Christmas Memory

Who is old enough to remember when these trees hit the Christmas market? I DO! I DO!! And the reason I remember so well is because we got one. Oh the wonder of a silver tree with a color wheel. We kids would sit in front of it for hours just watching it change colors. Wait. Is that why they got it? Why they were willing to fork out that kind of money for a tree when money was scarce? Kind of takes the wonder out of it for a minute.

But you also have to remember there wasn't much television either. There might have been 1 hour per day of children's programming. And the tv went off at 11 p.m. Not just at my house...but all over the nation! If you were lucky enough to stay up that late, you saw a flag flying while the national anthem was played.

But I digress. Christmas with a silver tree meant we were a cutting edge family. I think I even remember that first Christmas with the silver tree---and what I got. I got a hair dresser doll. It was just the top of the doll---shoulders up! And she came with a little table that had a pretend dryer, brush, curlers, etc. She was blonde and you could wash her hair and style it. My mom did all that and then wouldn't let me go to beauty school because "those girls smoked." Why set me up at 7 years old then? I spent many hours changing that doll's hairstyle.

My brothers and I usually got up about 4 a.m. to see if Santa had come. I could hardly sleep Christmas eve. But once my older brother gave me the word, we were out of there like a shot out of a canon! And you know what? My parents LET us! They would get up with us and get the movie (not video) camera out and take our picture as we saw what we got. It was always so much fun. Mom & Dad might sneak back into bed while we played with our stuff awhile. But mom always got up and prepared a huge breakfast for us. Then we usually headed to Wheeler to see both sets of grandparents for Christmas.

Mom still has that silver tree.