Spirits of Christmas past

I am sure some of you find it way to early to be thinking about Christmas. Some of you maybe just about to celebrate your Thanksgiving. Well for me Thanksgiving is over, Halloween has past and it's time to dust of the winter/holiday decorations and bring in the Winter Solstice. Some of you maybe gearing up for the long journey home to celebrate the holidays with family and friends near and dear. Some of us are just realizing how Santa is coming to town sooner than we thought and haven't got a single thing done! Have no fear, some how things get done, just enjoy the season for what it is. The end of a great year, and the start of a fresh new one! It's a time of reflection on the lessons we've learned, and some we are still working on.

So today the spirit of the season over took me and I just went with it. No plan or agenda. I went down to the basement and dragged up our three containers of decorations. I had no idea I even owned that much stuff! As I start going through things I realized how much of it has so many great memories attached. Right down to our artificial tree. As I lugged the long heavy box up the stairs, I remembered the day Paul and I got it. It was our first Christmas (2007) as a married couple. We didn't own a car and were living in Chicago, in a rather small one bedroom apartment with Miss Kitty. We decided it was a better idea to get a fake tree as we were worried with Paul's allergies the real deal might make him miserable in our tight quarters. Off to Target we walked. At this point we didn't have a plan as to how we were going to get the tree home. The walk there took about 30 minutes and with a 7 foot tree in the snow that might prove to be challenging. So we did what people without cars in a city do. We got on the bus! LOL! Here we were on the bus going down Lawrence Ave with our Christmas tree in tow! That turned out to be the easy part. Once we got back to our apartment we had to get it up the three story walk up. Goodtimes. Paul left me to put it together while he went to work. It took me 4 hours to assemble it, as I had to colour code the branches and shape them. Fortunately I had years of practice as I grew up with artificial trees. My step-dad had our tree for years and the paint wore off the branches so you had to figure it out by measuring it! LOL!

This morning as I was going through my containers, Paul turns on the Christmas music, and on comes Bing Crosby's White Christmas which always reminds me of the grandad. He would sing that song every year and put the album on his record player which you were never allowed to touch, as he belted out the words. I find these streamers I forgot I had bought last year when I found them by chance in a costume store and they were marked down to $1. I bought all they had. Again childhood comes flooding back. My step-dad decorated every single inch of our house in different coloured streamers at Christmas. He would always wait until I was asleep and start it, so I would wake up surprised the next day. Mum would help him by handing him the tacks and decorating the bathroom, that was her job and the island counter in the kitchen which would become the bar over Christmas and she would decorate it as a giant present. Yes, my family really got into the holidays. You know the funny thing is, I remember those moments so clearly, not so many of the gifts that you got or didn't get. It was about having the quality time with the family. Spending hours testing the lights and changing bulbs and being ready to run to Canadian Tire for more bulbs if we ran out or extra streamers if one ripped from the year before.

Then there was our Christmas Eve tradition. Every Christmas Eve my Step-Dad would wake me up, the only time he ever woke you up unless you were late for  school. We would go out early in the morning and get stocking stuffers for Mum and last minute gifts usually of kitchen gadgets and perfume. The smell of Chanel No5 reminds me of both of them to this day. Then when we got home I had to wrap everything and get ready for candy duty. This was the best part! Dad would get about 15 baskets and fill them with red and green napkins and then load them with candy. All kinds of candy! Then place them on the coffee table and end tables with bags of chips and crackers and anything you requested he would be sure to have out for you. Every one's favorite candy, nut or cracker was accounted for. Then on Boxing Day it was open house, or "Candy Party" day as it became know as later on. Family and friends would come over and see what Santa brought for you and eat all the candy and goodies. He loved this, it was cool to see him sit back and take it all in. He would always make sure he was off that day, to spend Candy Party Day with everyone.

While I was decorating today I came across some old photos of Christmas' past, and made sure some of the traditions carry on today.

Danny (Stepfather) with my niece Kristian who is now a teenager!

A shot of some of the streamers. He only smoked once a year and it was always a cigar.

Our place today. In the background our "Mini" Bar.