Silent Night, Holy Night

Thanks to Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Charles for the stained glass window . . . and for singing Silent Night by candlelight on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve so long ago a baby was born in Bethlehem. He would grow into a man capable of rewriting countless pages of ancient law into just two Commandments. He taught us to love God and love one another. Let us honor Christmas in that manner, and try to keep it all the year, just as the reformed Ebenezer Scrooge did.

CHRISTMAS POSTER

Another memorable quote from THE POLAR EXPRESS. All aboard!

CHRISTMAS POSTER

SUNDAY POSTER #3

Hearth

Two more Christmas decoration images. First is the hearth, complete with stockings for the children and grandchildren; the painting on the mantel is a Kinkade depicting a winter family get-together. Directly to the right of the hearth is the main Christmas tree. We do not have room to keep gifts under the tree; we bring them up as they are about to be opened.

Holiday Decorations

Today we take the first steps toward getting the holiday house turned back into the house we love the other 11 months. A few images of the decor seem appropriate, starting with the Disney tree in the living room, and the shelf above the large-screen TV. Last night I watched a 1968 BONANZA rerun, in which Charles Dickens came to visit the Cartwrights and Virginia City. As you see in the image, that shelf holds a special holiday Dickens Village collection. Good thing Dickens in the TV photo could not see up and out of the screen; it might have been traumatic!

A Very Merry Christmas

Just five days ago we had a family-and-friends party in preparation for Christmas. Here is a photo of Gianna and Joey, all excited for the upcoming visit from Santa. Tomorrow they will come back to our house for gifts, for dinner, for lots of fun. Christmas was great for me in the 1950s as a child, better in the 1980s as a Dad, and absolutely the best, now, as Poppa.
Here is hoping your day will be as wonderful as mine will.

Merry Christmas

"The true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart. . . . As I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who believe." If you have not watched THE POLAR EXPRESS as yet this year, Christmas Eve is the time to watch, to listen, and most of all to hear. Hear the bell, believe, and have a most Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year

A final photo of a Christmas decoration is a thoughtful gift we were given of an monogram flag outside our front door. It brings to a close my first year (actually started three weeks into the year) of blogging. My goal for 2010 is to continue to post nearly every day, with one or two photos and usually continuing a topic over a period of days or weeks. I have no idea what topic I will open tomorrow, so tune in then.

In case future reference might be of interest, I have tracked the general topics I have covered by date this year and list them here. Happy New Year!

2009 Topics: 1/15 2008 Alaska Vacation, 2/12 Winterscapes, 2/19 Restoration of Family Portraits, 3/2 Springscapes, 3/6 Abstracts & Polar Coordinates, 3/13 Chicago Architecture, 3/25 Arizona Spring Training, 4/11 IPRA Magazine Cover 1979, 4/15 2008 Garden Views, 5/13 St. James Farm, 5/27 Migratory Bird Day, 6/5 New Invaders Rock Band in Glen Ellyn, 6/9 Millennium Park, 6/16 Art Institute Modern Wing, 6/28 Peoria Chiefs & Josh Vitters, 7/1 Meeting Bobby in Boston, 7/16 2009 Europe Vacation beginning in Britain, 8/9 2009 Europe Vacation continuing on the Continent, 9/16 Brookfield Zoo, 9/26 Revolutionary War Encampment & Skirmish, 10/4 Springfield and Lincoln Sites, 10/14 New Salem Lincoln Sites, 10/19 Fall Festival at Danada (Horses), 10/29 Wayne-DuPage Fox Hunt, 11/1 Fall Color in Waterfall Glen, 11/11 Fall Color in Volkening Farm, 11/15 Fall Color in Maple Grove & Meacham Grove Forest Preserves, 11/22 Signs Seen, 12/1 Christmas Holiday Decorations, 12/9 Winterscapes, 12/16 Photos With Santa, 12/26 Icy Christmas & Decorations

Garland

One of the nicest new decorations we bought this year was, believe it or not, one piece of golden garland. We use it in the Disney Room.

Christmas Storage Time

Christmas is over for another year, and it is time to start storing the decorations. A few final looks at our holiday decorations as the old year closes.

Icy White Christmas

December 23 weather in Chicago featured an ice storm that was exceptionally beautiful on the Burning Bush outside our dining room. The bush is lit by a floodlight every night and each branch was covered in the icy rain.
Two more images of the icy bush in the next post.

God Bless Us Every One

Two images from Christmas 1969. The family card game featuring my dad, my grandpop and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law became a part of the holidays for over a decade. The photo of me and Marilyn with Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy was showing off some gifts: we knew we were expecting but we did not know if the baby was a boy or a girl. A wonderful Christmas, just four months after I started teaching at Lisle High School.
A new topic in the next post!

Christmas Eve 1968 & 1969

Two images from Christmas forty years ago. Mine is actually from '68 in our one-year married student apartment at Western Illinois University. Marilyn's is in '69 as we celebrated our first Christmas in Lisle where I had been hired as a teacher. The photo was taken at my Grandparents' apartment in Chicago.
Two more Christmas photos tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

Back to B&W

The final two grayscale or black&white memories for Christmas are widely varying. One from the late 1950s with Marilyn and her cousins at the grandparents' house in Rockford and one from the late 1960s of me and my smoking jacket in front of the festive aluminum Christmas tree.
Good Lord, was that "only" forty years ago?

This Christmas

As a special favor, Santa Claus came by our home yesterday on his way back from meeting children at the mall. He was again checking that list twice or even for a third time and asking Gianna and Joey what they want this Christmas. He even knew that Gianna wants the Bitty Baby Twins, and he heard Joey say the magic words "Choo-Choo" and "trucks."
It was a great visit and one we will remember always.

To Town . . .

We don't have as many Santa photos of my wife Marilyn and her sister Eileen, but these two are priceless memories of the 1950s. Santa was coming to town every Christmas and leaving behind lots of wonderful photographic memories.
A jump in time is planned for the next post.

Santa Claus is Coming

My earliest memories of place are of a flat in Chicago in the area that later became University of Illinois Chicago, just west of the Loop. But as I recall any fleeting Christmas memories, I realize they are all in good old black-&-white, so I must be remembering the photos, not the events. I just love the wallpapers and the print carpets.
By the way, during the 50s, many major motion pictures and even more television series were centered on the great genre of the American Western. My Dad, who had seen World War II in person, never loved war movies. He always loved Westerns. My love for Westerns is pretty easy to understand. How do you like my six-guns? Recognize the vest?
By the way, the trains under the trees, just barely visible, were powered by a mighty Lionel Lines 027 guage engine which was present at my very first Christmas just two days before my first birthday. That engine, whose light will light up but whose drive train no longer moves, is a treasured memento in my hobby room.

Who's Naughty & Nice

Two more pictures with Santa in the middle-1950s. I am sure Santa's list would have had both Cliff & me on both lists at various times, even though we each would have denied that at the time.
Truth to tell, I do recall a Christmas or two when I was a little nervous about getting a lump of coal in my stocking! By the way, I do believe the vest shot was taken during the same December as the one depicted in the previous post.