Christmases of Yore

I don't know why, but sometimes when I listen to Christmas music, I get flashbacks of Christmases of yore. And so I thought I'd share a few...

Helping the Boy Scout Troop (of which Brad was a part) selling Christmas trees on Albrook AFB in Panama. Outside for hours. Bored. And it wasn't cold at Christmas time in Panama. So I was also sweaty. And a teenager. You can imagine the complaining :).

Having the day off of work from Troy and putting up the Christmas decorations on Veteran's Day. That is the earliest I think I've ever decorated (or my family, for that matter). But that was the year we were coming to Washington for Thanksgiving, so I figured that would give us a few extra days to enjoy the Christmas feeling. And it was nice, to tell the truth.

HLML Christmas party in the community room -- potluck -- with gift wrapping of Angel Tree presents afterwards. And shopping for those Angel Tree presents, for that matter. I remember going with a few other library folk one year and picking out presents at Wal-Mart (could there be any other place for our shopping needs!?!) I'm pretty sure we took Big Blue the station wagon, too...

Christmas Decorating Day in Panama. This was the day we got the tree (if we opted for real) or put up the artificial tree. And we decorated. The tree always stood in the same general area. Slightly to the right of the living room air conditioner. Some years we would put out the little village with Christmas lights that would make them light up. Some years we wouldn't. But we always pulled out all the Christmas boxes from the walk-in closet. (That walk-in closet is a memory for another time... But that little room was awesome. There were treasures in there, let me tell you. Treasures in my own house...). And we always put up my mom's special crystal ornaments. And I think this day is the reason Christmas music makes me think of this day. Because out would come the Christmas music. Records for the first several years of my life (and memory). And then CDs as the years went on. Never much of the cassette tapes, except in the car. (And mostly from that I remember a song with someone screeching 'I wanna bicycle!' and hearing that from the way back of the Pinto...). But always on Christmas Decorating Day my mom would put on Christmas music the whole day. Some days I wish I could go back and drink it all in.

Sleeping on the futon mattress in front of the Christmas Tree. And being woken up in the morning by the mailman delivering last-minute Christmas gifts we had ordered.

I think it's true what Oscar Wilde said: "Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us." Because these are certainly written on my heart forever.