Christmas was my father's favorite time of year, and he always overspent on gifts for kids and grandkids. He loved a large tree too, and every year the same ritual happened: having to cut a bit more from the bottom or a bit from the very top, so that it would fit in the house.
The picture above is an important one, because from the shape of the tree and given my size, I think this was my grandpa's last Christmas in 1955. You can see the wool carpet in the foreground, and at the immediate right of me, you can also see the old record player. Grandma and grandpa had a couple of old Spike Jones records. Our favorite was The Tennessee Waltz, or as my sisters and I called it, the burp man record. Spike Jones did a lot of comedic music recordings, and this one is a classic. I copied it and put it on a CD with some other stories about my grandpa Cles.In the 60's and 70's my parents used a white snow-like material that you would blow onto the tree. First you sprayed the tree with a light mist, and then you used an old vacuum cleaner that would allow you to insert the cleaning tube into the opposite end, where air came out of the machine. Attaching bags of the material to a small plastic unit and shaking the bag during the process, you could spray the tree with material that looked like snow. It had the slight smell of ammonia, kind of like some of the Santas who work the malls now from Labor Day until late Christmas Eve.
The biggest problem was that the white material masked the actual smell of the tree, so in the last few years, dad preferred the real thing. In the very late 70's and early 80's, they did it less frequently. The picture at the left shows Lydia's first Christmas on a year where they didn't put the stuff on the tree. The picture on the right shows another Christmas Eve tradition. Santa always visited grandma and granpa's house to deliver the first Christmas presents after our family program. Larry Thomas, one person Cles knew in town, always called him Cleese instead of Cles. The first night he came, Cles noticed immediately who it was as soon as Santa said his name. We still laugh about that, especially since Cles didn't say anything until years after the fact. Even because Larry Thomas didn't live at The North Pole and drove a domestic car instead of a sleigh drawn by deer didn't mean we couldn't have fun with the whole Santa thing.
The picture below shows another Christmas Eve tradition. Santa always visited grandma and granpa's house to deliver the first Christmas presents after our family program. Larry Thomas, one person Cles knew in town, always called him Cleese instead of Cles. The first night he came, Cles noticed immediately who it was as soon as Santa said his name.The first night he came, Cles noticed immediately who it was as soon as Santa said his name. Lydia and Kristin were still always excited, and Cles loved getting the presents, so he didn't mind getting called Cleese every year.
The tree at the left shows one of the first ones we had in the home above Pioneer Park. We put it in the northern corner of the front room, the wall where our fireplace would be a few years later.Cles is standing by the southern edge of the front window, a spot where we put a short table with candles. I always had candles burning at Christmas, because I learned to like that tradition while I lived in Germany.
One night Cles crawled to the top of the table, peered into a burning candle and blew the flame. It covered his face with hot wax. It frightened me to death. I grabbed him, threw water on his face and peeled away the melted wax, and then spanked him. I feel bad about that now. But it frightened me. I thought he had burned himself as a result of my stupid yearning for memories of German Christmas traditions.
The picture at the right is my favorite, but Kristin always hated this picture. I bought the outfit as soon as I saw the hat.
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