Christmas Decorations

Three to four inches of snow on Christmas eve made this the first white Christmas for our Jones family in about 10 years. Things were much quieter this year because only eight family members could join us. The snow, work, and the other sides of the family made us a very small group, compared to the 15 - 20 that usually joined in the family get together. Mom was unable to put up her usual "decorated to the hilt" tree this year, and many of the decorations remained in the boxes that my wife and middle daughter discovered. For several hours my wife, middle daughter, and Mom made a trip through our family history using the containers of decorations:

This one we put on the Christmas tree on Vine Street. [That would have been around 1955!] This one was taken to school by your Dad [that's me] every Christmas to help decorate the Christmas tree at school. [My intials were still on the bottom.] This one your Dad [that's me] made in Cub Scouts, which still showed the word "DAD" [for my Dad] in brightly colored letters on the large styrofoam ball. This one we got in Germany. This one I just liked. On and on our family Christmans was told through a box of decorations. My wife and daughter were excited when Mom told them to take what they wanted. This would probably be the last Christmas that she would be able to get all the decorations out and up around the house. My middle daughter loved it! Mother still wanted to keep the ones that my bother and I took to school every season. My Dad still wanted to keep the hand made one [from me] that proudly stated "DAD". We love you Mom. Thanks for the years you decorated the tree and your house with all the things you loved. May they continue to decorate our family home for generations to come.