Our first married Christmas, 1955

We got this little tree for one dollar. For a tree stand, we stuck the trunk in a hole in a brick we found on the way home.

My mother had put the tinsel and ornaments into my trunk when I went to join my husband after his basic training. (He was drafted right after we were married.) I think the giraffe was also from Mom, a gift for the baby we were expecting. That baby slept with her arm around the neck of this giraffe for years.

And here, in all it's tinseled glory. Tinsel was very important to my mom. And now I remember investing $1 in a can of spray snow for the tree. Isn't it cute?

I think my mother was worried about me, her oldest and pregnant child, and about the poverty of a drafted Private. I think the giraffe was also from Mom, a gift for the baby we were expecting. That baby slept with her arm around the neck of this giraffe for years. Mom put the wrapped gifts below in my trunk also. Remember trunks? Remember railroad travel? We went down to the railroad station in Schenectady; it wasn't very crowded. I got on the train and S met me at the other end. What I cannot remember is why we had a chicken wire cage in our rented living room here. Probably a safety protection for a small heater.

The small chenille gift-ornament Santa was on our Christmas tree for 50 years.

For this Christmas dinner, I roasted a chicken. It looked beautiful! But we couldn't even cut it, or eat it. We ate the rest of the food. though. We had bought a stewing hen intended for the soup pot! A really tough old bird.

All these pictures were scanned by Scancafe.com (I recommend them!) from slides taken with the Zeiss Contessa, an small and beautifully designed rangefinder camera that my folks brought back from Europe in 1953. It still works, but you cannot get Kodachrome any more. Rolls used to be available in every drug store! Surely you remember.

Tonight is New Year's Eve and we are back in California! Our Internet got turned on today! And our furnace will be fixed on Thursday. I am working with a heated throw over my knees (the dogs like it, too!) and Scott has a space heater blowing on his legs. Unpacking continues, but is not quite finished.
I have been shocked at the stacks of things I've been saving, papers, books, art supplies, and am resolved to do some serious discarding. We have lived here for 50 years and the house is pretty well filled to the brim. . .


AND SINCE THIS IS THE FINAL DAY OF 2013 FOR ANOTHER HOUR (HERE) I AM HAPPY TO REPORT MY ACCOMPLISHMENT OF POSTING ON THIS BLOG EVERY DAY IN 2013. THERE WERE SOME GLITCHES AND SOME VERY SHORT POSTS, SO THE QUALITY WAS NOT ALWAYS EXCELLENT (SOMETIMES IT WAS OK) BUT I HAVE SURPRISED MYSELF WITH SUCH CONSISTENCY!

Projects for next year are under consideration, but I have liked this too much to quit altogether. I am committed to Donnalynn's challenge for the first fifteen days of the year: Make a piece of art (no matter how small) every day for fifteen days. Then some of us will get together to share the results.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!