...caroling in the Birchwood Lane neighborhood with the Sacks, Stancziks, and our other friends...
....those wonderful school Christmas concerts when our music director was Mrs. Wilson. I especially remember singing "let us walk in the white snow....with footsteps quiet and slow....under veils of white lace..."
...visiting our little cousins MaryEllen and Polly when they still lived in Troy. They would be dressed in red sleeper pajamas and jumping up and down with excitement. They always had the worst trees; skinny, crooked, and mostly bare spots!
...my mother's cherry wink cookies....
...when Christmas decorations meant fake snow on the windows, multi-colored lights, and wrapping paper and ribbons that didn't match anything because it was WRAPPING PAPER not a statement....
....the time I invited my friends over to make gingerbread men and my mother didn't own a flour sifter, so one of the girls left!
...my father offering my friend Mary a glass of Frangelica and Mary saying "but Mr. Assini, I'm only fourteen!"
....when you could only see a Christmas TV special ONCE...the night it was on...and you had to wait an entire year before you would get to see it again...my favorites were "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" and "White Christmas"....still are...
...JELLO SALAD....
....the bubble lights on the tree at the Owens cousins' house....and hearing "If I Fell" for the first time in my cousin Dianne's room....
...Judy and Patricia, dressed alike in beautiful outfits, at Grandma Assini's...
...the year we got our sweet little dog, "Mistletoe Assini"...
....Christmas Eve dinners at Semon's hot dogs in Watervliet....
...when Christmas shopping was done in ONE DAY....my dad would give my mother about a hundred dollars and drop us off at JC Penney's....she would buy a gift for every single relative!
...the year Sharon and I said "let's believe one more year"...so we did!
...Uncle Billy buying us all clothes for Christmas before he was married....they were always about ten sizes too big....
....Uncle Willy. My grandfather's brother had been stricken by polio when he was a young man. He lost the ability to walk, hear and speak clearly. He lived in The Albany Home for Incurables. On Christmas, my father and Uncle Donny brought him to my grandparents' house. For some reason, he had to sit in a hard-backed, armless wooden chair. He bought each of us a present....handkerchiefs for the women and girl, socks for the men and boys. We lined up and got our presents and had to give him a kiss. We would each run into the next room and wipe the sloppy kisses off our faces. If there is one Christmas thing I could go back and change, it would be to keep his kiss on my cheek.
....my Grandma Pryor's turkey dinners. There were no microwaves, convection ovens, or food processors...but she made the BEST turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, turnips, creamed onions, and cranberry sauce, and had fresh snowflake rolls from the Schuyler bakery!
...when nobody talked about holiday stress, holiday weight gain, or holiday blues...because the holidays were fun; not perfect, just fun...
....singing "O Holy Night" with my mother, Aunt Jane, Aunt Maryanne, and Aunt Sophie....
....wanting the Beach Boys Christmas Album sooooo much....
....the year I asked for, and got, a record player and records. I also got a drawing set where you could design outfits. I spent the entire Christmas vacation listening to Broadway musicals and designing....
...the Firestone and Goodyear Christmas records that came out every December. My father always brought them home the first day they were issued. My favorites were Jack Jones singing "This is That Time of the Year" and "O Tannenbaum" by Percy Faith and his orchestra...that one always made me cry....
...the unique smell and feel of Christmas morning...like no other day in the year....
Merry Christmas!!!
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