Christmas Past rewind

 Christmas Past, the title of a 2012 blog. I'm reposting it because it really shows my childhood Christmas in St. Louis MO in 1953

... to share some thoughts and pictures from my earlier life.  Can't post a picture of Christmas in the future anyway.  So lets enjoy the past.

In 1953 our tree was real (it may have been about the time artificial trees came out, but not for us)  I loved the colored lights (all different colors, big bulbs) and the tinsel which was strung carefully, one by one.
My gifts are on the right...and I don't know what the boxes contain, but there's definitely an orange in my stocking (lying next to my Betsy McCall doll).  I remember Betsy McCall paper dolls which I'd cut out of McCall's magazine.  The real doll was a disappointment, but I don't remember why, the capricious nature of a young girl of 11.  I did learn how to play a simple form of dominoes (right there in front).

This was taken a month before Christmas, our apartment is on the second floor, reached by the porch to the right.  I remember how snow was beautiful for about an hour in St. Louis in 1953, then the coal dust settled on it, making it all grey.  We had to be quick to enjoy playing in it.  Of course it was nice to have a coal furnace to keep us warm.  Our Texas blood (and probably clothes) made us cold easily.

The best place to sled was Art Museum Hill, though there was a lake at the bottom, and we always were scared we'd tumble into it at the end of the long hill (though it might have been iced over.)  My Dad was the pusher to get us going, I don't think he tried to ride down with us.  But he may have come and rescued us and pulled the sleigh back up the hill (probably).

And in 2016 I had another Christmas blog post HERE.

My friend, Teresa's decorations in 2016! The ceramic tree sitting on the table on the left was one I made. I wonder what happened to it...well, we can all guess!

 Goddesses of the Dark given by women at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley in 2016, choir and a play!

"Train Station at Christmas” by Norman Rockwell (1944)

I remembered train stations, but not the porters! Where did they all go?

Today's quote:

When we begin to hold our markers for success in concepts like interconnectedness and kindness, when we place our highest value on each other, our children and our relationships, then our human spirits soar.

JAMES ARANA

Reading;

"The Last Bookshop in London," by Madeline Martin.

I listened to the audio version, and it was an experience which worked for me, putting it aside when I was busy, then picking it up later...easy enough to catch what was happening. 

Why did I enjoy reading about the Blitz before and after when London was bombed and so many people and structures were lost? It hit a chord for all that has happened where I live, western North Carolina as a result of the catastrophic storms ending with Hurricane Helene.

For me, every day on Facebook are shots of people who have been un-homed receiving a tiny home, or a camper. There is so much gratitude being expressed, but these people have endured such destruction and trauma. They have gone through something that was an immediate catastrophe, while those 1940 Londoners had long months of being bombed by the Germans. But the survivors had a similar human experience...that of helping each other even by those who weren't expected to, that of looking out for others by everyone, that of going beyond what any human could be expected to do, and that of having a spirit of hope when faced with such doom.

Wonderful old Christmas Carols on a repeating cycle

Today on my other blog: Open Yesterday's Pages:

Frank Borman and Jim Lovel

and

Louis Pasteur

and

Radio City Music Hall