Memories, Memories, Memories

 It will soon be Christmas.  The day after Thanksgiving is often the day the Christmas decorations come out of storage--especially for us and for many of our neighbors.  Unwrapping these decorations brings back so many memories.  A number of the tree decorations are ones that were in my home growing up.

This Santa is made of something similar to plastic.  It had been on the tree when my mother was a child.

These snowmen are copies of ones that decorated our house when I was a teen.  After John and I married, my mom knit a set for me.

I think this tree was made in the 1930s or 40s.  I remember it in our home when I was a child.  At some point, I know my dad sprayed it with green paint to renew the color.  It has also been rewired so we didn't have a fire.

                                    

This Santa came filled with candy canes, probably as a gift when I was very young.

More modern Santas also decorate our home.  We bought this one because John loves trains.

When we lived in Granby in the Colorado mountains, we fell in love with skiing.  This ornament celebrates that activity.

Some of our ornaments first graced the home of other people.  We bought some of them in antique stores.

Our numerous Santas are arranged on the coffee table.  John carved the  five figures in the center front. 

We also have a number of nativity scenes.

I made this scene when I was working in the pottery studio.

This is a nativity puzzle.  Both John and I made these in the wood shop at our resort.

We have had trees of various sizes and shapes over the years.  We bought our first artificial tree in 1975 when we moved to Castle Rock the week before Christmas.  I seem to remember the only decorations were bows made of heavy red yarn.

There were large trees for larger living rooms and a very small tree for Christmases spent in an RV.  Since moving to our small home in Arizona, we have one just under 3 feet high.  The ornaments are quite small.

This is the tree in our Arizona home.

We have lived in three states and numerous homes over the 56 years of our marriage.  Christmas helps us think back on so many of our good times as a couple and a family.

One year when we were traveling a great amount of the time, we returned to find a broken pipe flooding our home in the Denver area.   Many things stored in the basement, including the many books in the library there, were destroyed.  Thankfully, some of the Christmas decorations were saved.  And after we recovered emotionally, we enjoyed shopping for new ones.

 

Celebrating Christmas in an RV park

Wherever we go in RV parks we see Christmas decorations. Lights can be hung on trees and on RVs. Mirrors on motorhomes sport Santa hats. This year we have been traveling and enjoying how others decorate. We have a small tree inside our trailer, a few gifts, a nativity set and Santa.

We saw the first outdoor decorations in Canyon Vistas before we left on this trip.

Santa was parked in the Junction, Texas, park we stayed in.

At Peach County RV in Stonewall the rocking chairs all sported Santa hats.

Here in Blazing Star in San Antonio there are lots of decorations. The snowman is shivering.

Santa has moved here and shares his trailer with a penguin.

An elf is sitting on this mirror.

The Holy Family is on a patio.

Only in Texas would you find Santa trying to ride a bull!

We even saw Santa in person, riding in a golf cart here in San Antonio.  He gave me a handful of small Hershey candy bars.

Motoring of Old

Earlier this month, we were in beautiful downtown Apache Junction when we noticed a display of old cars. I especially liked this really old Chevy truck. It was made in 1939, before I was born.  It is really old.

And this older VW from 1973 is neat. Look at the sunshade (I guess) over the headlight.


The inner works of some cars had really been spruced up. This is a 1949 Meteor Club Coupe.

And look at this vehicle. It is different.

When we returned to the resort, we watched a Model T Ford drive in the front gate. Then another. And another.

We decided to find out what was going on. We learned that the East Valley Model T Club was having dinner here in the ballroom. How fun.  As you can see above, the cars were decorated for Christmas. Here in another decorated one.

This owner put a bow on the windshield--after he parked.

Christmas is Coming!

No matter how large or how small your house, people all over this country like to put up outdoor decorations for the Christmas season. We see a lot of blow-up Christmas scenes here in Arizona. I wanted to share some of them with you.



We dropped in to coffee and donuts Monday morning and saw how the ballroom in Canyon Vistas is decorated for the holidays.



The Guest Services area has a tree decorated in the same theme.




This is one of the cutest decorated cactus I have seen.

What's next?

If it's Thanksgiving, what comes next? Christmas, of course. And that means it is time to put up the Christmas decorations. We had already moved the Christmas decoration boxes to the house, so it didn't take long to get started.

We may want a bigger tree in the future, but the 3-foot one we have used in the RV works just fine for now.

We enjoyed arranging my collection of nativity sets on the bedroom chest of drawers. The pottery stable and creche set is something I made 2 years ago.

It is really good to see all these Santas. They have been in storage since we went on the road full-time 6 years ago.

It was especially fun to use these. My mother made them probably 35 to 40 years ago. They represent John and me and our 2 sons.