Ghosts of Christmas Past

Christmas is not a happy, joyous time for everyone.  I've been trying to write this blog for two weeks now and this is as far as I've gotten.  So, the hell with it.   I'll just post the pictures and I'll tell the rest of the story another time.

Last year, brother Jim brought me a few boxes from the attic at home.  I accepted them gratefully but put them up in my attic and thought I'd process this gift next year, which is now this year.  Christmas used to be a big deal in my family.  Here are the boxes that Jim brought over.

My Dad was a big believer of leaving instructions!  As you can tell, this is the box of old tree trimmings.  I asked the brothers if they wanted anything from the box, and Cathie took home with her what she wanted the last time she was here.  The rest of the box is mine now!  The second box:

You gotta love my Dad!  Nothing left to chance.  This box contained the Nativity set that my brother and his wife made for my parents shortly after they were married.  I always loved this set.  Here was Dad's note on the box and here was Mom's two cents worth.

It's a weathered note but it does say that the set was being passed to me, and the trimmings are to be split amongst us kids.  See?  This is how easy it is when you're poor!  There were a few pictures in the house that my Mom put notes on years ago for when she and my Dad passed away, who she wanted to have the pictures.  This Nativity set was also marked.   Gotta love her.

In case you missed the note on the outside of the box, here was a note that Dad wrote that was just inside of the box.

Overkill was my Dad's middle name!

By the way, here is the "new" newspaper in the box.  Yeah, this has been in Jim's attic for a long time!

I knew opening these boxes wasn't going to be easy but thinking of them in my attic actually put the bug in my butt that I wanted to get my very first Christmas tree.  After all, now I had something to put ON the tree as well as under it.   I bought a tree and waited for the right weekend to finally set it into place.

Ron and Phil helped put the tree together, then I started opening the boxes.  It was an emotional day but it was worth it, I guess.

Opening the box of trimmings was not easy.  Putting the tree up every year was one of the things that my Dad and I did together every year.  He's put the artificial tree together, and string the lights.  Remember, I go back to the days where the artificial trees did NOT have the lights built right into them.  After the lights were on, Dad and I would put all of the trimmings on the tree.  I did look forward to this night every year.

When I was unpacking the trimmings, each and every bulb brought back a memory.  I remembered each and every bulb.  Ok, they are older now, and the tops and hooks are a bit rusted.  But I used them anyway and cried over each and every one!  Here are the old trimmings:

This one was my all time favorite.  I looked forward to hanging this one in a place of honor every year.  This one was always at eye level right in the front.  I always loved this one.

And more from our past:

 

And, I went out and brought some new trimmings for MY tree.

Cathie sent me one from her tree!

Another new one for me.  I went with a little bling this hear.  These snowflakes are covered in glitter.

And here is what you get when you put it all together:

I was very happy with how this turned out.  I'm jiggy with it.

The 14 pieces of the Nativity set were all found intact and set out!

I see now that I missed a few characters in this picture.  There is one more sheep and a camel that didn't make the picture.  Hey, they must have gone for a walk!  Trust me, they are there!

The cats love the tree!  I have had all three of them under there individually and together.  So far, a few sheep have gotten knocked over and one of the new non-breakable ornaments have been knocked off.  All things considered, I'm pretty happy with how the cats have done with the tree.

I couldn't ask for better presents than Benny and Ava, under my tree!

Since I'm talking of the ghosts of Christmas past, I took these pictures a few days after I put the tree up.  I was just trying to take a decent daytime shot of the tree where you could see all of the ornaments without the lights on.

I took the first picture and as soon as the image came up on the screen, I could see the large shadow in the bottom left corner.  I took the second picture seven seconds later, no shadow.  I don't know what caused the shadow but I can tell you I don't think it was me or my finger.  It's too big to be a cat.

If it was a ghost of my past, thanks for stopping by, you all have been on my mind.

To the rest of you, Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate, or don't celebrate.  May we all have the strength to get through this very difficult time.