Finally Decorating the Tree

We decorated our tree about two weeks later than usual. December seemed to be even more front-loaded than usual this year. Am I the only one who thinks people think they need to plan something early before people get "busy" only to find that everyone has planned their stuff early...so then we are all REALLY busy...then it slows down approaching Christmas? Maybe in the US, people need to do that because people travel for Christmas, but here, people rarely travel for Christmas. It seems that if they want to go home, they want to do it in the summer when they don't have to rush right back. Anyway, just an observation.



It was a lovely afternoon with the family.



We watched "A Christmas Story" while we worked.

Gorgeous. Coree doesn't like my patriotic twist. She says the streamers should be red, white and green because those are the colors of Christmas. She says there's no blue in Christmas. I tell her the tree is green...that's green enough. If I put red, white and green streamers up, people would think I was going for a Mexican theme. In Japan. On a US military base. People would talk.
(Love ja, MEH-hee-ko...Feliz Navidad!)


I get super-sentimental over Christmas ornaments, anyway, but this year, particularly so. I swear, I remember who gave us each and every ornament, and I always think of the giver (or the occasion I bought it for, if I bought it) when I hang them on the tree.



I had forgotten I'd be unwrapping this one. It's simple enough, but this one is very special. April made it for us with her older daughter years ago. I love to unwrap it every year, and I always think of her...but this year it was another reminder that she's gone. I'm especially glad I have this reminder of her now, though...it will be treasured...just like the ornaments Cliff's grandma gave us over the years.



Here's another that made me weepy. I knew I'd be opening this one, though...



And then this one...which seems especially fitting now, with its halo and wings.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Parenthood

We had a little family gathering planned that night, so we called on our way home from Zion to give Uncle Neal the OK to order the pizza and alert the local family so they could convene at Grandma's. The St. George area has the highest concentration of family for me...with grandparents, mom, asst. aunts, uncles and cousins. It's a pretty sweet place.


Speaking of cousins...these two are second cousins. Dax and Evey. Evey was really digging Dax. They are only days apart. Ten, I believe. Who would guess?


I think my grandparents were in heaven with so many of their progeny around them.



It was noisy...



Full of laughter and assorted conversations...



Sometimes involving everyone...



Sometimes several smaller ones going on at the same time.



I found myself wanting to hear everything that was going on as not to miss any of it.



Then I got this glimpse of my grandparents...and it took my breath away...



I just kept watching them...watching their smiles, the occasional squeeze of each others' hands...watching them take in everything that was going on around them. They seemed to take such joy in just watching all of us interact. And I envied them. Yes, their bodies are starting to fail them. They don't have the energy they once did...but oh, what a legacy they have. Sixty-five years of being madly in love. Sixty-five years of being goodly parents...and grandparents...and on and on. Has it been a bed of roses? They've buried a child...one of six...in her twenties, who died after having given birth to her third child in four years...and then several years later, had to bury one of that daughter's children who died an accidental death as a teen. They've watched their children and grandchildren hurt, from divorce, infant death, health troubles, mistreatment and other struggles. They've endured financial hardship, betrayal...the list goes on. But all of that, I'm sure pales in comparison to the good stuff. Here I was, watching them savor "the good stuff." It reminded me of the movie, Parenthood, with Steve Martin...like the scene when his grandmother compares life to a rollercoaster...or in the end, in the hospital waiting room, when he finally gets the analogy. There is so much truth to it. Some days, as tempting as the merry-go-round may seem...I wouldn't trade away the thrill of the rollercoaster. I was grateful to my grandparents this night, for that reminder. I love them so much.



Stay tuned for another several decades...it's bound to get exciting! ;^)

Flashback Friday...Movies, Independence and Nostalgia

(Wow...look what I found! Proof that it is still there.)

Don't you just love reading something, or having a conversation that causes you to take an unexpected walk down Memory Lane? I do. I was reading about Damaris's first movie memories. I hadn't really thought too much about my own...until I started thinking about it, that is.

Very first of all, I remember being a pre-schooler and playing on the playground, at the drive-in, in my pajamas, with the other kids (also in their pajamas), waiting for it to be dark enough for the movie to start. (Ahhh, the 70s!) As of a couple years ago at least, the drive-in and playground in Santee still stood. {I wonder if kids still go in their PJs? I wonder if people still pop their popcorn on the stove at home and bring it...in brown paper grocery bags, delicious with butter spots...just like we did?} The only movie I can remember specifically is The Apple Dumpling Gang, but we did this a lot, so I know there were more...but I was really young. I do remember going in my dad's pickup truck, though. And riding in the bed of the truck, all the way there. {Yep...we did that in the 70s, too...because bad stuff never happened.}

We moved to a small town in East San Diego County for a few years (Lakeside). They had an old theater downtown, and during the summer, they showed a Disney-type, kids' matinee every week. My mom would drop off my brother and me (we were like 8 and 10) with money for the movie and some candy every week. I remember Escape to Witch Mountain, The Gnome Mobile, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...but most of all, I remember the sense of adventure and independence. Those were the days! I know the old Lakeside theater is closed, though...because it didn't stay open past those first couple of magical summers (of our time there, anyway...it had been around a long time before that). Guess they didn't charge enough for the candy. I think it was vacant for some time, and then it became a church. I wonder if the building still stands? Probably not. It's probably a Super Wal*Mart by now.

One final, childhood, movie memory worth mentioning. ET. It came out the year we moved to Utah. {Tough time in the life of my family of origin, incidentally. We moved to an even smaller town...an oilfield town, which also had an old, quaint theater.} I went to see ET with my brother, Jimmy. (You know, the sentimental one from my previous post?) Anyway, he bawled through the whole ending. I probably did, too...but mostly I remember looking over to my left at him, repeatedly wiping at his emotion-twisted face with his sleeve, and thinking, "Wow, this is really eating him up." Not your typical 14 year old boy, for sure. Which is one of the things that makes him so special. I didn't say anything to him about it, we just pretended it wasn't happening. {I probably saved it to tease him later. Don't know for sure, but I'm guessing...knowing how valuable that ammo would have been. We loved each other, but hey...we were still siblings.}

Thanks for reading along, while I'm trying to get my blogging feet wet again. I'm feeling better about being here, so stay tuned for more. I would LOVE to read about your early movie memories, if you care to share. Happy summer!

{image}