Christmases Past

Just a few days ago, it was NOVEMBER.

And guess what comes after November?

That’s right. Say it with me. December.

The most wonderful, but also the most hectic month of the year.

Just between us? 

I'm done with hectic and elaborate, as I've avowed in previous holiday blogs. 

Right now, I'd just love to kick back and reminisce as I decorate with tried-and-true ornaments from yesteryears. I thought it might be fun if I showed you snippets of how it was.

Here's an angel, one in a set of ten polyethylene figures from Walgreen's made to look like stained-glass. 

Chicago: Christmas 1973

Almost a-year-old First Daughter (below), all dressed in white, a crown of silver tinsel on her hair, and a pair of foil-covered wings looked like an angel herself as she hung the baubles on our "Christmas tree," an indoor rubber plant potted in a red plastic bucket.

It was our first Christmas away from the homeland.

When Second Daughter came along, we were complete as a family (below, right). Again, the rubber plant, now laden with tinsel, stood in for a "Christmas tree." 

Chicago: Christmas, 1974

I had enough pocket money to do a mail-order of custom brass-plated ornaments, one for each of us, from an American catalog merchant. Woohoo!

Kissing Couple ornament

Alena angel ornament

Iris doll ornament

 

Chicago: Christmas 1975

The following year was a momentous would-have-been optical disaster for our annual Christmas photo.

As Eldest Daughter said it, Ay, kakow!

She had chopped off her bangs, but  my eyeliner pencil came in handy for drawing in the needed length.

Same tree here, this time more extravagantly adorned with family ornaments and Christmas balls. 

Broadway UMC: Christmas Pageant, 1976

The following year, I think we made star ornaments by wrapping cardboard pieces in foil, but what sticks out in my mind was the children's nativity pageant when First Daughter significantly made her debut as one of the furry-flocked lambs.

She was the reticent one who, with Second Daughter, decided to simply peer at Baby Jesus from afar, behind the chancel's railing.

When the girls were old enough to tackle more complex crafts, I thought, Hello, handmade holiday.

I was sure they could paint pre-cut set of wood ornaments from K-Mart.

Eldest Daughter finished her set in time for Christmas that year. Four-year-old Second Daughter took a couple of years to finish hers. 

But who cares? In a world of sameness and store-bought, nothing says from the heart more than something created with one's hands.

I think we may have bought our first real pine tree when we moved to our new Phoenix home a couple of years after. 

We made Ojo de Dios (Eye of God) ornaments using cotton swabs and yarn for decor.

Phoenix: Christmas 1978

Growing up, Second Daughter showed an interest in really big projects. Here's a latch hooked Santa Rug (right) which she started in her early teen years and completed when she graduated from college - just kidding!

So, here it is.

The dining table in our house now...

... all decorated for Christmas (below, right).

Hanging underneath the centerpiece advent candles are the tiny trinkets that bring so many memories.

Photo, V.E.V., December 2020

So many hours of joy.

So many milestones.

From me to you,

I'm sending you 

this treasury 

of our

Christmases past.