Friday, December 4, 2009

Sweet Christmas Memories



Beverly at How Sweet the Sound has asked us to share a favorite childhood Christmas memory. When I began thinking about this the other day, this story came to my mind immediately.

I am the youngest of four girls (no boys) and to make it even more interesting, I am 10 years younger than the next sister, 12 years younger than the one before that and my eldest sister was 16 when I was born. Needless to say, I was a bit spolied at Christmas! (I know, hard to believe, but true)



At Christmas-time I loved getting our tree and decorating it. I was never allowed to put on the tinsel (the sinlge strands that came in a flat box) My oldest sister Barbara, was quite the perfectionist! She put the tinsel on, one strand at a time! Oh my gosh, that did not work for me...We always had to wait until dad got home from work to decorate the tree because he ALWAYS put the lights on it. They were those colored bulbs that were about an inch wide and an inch and a half tall...no blinking either. And the paint would chip off and eventually we had a lot more clear ones than colored...LOL

Anyway, I decided that I would surprise everyone and have the tinsel already on the tree when they all got home. I diligently started placing the strands on one string at a time. And it seemed like hours had gone by and I still had almost all of the box of tinsel still left, so I decided to just a few at a time. Surely, they would not be able to tell....Well, after I emptied all four boxes of tinsel in clumps all around the bottom two feet of the tree (that was as high as I could reach) I stepped back to admire my work! I was so proud of myself....until everyone came in and said..."BECKY! What have you done?" My sisters were so disgusted because I had ruined the tree and I was about to cry when my dad said it was the most beautiful tree we had decorated in a long time...Then he winked at my sisters to keep them from pointing out exactly how bad the tree actually looked.

I miss my dad most at Christmas! It was his favorite holiday and he delighted in torturing us while he SLOWLY ate his dinner before we could open our presents on Christmas Eve...LOL He always had to have that one last cup of ever so large a coffee...

I really miss that silver tinsel, do they even still make it? Hmmmm, I will have to see if I can find it...



Anyway, thanks for visiting me on Pink Saturday. And don't forget to check out all the other Pink Saturday blogs by clicking here. God Bless you all ~ Becs

11 comments:

♥Mimi♥ said...

On this first Saturday of December ♥Jappy Pink Saturday♥. I was away for a while and sure missed running around the blogs arnd seeing all of the goodies everyone was sharing.

I think the silver tinsel was full of lead - nope, they don't make that anymore☺

Thanks so much for making my morning so much fun. Hoping that you and those you care about spend a wonderful weekend making memories that will last a lifetime☺

Claudia said...

I love the tinsel memory! Your Dad sounds wonderful. Our tree decorating was always a bit stressful because my Dad wanted one strand of tinsel at a time, and I had no patience for it. Of course, he just sat there in his recliner trying to orchestrate everything! Happy Pink Saturday!

Ginger said...

Becky
What a wonderful memory. Bless your Daddy's heart, he sounds onery. I can just see your tree, how cute. I cannot decorate a tree to this day without putting the icicles on it like you describe. Only now they are plastic instead of the heavy metal ones they used to have. (They were probably lead!LOL) Becky I put your ornies in the mail yesterday. Hope you enjoy.

Ginger

Country Wings in Phoenix said...

Happy Pink Saturday Sweetie...
I love the pink post memory that you have shared today. I too remember that silver tinsel they made, and the lights that chipped, do you remember the bubble lights that we had as kids? I would watch those for hours. I actually bought some for our tree just for the memories.

Thank you for sharing your memory today sweetie. Please stop by and let me share my pink post with you. I think you will love it.

Country hugs...Sherry

Mollye said...

Hi Becky, Loved your story. Made me smile and I know you're missing your Dad. Yep they do still make the tinsel but like Ginger said it is not the same stuff. I did however want it this year and bought 3 boxes. Well I ended up taking every last strand off the tree because it did not work like it had when I was a child. I did though end up putting it out over the garland around the windows. Half a box. Boy that stuff goes a loooooooong way doesn't it. Hugs, Mollye

Betty said...

Awww...that was a sweet memory! Your dad sounded like quite a character!
Happy Pink Saturday!

Anonymous said...

Hi Becs! I was never allowed to put the tinsel on the tree after the year my brother and I put it on in globs...LOL!!! We thought it looked good though. Thank you for sharing that story, it's nice to hear other bloggers memories...Have a nice weekend friend!!! Hugs, Jennifer

Grace said...

My sister-in-law loves tinsel so much! She had to give it up about 6 years ago. Now I went to a store and saw some I should buy her some...I think my neices would kill me ok maybe not. LOL! Thanks for sharing Hugs Grace

Fandango Moon said...

Cute story! Pretty ornaments too. Thank you for sharing it and Happy Pink Saturday!

P.S. Love the music you play ;-)

Char said...

Oh Becky, you made me cry for joy at the beautiful story of love and family. Your father was a wonderful man and you could feel the love when you told your memory. I would imagine your sisters would be quite upset with you, girls seem to be that way for what ever reason. I never had a sister, I have a brother, 7 yrs younger than I, and that's a lot when you are young, not so much anymore. I bet you do miss your dad this time of year and it's hard, but you are left with great memories of a loving family and those can never be taken away from you. Happy Pink Saturday sweetie, Char

Mary Bergfeld said...

Your Dad must have been a wonderful guy. Thanks so much for sharing your Christmas memory with us. I hope you are having a wonderful day and are looking forward to the holiday ahead.