closer I get to December 25th, the more I play, and I have a large and diverse enough collection that I don't get burned out on hearing the same few tunes sung over and over.
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| Being the family chandler, I'm naturally in charge of setting the ambience (though had this actually been the 18th or 19th century we would never have burned this many candles at once--that would have been considered a waste). |
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| We bowed our heads in prayer to thank God for our meal, for our family, and for our friends. |
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| The "kids" table. Uncle Miles likes to sit with his nephews and nieces. AND they, too, get a lit candle. |
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| We are Sicilian, and what can be more Sicilian than a dessert of homemade cannoli? This has been a family tradition going back to my grandparents. |
A couple days after Thanksgiving, we all, as a family, drove north to Western's Tree Farm in Applegate.
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| Cutting down our Christmas Tree has also been a family tradition, only it was my wife and I that began this tradition even before we had kids! And we've gone to the same tree farm - Western's - pretty much for the past 38 years. |
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| The Western's cabin. |
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| Looking out the cabin window is like being in a painting. The cabin was built about 35 years ago - yes, I remember before they built it - and they use it for selling Christmas decorations, cookies, hot dogs, and also for visiting... |
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| ...Santa! What a great scenario, eh? And my granddaughter couldn't wait to speak with him!
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| There is also a beautiful fireplace. |
But wait - - what are we here for??
Yes, our tree is not your standard decorated Christmas Tree.
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| Oh yeah! A Christmas Tree! And we always find the perfect one...and cut it down ourselves - - We prefer the Spruce. |
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| And before you know it, I had the tree in the stand in our house. |
Patty & I have always looked for traditional, more unusual-looking tree ornaments. The kind not normally found on most trees. The kind that keeps our friends looking.
For instance:
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| We bought this last year at Greenfield Village. |
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| We purchased this one here in 2024, again at Greenfield Village. |
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| Another Greenfield Village ornament bought this year (2024). And next to that is a light house we purchased a few years ago up in Frankenmuth at Bronners. |
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| Here is a cow bell that was also bought at Greenfield Village about a decade ago. Yes, it does make a clanging sound when shaken. |
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| A squirrel! What's a tree without a squirrel? |
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| And a punched-tin lantern! I usually try to hang this (and a few other lantern ornaments I have, near a candle or a light. For some reason, not this year. The popcorn is very realistic looking, but it is fake. We've had it since the 1980s. |
We are lovers of music so we have a small music theme going on as well:
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| Got to have that guitar since I and my two oldest sons play! |
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| My daughter-in-law plays guitar, bass, ocarina, and trumpet. She has actually gotten a sound to come out of this horn ornament! |
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| Since my oldest son has a wife and kids, they now cut down their own tree, so my other three kids - all adults now! - come over to decorate our "family tree." Here are two of the three - - - ~~~~~ |
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| As my wife knits (and crochets), we saw this and bought it immediately. I believe it was bought at a craft show. |
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| Christmas Trees need gingerbread men and women, and we have multiple kinds. I wanted to show this because we have each of our five grandkids names on them Here's grandchild number four - Eli~ |
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| Sheep~~~~ Made by the potterers at Greenfield Village. |
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| A cannoli ornament! We found this one in Frankenmuth - this was quite a find! Imagine, we make a sort of family holiday out of making cannoli shells for the holiday season, and then I come across this! I cannoli imagine! It hangs front and center! |
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| This was a gift, I believe, from a friend. An ornamental copy of the Dickens' book! |
So, in keeping with the Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" theme:
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| I honestly don't remember when and where I got this one, But since I'm a gigantic "Christmas Carol" fan, it was one I had to have. |
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| "Marley Head" is probably the first ornament Patty and I ever bought - it hung on our first Christmas Tree together, back in 1984, and does so through this very day! Luckily, it survived when our tree came crashing down a few years back~ |
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| Another piece of my Dickens ornament collection. I believe Scrooge is hearing chains clanging... |
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| "I wear the chains I forged in life..." |
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| Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim! |
When I bought the above three, they actually had the three spirits of past, present, and yet-to-come, but I couldn't afford them all...then I never say them again...sigh...they were bought at a tiny store called "A Dickens of a Place."
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| We got this one at the Holly Dickens Festival here in 2024. It's a silhouette of Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim burned into a pine tree trunk - after Scrooge had been reformed. And bottom left are a pair of wooden ice skates. |
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| Here is an ornament from the 1940s and was given to my wife as a gift! |
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| I believe my daughter may have made this during a Civil War reenactment we were participating in. It wasn't meant to be an ornament but, well, it's perfectly traditional! |
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| Another Greenfield Village ornament - a birds nest with eggs. |
Oh, we do have a few round bulbs on it, but it is mostly the odd decorations found in the more out-of-the-ordinary places that hang upon it. I suppose it's uniquely ours'.
At the Holly Dickens Festival there is entertainment and much to do throughout the day.
We sure did have a Dickens of a time enjoying the shopping and entertainment!
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| There's always something to look at - something that catches your eye. |
The world’s very first Christmas tree with electric lights was displayed in 1882 at the home of Edward Hibberd Johnson in the Murray Hill neighborhood of New York City.
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| Yes, we love the past, but our tree is lit with the electric lights, as most are in our modern day. "Not only did it glow with this innovative new form of illumination, this Christmas tree also spun around, revolving like a flashy new car at an automobile expo." ~~~Our tree does not spin around...~~~ “The tree was lighted by electricity and children never beheld a brighter tree or one more highly colored than the children of Mr. Johnson when the current was turned (on)... “It stood about six feet high, in an upper room, and dazzled persons entering the room. There were 120 lights on the tree, with globes of different colors, while the light tinsel work and unusual adornment of Christmas trees appeared to their best advantage in illuminating the tree." New York Times article from the period |
"Straight, in the middle of the room, cramped in the freedom of its growth by no encircling walls or soon–reached ceiling, a shadowy tree arises; and, looking up into the dreamy brightness of its top— for I observe in this tree the singular property that it appears to grow downward towards the earth—I look into my youngest Christmas recollections!
It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers; and everywhere sparkled and glittered with bright objects.
My thoughts are drawn back, by a fascination which I do not care to resist, to my own childhood. I begin to consider, what do we all remember best upon the branches of the Christmas Tree of our own young Christmas days, by which we climbed to real life.
And I do come home at Christmas. We all do, or we all should. We all come home, or ought to come home, for a short holiday—the longer, the better—from the great boarding–school, where we are for ever working at our arithmetical slates, to take, and give a rest. As to going a visiting, where can we not go, if we will; where have we not been, when we would; starting our fancy from our Christmas Tree!"
Taken from "A Christmas Tree"
by Charles Dickens
Speaking of Mr. Dickens:
Anyone who knows me knows I am a pretty big fan of Charles Dickens, and have been for years. I have read most of his books, and have seen nearly all of the movie versions of said books. Of course, "A Christmas Carol" is my all-time favorite of his stories. I also very much enjoy the movies made of this particular story (click HERE), but I do love the book. Original first editions of his works can sometimes run into astronomical prices, especially of "A Christmas Carol." I've seen first editions of this novelette from 1843 go for as low as $15,000 up to $60,000 - just a wee bit out of my price range (lol).
When "A Christmas Carol" appeared on December 19, 1843, it cost a whopping 5 shillings—about $41 in today's U.S. money. But the book was well received. Its initial print run of more than 6,000 copies sold out in just a week, and Dickens' reputation was revived.
The final product was bound in red cloth with gilt-edged pages, four full-color illustrations done by John Leech, and a beautiful decoratively festive spine.
As for me, after quite a search I'm excited to say that I found as near to an exact replication as anyone these days can find.
As it says in the preface:
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| "In the preparation of this edition of Dickens's wonderful story, every effort has been made to present an exact replica of the original edition... As far as is possible in these days all points as regards paper, type, illustrations, and binding have been faithfully adhered to." |
So you know I very much wanted to get a copy, seen in the above photo, and, in this picture, my Christmas tree is "brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers," just as Charles Dickens described.
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| Me and St. Nicholas at Waterloo~ |
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| Here I am at GFV (photo by Emily Marchetti) |
But that's not all I did over Thanksgiving weekend - - - click HERE to see my Greenfield Village adventures when a few of us spent a couple days - Friday and Sunday - there while in period clothing, roaming through 350 years of history.
Then, the very next weekend - Saturday, December 7, in fact - I took part in celebrating Christmas on the Farm at Waterloo Farm Museum, and three of us ---myself, Charlotte, and Norm---presented colonial Christmas practices inside the cabin. To see quite a few pictures and get a more in depth report, please click HERE.
The day after the Waterloo event my wife, my youngest son, and myself drove north to Holly to visit the Holly Dickens Festival.
What's the Holly Dickens Festival?
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| Welcome to the Holly Dickens Festival! |
This is where one can see the world of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" come to life before your eyes. Visitors might encounter Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, the ghost of Jacob Marley, and other infamous characters from the Dickens novelette. And it takes place in Holly, Michigan, a town which still retains its historic charm amongst 19th century buildings and houses.
This *free* festival takes place every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a fine way to kick start your holiday season. Much better than, say, shopping at Macy's or Walmart. And if you absolutely had to do some shopping, Holly has very unique, one-of-a-kind shops and antique stores. Again, much better than the major chain stores.
I personally had been a part of the Dickens Festival for over two decades, wearing many different hats (all top!): a chestnut vendor, a charity worker who asks Scrooge for money (and gets turned down!), a townsperson walking about the Victorian streets greeting visitors with my Liverpool accent (learned from watching Beatle movies), and even being Charles Dickens himself! But mostly by fronting the period vocal group, Simply Dickens. Well, last year - 2023 - was our final year as Simply Dickens. After 22 years, we ended it. And with that we ended our Holly Dickens Festival connection.
But...Patty & I went back as spectators this year and had a wonderful time, recognizing so many other long-time Dickensian folk/friends.
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| Many of the locals dress in Victorian-style fashions, even if they're not actually a part of the festival. |
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| But not everyone dresses Victorian: Beckie and Patrick dress the era they love to reenact: World War Two. |
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| I pulled out my 1944 Kodak for this picture! (okay---not really---but it sure looks like it!) I have reenacted the Civil War period with Beckie, and she sang in my vocal group Simply Dickens. When this girl gets involved with something, she puts her all into it. She certainly knows her history and sings like a bird. |
At the Holly Dickens Festival there is entertainment and much to do throughout the day.
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| Clark Lewis is an amazing juggler and balancer. |
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| Horse and carriage rides~ This group has been there the entire time I've taken part - since sometime in the 1990s. |
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| The Queen and her Court~ |
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| This guy on stilts walks around with mistletoe, cajoling folks to show some affection. |
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| I believe this is the Ann Arbor Consort. They seem to have been the replacement of Simply Dickens, for they do many of the things we did: sing in the streets, sing in stores, and possibly may also perform on the stage. They are good - I enjoyed listening to them. |
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| My friends: Ebenezer Scrooge, Knute Wales, Beckie, and Patrick. |
A couple days later, my daughter-in-law asked me if I was interested in joining she and her kids (my grandkids) on a sort of field trip to The Henry Ford Museum.
ummm...lemme think-yes!
The Henry Ford Museum is really like a Smithsonian. Check out the link---click HERE---I believe you just may agree.
Anyhow, I didn't take a ton of pictures on this trip with my family, but here are a couple of the more festive shots I took:
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| My three oldest grandkids |
The museum has a ginormous Christmas Tree set up, and often Santa will be there.
Sadly, no Santa for this visit.
But look at that tree!
So I had my grandkids do a pose for me.
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| My three oldest grandkids |
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| All five of my grandkids. |
As we were getting ready to leave, I snuck out the old entranceway. In fact, you may think I was in Philadelphia, but no---when Henry Ford built his museum back in 1929, he had an exact replication of Independence Hall made for the exterior - including a few small mistakes made in the original.
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| Not Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but Dearborn, Michigan. |
In fact, the lobby of the interior also replicates the original lobby in Philadelphia:
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| Tis the season... |
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| I've never been upstairs here. Methinks it would be amazing to see. |
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| That tree in the far distance is the same one my grandkids were standing and sitting next to a few photos back. This was taken from the lobby. |
While outside they have a Christmas Tree lot where one can actually purchase a tree, kissing balls, wreaths, and other greenery.
So, the captions beneath the next few photos I snatched off the internet. I didn't double check anything so, take it as a place to jump off in your own research---a sort of starting point:
Okay - - less than a week later and Patty & I, and our friends John and Susie found ourselves traipsing through Greenfield Village for their Holiday Nights event. It's been a few years since I went to this event before Christmas. In modern clothing especially. Normally I head out there after Christmas dressed colonial, and I am going to do that once again this year, but we just wanted to go and enjoy it for what it is, which can sometimes be difficult.
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| The first Christmas tree farm in the United States was established in 1901 by W. V. McGalliard in New Jersey. Before this, people would cut down trees from the forest, which led to deforestation. Today, Christmas trees are grown on farms in all 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii. |
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| The first retail Christmas tree lot in the United States was opened in 1851 by Mark Carr in New York. |
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| As you read earlier, we cut down our tree. But, if I didn't, this is probably where I'd come to get it. |
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| With "Independence Hall" in the background, it's just so...American! They should have a Betsy Ross flag waving!
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| Patty and I (on the right), and our friends John & Susie on the left. |
So there will be a blog post about my Christmas adventures at Greenfield Village coming up very soon - stay tuned.
On the evening of December 19, my wife and I went to a Christmas concert.
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| The ShamRock Jazz Orchestra is made up of East Detroit High School band alumni - all (except the singer) are graduates of East Detroit, some going as far back as graduating in the 1950s through the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and even early 2000s. And they are HOT. They crank up the old tunes, including Beatles, Chicago, Led Zeppelin, swing music, and for this show, Christmas music. |
Karen Newman is a Detroit girl who can sing, swoon, and croon with the best of them. Frankie Scinta is a proud Buffalo (New York) son of Sicilians and puts on a Vegas show.
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| See the guitar player on the right? That's Dave Sell - he & I went to school together from elementary school straight through graduation. He's the guy to thank for putting this band together. They are amazing! |
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| Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree... |
Normally, there is a Nonna (Patty) - grandchildren day spent baking Christmas cookies. Sadly, our grandchildren felt the illnesses that come along this time of year and did not come over for that. That's always a big thing around our house so it was sad that it didn't happen. Of course, my dear wife was pretty ill herself, being diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection, seemingly coughing up a lung, for she was really hacking.
Now, we do have our annual extended family Christmas party at my sister's, which is always a grand time. Again, sadly, neither my wife nor my grandkids (or their parents) made it due to the sickness going around.
However:
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| Three of my kids (and myself) made it! And this made me happy~ |
So, all of a sudden, I awakened and found out it was December 23!
Wait---what?
Wait---what?
When did that happen??
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| Our local baker was quite busy this December 23rd. But even I had to pick up some last minute baked goods - - - - |
I enjoy creating vignettes throughout the year, but none so much as those I make for Christmas. I'll see something in a historic home or a museum or sometimes even in a historical book and try to re-create it, but in my own way.
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| On the left is one of our manger scenes - it's about 75 years old and is the one my mother had when I was growing up. Her original got ruined over the years, so when I saw this in an antique store, I snatched it up right away. Then we have our St. Nicholas standing atop a wood crate with pumpkins and gourds grown in the cabin kitchen garden. Of course, there are candles on our Christmas Tree. |
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| On the other side of the room my wife's Christmas Cactus is blooming right on time, so I added a candle to accent the look. |
We have an annual Christmas Eve Breakfast – we've/I've been doing this for decades! Even before I met Patty - going back to Music Stop Days, then Record Outlet, then Record Time...then with friends, and Simply Dickens members...and still the tradition continues on with my family.
It's a great way to begin the day!
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| Whereas this all began by going to Big Boy's, now we go to the local National Coney Island restaurant. |
(From Wikipedia): A Coney Island is a type of restaurant that is popular in the northern United States, particularly in Michigan, named after the Coney Island hot dog.
We love it all-year-'round, but especially for Christmas Eve breakfast!
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| Just our family - my wife & I, our kids, and our grandkids. Still our tradition after all these years. |
So Christmas Eve evening was spent watching two Christmas movies:
Christmas Eve at the Giorlando Theater~
Tonight is a Christmas double feature.
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| My favorite filmed version~ |
Beginning with Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol.”
This 1984 George C. Scott version is, to me, probably the best of 'em all, (though I do really enjoy the Alistair Sim version from 1951 as well – my 2nd favorite).
The opening scene of this one from ‘84 literally grabs you and pulls you into the gray, wint’ry Dickens London on Christmas Eve day in 1843.
The viewer will feel as if they were walking down the cobblestone streets of Merry Olde England, passing the street vendors hawking their wares, and hearing the carolers and street musicians singing and playing that wonderful Victorian Holiday music. Top hats and bonnets abound as the crowd of people - rich and poor alike - rush to celebrate this most Holy of Christian nights. That is, all but one. And the first image of old Ebenezer Scrooge, played here to perfection by the late great George C. Scott, will send chills down the back of even the most ardent skeptic.
Just think...if the opening scene is this good, you can just imagine how great the rest of this movie is! Of all the different "Carols" that have been filmed, this is one of the best and most realistic I have yet to witness.
Gerald Charles Dickens, great great grandson of THE Charles Dickens, was quoted as saying, "The 'Carol' is 10 times more popular in America than it is in England. In England, the 'Carol' is just a story. In America the 'Carol' IS Christmas."
So what’s YOUR favorite movie version?
The 2nd movie in this double feature has also become an annual Christmas Eve watch for us: “Joyeux Noel.”
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| This movie for Christmas is tops! |
If anyone is interested in a Christmas movie that will stick with them for days after watching it, this is it. It is about the "Christmas Eve Truce" of 1914 during the Great War (World War I). The Christmas Truce took place in the far north-west of Belgium known as Yser Front (part of No Man’s Land), and it occurred on that Christmas Eve 110 years ago this year and continued into the following Christmas Day. It was at this time the soldiers themselves stopped the war for Christmas Eve. The Germans actually initiated it; the Brits went along. First the men gathered up the bodies of their fallen comrades and buried them; priests put on their white stoles and administered last rites to the dead. White crosses were erected and Scottish Highlanders played their bagpipes. Once the survivors completed the burial rituals, the men decided to celebrate the holiday with a soccer game. According to records, the Germans won the game. Then chocolates, wine, beer, and schnapps were shared by all. British and German soldiers crawled out of their trenches, shook hands, and sang Christmas songs together. Along with German and English songs, of course, 'Silent Night, Holy Night' also resounded across the ghostly tranquility of the battlefield.
One account mentions the "Scotsmen started the bagpipes".
This truce lasted 24 hours. Hard to believe it even happened. But the events are preserved with letters, journals, and diaries of those who experienced it all and also in war records.
When commanders of both armies heard about this outrageous peace transgression they made sure it would never happen again.
When we went to Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village, a WWI living historian/presenter was telling the visitors about this relatively little known historical action. And here it is, alive in a quality movie.
And here it is, being shown and told to us by a living historian:
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| This emotion-filled photo was taken by Knute Wales outside the WWI vignette at Cotswold Cottage during Holiday Nights 2023. The subject of the picture is John Sproul, who is "representing a Scottish soldier in 1914, telling the story of the Christmas truce." |
Thanks, Knute, for taking such a moving depiction of history.
It's award winning to me.
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| And my own picture of Mr. Sproul as he speaks of the 1914 Christmas Truce. |
As I mentioned in THIS post, Tom Kemper, is one of the longtime farmers who works mostly at Greenfield's Firestone Farm, caring for the livestock kept there year 'round, even on days such as Christmas when the place is totally empty. When he does this, he always takes a peaceful stroll throughout the Village, snapping shots of the historic houses on this holy day - this most wonderful day of the year. And on this Christmas morning, I awakened to find, on my computer, this:
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Daggett Farm House 7:45 a.m. 12/25/24 "I think there is a fire in the hearth." Thank you sir - - you have given me such a gift by such a simple act! Again, thank you. |
So...I remembered my mom telling me about her Christmas's in the 1930s. She was one of four girls at that time (another sister and a brother came along in the early 1940s), and the way their Christmas worked during those depression years was two of the girls would get a doll and the other two would get a carriage, and in that way the four would be forced to play together.
Can you imagine that happening today?
My how times have changed.
My how times have changed.
But even compared to today, my own Christmas gifts from the later 1960s and early 1970s were quite different. We would get two fun gifts (toys) and then clothes.
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| One of my all-time favorite gifts I received for Christmas 1968, and that was a record player. I searched on-line for one that looked like the one I had, but I cannot find it, though it wasn't too far off from this one. Now just give me some Beatle record albums, and I'll be all set. And, yes, I did get Beatles' records. |
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| Here's another toy I received in probably 1969 or 1970: Krazy Kar by Marx! You could race in it, smash into things, and spin in circles by keeping one wheel still and turning the other. I did this and spewed up a gutload of candy canes. lol |
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| I probably got Say It Play It in 1970. I loved this! It was my first step toward an actual full-length tape recorder. |
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| Another late sixties - or, perhaps 1970 - gift that I loved. Turning the crank, one could run the film fast or slow, forward or backward. All you had to do was put the film cartridge in - simple! |
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| This was a game for my brother and I - mid-to-late 1960s. I think we broke it by slamming our hands down too hard. I think most folks of my generation know this game. |
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This was another game for my brother & I, probably 1967 or '68.
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| What boy from my generation didn't get toy soldiers? It was almost a rite of passage. I played with these for literally hours. |
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| Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots (by Marx) Oh! The excitement of getting this toy! Oh! The even greater excitement of having your older brothers play it with you! Methinks I probably got this around 1971. |
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| Probably one of the absolute coolest toys I ever received. I was heavily into Hot Wheels and had amassed a large collection, but none were as cool as this! These cars zip around the track at a speed like no other. |
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| Okay, it's about 1972 and Ken the history nerd began to emerge - I wanted this game pretty much solely because it was an old Victorian House. I think I played this as an actual game only a few times - mostly I used it as a toy - a history toy. |
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| Another very popular toy. I think most of us in my generation received this at one time or another. And, no, I never burned myself - I was always careful. The smell was horrible! |
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| My first camera was a polaroid. I wanted my pictures instantly rather than having to take the film to the store and wait a week or two. So Christmas 1973 - I was 12 - found this under the tree. I believe my photography influence was from my awesome Uncle Marty - my dad's brother - who was always taking family pictures and movies. |
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Yeah...me in 1974. I was just learning how to play and I received an electric guitar for Christmas 1973 (a Japanese-made Teisco), and I thought it was the coolest). Step aside, Jimmy Page, ya got some competition! |
I wish I'da' kept mine...
Of course, we're all older and Christmas morning is a bit quieter for us...but by afternoon our kids and grandchildren all came over - - let the raucous begin!
Being that I'm a grandfather to five awesome grandchildren, I find it interesting in their wants here in the 21st century, such as video games and the like in comparison to my wants/gifts. However, we still buy our family things that at least have a hint of tradition in them such as Legos, a telescope, a woodburning set, and a Mario slot car set, among other things. We have an awesome hobby store near us and it's like a magical land of trains, dolls, cars, models - - all the things too many parents these days believe their kids wouldn't want. The thing is, these parents need to sit down with their kids and play, not set them up with a video game on the TV and walk away and not be bothered.
I'm proud to say my grandkids are all "hands-on" kinda kids. Who knows? Maybe a future Christmas I'll find a toy I once had to see if there is any interest - - -
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| Christmas morning~ |
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| Christmas afternoon~ |
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| Present time! |
I remember way back in the 1980s - 1984, to be exact - when my wife and I spent our first Christmas in our own place. We went to Frankenmuth, Michigan and purchased a load of Christmas decorations (such as the Marley Head shown earlier), including tree candles with holders. We clipped them on and they certainly looked pretty cool, giving our tree that Victorian touch. But that wasn't enough for me, so that was the first year I lit them. Having never seen such a thing before in person, I was awestruck by the beauty. So, every year since I've been lighting the candles on our tree. Now, you don't light them and walk away or leave them lit for longer than a few minutes - that's where the true danger comes in. Also, the candles must be placed very carefully upon the branches where there are no other branches (or dangling ornaments) too close - above or on the sides. And members of my family know just what to do in case anything happens.
So...here you are:
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| Christmas candles on the tree 2024 |
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| With the mess cleaned up, our Christmas feast would soon be ready. |
For our Christmas meal, we still enjoy turkey, stuffing - two kinds! - mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, vegetables such as broccoli & cauliflower & asparagus, cranberry sauce, and wash it all down with wassail!
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| Our roasted turkey cooked to perfection! |
Since I'm not much of a cook, one of my jobs, aside from cleaning the house, is to set the Christmas atmosphere by way of candles.
Burning a blaze of candles on Christmas Eve/Day by the colonists was a way to symbolize Christ being the light of the world. Candles as well as a Yule log. Since I have no real fireplace (yet), we'll stick with the candles.
And like on Thanksgiving, for dessert, the Sicilian...
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| And we use the candles made last year! |
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| My two-year-old grandson, Eli, eyes the apples, oranges, and rolls. |
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| Christmas dinner... |
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| ...cannoli! |
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| My family: here you see my wife & I, our four kids, our daughter-in-law, and our five grandkids. I love 'em every one! |
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| After everyone left and the house quieted down, my wife and I had our Christmas photo taken. One by the tree...
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So, that's my documented 2024 Christmas for my family. All of my family - my children, my grandchildren, my siblings, my nephews & nieces, grandnephews & nieces - we have the Christmas spirit within us. We celebrate with gatherings, food, and gifts. Our conversations stay away from devisive topics, for the most part. Any sort of political argument isn't going to change minds - it never does - so we stay away from it.
And we have a merrier Christmas in doing so.
Yes, Christmas Day has come and gone, but Christmas time and gatherings continue. Over the next three weeks you will see Christmas celebrations of a more historical nature: Greenfield Village in colonial times, Civil War Christmas party, and our 18th century 12th Night gathering.
Until next time, see you in time.
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