Christmas Memories - 1

Beginning today, I am going to describe personal, nostalgic memories of Christmas traditions, both in my personal life, or told to me my persons in my life of 73 years. Some days may have more memories or others, but my personal intent is seven memories per week through Dec. 31.

My family has destroyed untold 1000s of photos, mostly by my shutterbug Mother; there are few remaining photos. We siblings simply had no storage as we have much smaller homes. I have had to do the same due to severe allergies to dust, mold and mildew.

Because I am somewhat behind, I will list 10 today.

1. My parents loved being Santa Claus and could hardly wait for their children faces when we first viewed the gifts Santa had magically left while we slept. Therefore Christmas morning started at 4- 5 a.m. with a mandatory breakfast.

I loved it as I was an early bird, anyway. Even when the magic of Santa faded into reality, we bowed to my love of early breakfast on Christmas morning. I continued the tradition into my marriage for a number of years, until I realized how much more my husband enjoyed arising much, much later.

2. My first Christmas gift from my husband was Penguin chrome ice bucket, which I still have and occasionally use, despite have ice maker and dispenser available. It still works great. In the 60s instant ice cube makers and dispensers were not standard equipment on refrigerators.

3. We had turkey, ham or occasionally roast beef on Christmas Day, and usually Dad's special cornbread dressing. To date, nothing compares to his cornbread dressing. According to him, he learned to make it from his mother. He passed it on to me, but since early cooks were not, "measure" scientifically written recipe enthusiasts, its approximate proportions of cornbread to dried bread, turkey or other broth, etc. do not compute into the taste I remember from my childhood. I suspect there is magic in the fact Dad made it, in my memory.

4. Christmas Eve we put the treats out for Santa. We had a fireplace with gas logs which heated our large living room. We extinguished the logs so Santa would not be treated to a hot seat upon arrival!

5. The chimney had a metal plate loosely affixed to the lower opening, since ventilation was not required for gas logs. The wind often rattled the plate. Mother convinced us it was Santa's notice of pending arrival.

6. Dad once said his Christmases were so much less materialistic than ours. He and his 7 siblings were excited to have apples, oranges and a few pecans in their Christmas stockings.

7. Mother was raised by 2 old maid aunts. Her mother died the week after her birth from the uremic disorder which often followed childbirth, before prevention became available. Her father was an itinerant soldier and/or carpenter so relatives basically took care of his only child. The aunts moved from Kansas to Texas when she was quite small, to be near other kinsmen.

Although the aunts were relatively poor, all the relatives doted on her. One aunt took in washing and ironing. The other aunt worked in a dry goods store, and took in sewing. I remember she had dolls and stuffed toys, often handmade.

8. Besides Santa, we had a few gift-wrapped, less expensive presentsto unwrap; gift tags were from our parents. The transition to these wrapped gifts being our "main" gifts, was probably their method of transitioning Santa to the revelation of who really bought and brought those gifts.

9. As we grew older we saved our small allowance, sometime augmented by a few dollars from parents, to buy gifts for our family unit.

10. My greatest disappointment was realizing Santa was my parents. Today this revelation usually gets hashed to death on the school ground in kindergarten or first grade. However, in my day, you usually made it to about the 4th grade before either school yard banter, parents or both, revealed the truth.

The Christmas tree was located at various spots in our huge living room. One year it was placed in a corner which abutted my bedroom. Those of you who have followed my blog know I regularly fake sleep and naps. I actually have always had trouble falling asleep.

This Christmas Eve was no exception. The excitement stimulus of Christmas kept me awake. Our parents checked to see if we were asleep; as usual, I was faking it.
I heard the rustle and bustle of placing the toys under the tree; one doll cried. I KNEW. I kept the secret for a year or two, so as not to disappoint my siblings. Then my Mother took me aside and told me, but requested I not share, so my brother and sister could enjoy Santa. This is one secret I kept, because I vividly realized the immediate disappointment in knowing the truth.

Of course I later recognized Santa as a seasonal tradition of the Spirit of giving.

Photo: internet. Several Penguin ice buckets are for sale on e-Bay, if interested. Despite my item's age, it ain't worth much more than when it was purchased.

FOTO FRIDAY

Today I have a simple lesson in salvaging a photo. I recently attended a seminar on digital photography given by a photographer making a living in landscape photography, and anything else like seminars for income.

One jewel of information that was given in answer to a question, the question point of which I've forgotten, was NEVER THROUGH AWAY DIGITAL IMAGE because you may find a way to use it creatively, in teaching, or just practice with your photo editing programs.

As we've made many trips over nearly 30 years to Little Rock, AR, we passed a lot of beautiful vistas, rural scenes and life unique to Arkansas. One shot is an eye-catching barn north of Marshall, AR located in a pasture near US 65 on a dangerous, narrow curve. In trips some 20 years ago the barn had a dilapidated more picturesque look, but now a new roof has been added.

There is no shoulder to safely pull over and take a photo, without a very long and somewhat dangerous walk on the edge of the highway.

As passenger, not driver, with my point-and-shoot Canon, I have taken a "out of the front car window" shot the last few trips to Little Rock.

Today I decided to "play around" with my photo-editing program, PhotoImpact Pro v.13 (I have recently purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 but not yet learned it). One tip given is to not attempt to use every feature of artistic endeavor on one picture.

This photo is the best of several shots and trips. The last one, a beautiful red pickup drove into my viewfinder obscuring all but the roof line.

Below (in order) is the "straight out of the camera shot #1 which is very blurred.

The second is an attempt to software focus correction. Ssoftware focus feature,which is a complicated mystical mathematical formula, can be repeated to the point of unpleasant visible pixelization. I stopped just short of visible pixelization, but there is a tad there if enlarged. I saw no noticeable improvement in focus.

The third attempt I gave up on focusing, went back to #1, made some lighting, contrast and color enhancements, and then applied a creative technique which looks like rain. Rainfall often makes a scene appear soft and out of focus.

If I continued to work on it, I would tint the sky a darker shade of gray to emphasize the rain. It was a very dull day light-wise. A day I call losing the light, better described as no light, meaning sunlight.

I might do some to really far-out techniques of which create certain kinds of art, like watercolor, oil or Impressionist paint, etc. or I might make the "rain" lines not quite as "thick." All of these techniques are available in medium to advanced Photo Editing programs.

Lastly in keeping with my infatuation with the Twelve Days of Christmas is one of many parodies on the song. I've read it before and laughed, but as my best friend said, and I myself thought as I read it again, it is not so funny in our current economic slow-down, as similar decisions are being made in a modern sense today.

Partridge Memo to All Departments During the Christmas Credit Crunch
Effective immediately: the following economizing measures are being implemented by the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' subsidiary

1. The partridge will be retained, but the pear tree, which never produced the cash crop forecasted, will be replaced by a plastic hanging plant, providing considerable savings in maintenance
2. Two turtle doves represent a redundancy that is simply not cost effective. In addition, their romance during working hours could not be condoned. The positions are, therefore, eliminated
3. The three French hens will remain intact. After all, everyone loves the French
4. The four calling birds will be replaced by an automated voice mail system, with a call waiting option. An analysis is underway to determine who the birds have been calling, how often and how long they talked
5. The five golden rings have been put on hold by the Board of Directors. Maintaining a portfolio based on one commodity could have negative implications for institutional investors. Diversification into other precious metals, as well as a mix of T-Bills and high technology stocks, appear to be in order
6. The six geese-a-laying constitutes a luxury which can no longer be afforded. It has long been felt that the production rate of one egg per goose per day was an example of the general decline in productivity. Three geese will be let go, and an upgrading in the selection procedure by Human Resources will assure management that, from now on, every goose it gets will be a good one
7. The seven swans-a-swimming is obviously a number chosen in better times. The function is primarily decorative. Mechanical swans are on order. The current swans will be retrained to learn some new strokes, thereby enhancing their outplacement
8. As you know, the eight maids-a-milking concept has been under heavy scrutiny by the EEOC. A male/female balance in the workforce is being sought. The more militant maids consider this a dead-end job with no upward mobility. Automation of the process may permit the maids to try a-mending, a-mentoring or a-mulching
9. Nine ladies dancing has always been an odd number. This function will be phased out as these individuals grow older and can no longer do the steps
10. Ten Lords-a-leaping is overkill. The high cost of Lords, plus the expense of international air travel, prompted the Compensation Committee to suggest replacing this group with ten out-of-work congressmen. While leaping ability may be somewhat sacrificed, the savings are significant as we expect an oversupply of unemployed congressmen this year
11. & 12. Eleven pipers piping and twelve drummers drumming is a simple case of the band getting too big. A substitution with a string quartet, a cutback on new music, and no uniforms, will produce savings which will drop right to the bottom line

Overall we can expect a substantial reduction in assorted people, fowl, animals and related expenses. Though incomplete, studies indicate that stretching deliveries over twelve days is inefficient. If we can drop ship in one day, service levels will be improved.

Regarding the lawsuit filed by the attorneys association seeking expansion to include the legal profession ['Thirteen lawyers-a-suing'], a decision is pending.

Deeper cuts may be necessary in the future to remain competitive. Should that happen, the Board will request management to scrutinize the Snow White Division to see if seven dwarfs is the right number.

Christmas Decisions

Christmas is celebrated by traditions and cultures. Originally designated and arbitrarily set as the birthday of the Christ, it has evolved into a day of good will and festivities, not necessarily related to its religious significance.

As a child it was the biggest celebration of the year. Mother was really into Christmas. Her birthday was Christmas Eve, which usually meant all her gifts served a 2-fold purpose: birthday and Christmas. Dad was less into Christmas rituals, but he worked 7a.m. to 7p.m., 6 days/week. He left most of Christmas up to Mother.

Shopping for gifts meant mainly mail order, because Mother did not drive. Wondrous, mysterious packages arrived at various intervals, starting before Thanksgiving. Occasionally Dad carried her to the business district, shopping in the evenings. Early in my life Texas had a "blue" law- no sales on Sunday.

In our early years Santa Claus brought us our gifts, with only a few gift-wrapped under the tree. Mother keep lists of what she spent on each of us, trying to be sure her three children had the same value and number of gifts. That must have been a juggling act of the budget, in and of itself.

As my parents entered old age I noticed much less decorations and celebrations. Of course their married children were into their own celebrations; usually I was residing somewhere distantly, like Dallas TX, Baltimore MD, Morocco, Denton TX. I was single until age 33, but I loved to roam, much more than any other family member.

Now that my husband and I are entering our older decades, I see why their celebrations became smaller and less taxing on energy. Moving to Arkansas in our forties, we continued our own celebratory traditions, which involved extensive decorating, gifts, and inviting friends for feasts of gluttony. My husband decorated the neighborhood with lighted displays.

For several years my best friend and I organized a free Christmas Dinner, cooked and served at City Hall. The purpose was for persons living alone to have some fellowship on Christmas Day. Our town has numerous retirees, many of which live alone. The first year we served over 100 persons. Each year it grew until we were serving over 400, at which time it became too large for us and our volunteers. The local VFW took over the program.

During this time we continued our personal traditions, sometimes postponed to New Year's Eve or Day.

Nearly 30 years have passed and our celebrations have become burdens, not only to us but most of our circle of friends. And somehow, I find our previous years have sugar coated the original meaning of Christmas into glitzy, weary, shopping forays and eating orgies. It is time to get off the insane Christmas Tradition Train and redesign our Christmas traditions to more nearly conform to peace and GOOD WILL to all.

Prodded by the visible misery of the economic downturn in our area, my group of friends are foregoing the usually gifts, many of which went unused, and the food orgies. None of us are in the Fortune 500, but are blessed so much more than many around us who are without jobs, losing homes, sleeping in cars, and depressed.

Instead our designated Christmas funds are being channeled into various needs in our community. My best friend adopted a family from the Christmas Wish program sponsored by her newspaper job. Another friend is donating to the local food pantry, whose shelves are often empty these days, and also Heifer International.

We personally are contributing to Christmas for children in Panama, two families with children through our church life group, and a Christmas church project in Tulsa OK, which is focused on broken families with drug and alcoholic abuse problems. I am buying small Christmas token gifts for our TeleCare clients.

We are investigating a local single mother with children recommended by our Police chief. There may be other projects. After all it is only Dec. 2.

I will probably put up a small Christmas decoration so I can put Luckie's chipmunk toy out Christmas Eve.

We mutually agreed to each buy one gift we want and call it Christmas from each other to each other. I ordered the customized laptop I earned for losing 25 lbs. and since it is pricey, it is Christmas for me, too. [It will probably be Christmas before it gets here, as the FedEx tracking # shows it missed the boat, hmm-air transit date, in China!]

Somehow, this change is comfortable and exciting, for us as opposed to the frenzied activities of previous years, when we collapsed from overeating in a heap before the Christmas tree, to open gifts between, burps and gas releases.

P.S. I, the NitWit, am fixated and fascinated with the TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS!