Christmas after the fact

Let me tell you just how cool Shootin’ Shell fanner 50’s really were! Every cowboy worth his leather “fanned” his gun when in a gunfight. Use your imagination. A simple act that would take half a page to explain. Shootin’ Shell was quite literally a projectile coming out the end of the gun. (yes, I suppose it could have put your eye out) What looked like a 50 calibre shell with a spring inside and a grey plastic projectile that looked like a bullet and pressed onto the shell. Sheets of circular caps with adhesive on the back that allowed your shootin’ shell to also be a cap gun. We had double holsters and spare bullets. We were SOMETHING!

Peachy Keen mentioned the decorations at Paw Paw’s trailer on the hill. I can’t believe I didn’t remember that. Pulling trees thru those wrappers and making it “our” problem that the customer didn’t think about how they were going to take a tree home in the family sedan.

Bikes! Transportation for boys! I can think of bikes at Glendale though I cannot remember how we got them home. I think my favorite bike was in Millington in what must have been 6th grade. I got a bike, I got a paper route, I went everywhere! I had a huge basket on the front to handle the paper route. I was a man of means.

Sang my first “Messiah” in Oxnard as a freshman in high school. Our choir director at school was the director for the city chorus group. He recruited from his choirs to make sure he had people he could direct. I certainly enjoyed it. I still have a copy in my library in case I ever come across a community singing.

We missed the brothers who could not make it to Mom’s this year. Those who were there had a good time and I believe Mom enjoyed everyone. Pizza is still an odd meal at Christmas but it sure is good relative to all the ham eaten in the days before and after.

Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night!
Uncle Westy over and out!

I just thought I was through!

The silver tree with the color wheel base! I don’t remember how long we had that one but we were sure cool for a while!

Ric reminded me about the construction paper ring chains and the threaded popcorn. I think that was in Maine.

My first Christmas away from home in the Navy. Christmas in Honolulu! You would have thought they invented it. There were lights everywhere. Santa Clause in a Hawaiian Shirt. Palm trees with Christmas lights all around and up in the tops.

Christmas in Okinawa. Japanese people, Shinto religion, follow the money. The U.S. held the island under treaty, the American Dollar was the official currency and Santa reigned. At least in Naha and everywhere there was an American base. By the way, the worlds largest drive in A&W Root Beer stand is in Naha.

Mandy as Mary in the Christmas plays at Lighthouse Church when she was in elementary school. I have forgotten how many years she got to be Mary, but it was just assumed.

The year we did the Christmas story at the Lighthouse and used real animals. A real donkey and several sheep of which I think only one made it to the play. While unloading them at the church, several of them made a run for it down Hwy 31. There were reports for a couple of days after of sightings of the stray sheep but we never caught them. I didn’t chase them but I remember watching several of the guys running WAY behind the sheep.

Christmas breakfast at Brother Charles’ house. He would have fried up at lease one ham, many pounds of smoked sausage, many pounds of bacon, a huge pot of grits and fried eggs to order. Mrs. Burgess’ cat-head biscuits and plenty of juice and coffee. He invited just about anyone he was related to and most of those he went to church with. I qualified both ways so I never missed. He got great satisfaction from being the cook and serving everyone.

Maybe more later. Merry Christmas everyone.
Uncle Westy over and out!

‘Memberin
In no particular order:
Earliest Christmas I remember . Jacksonville , FL. The Christmas party at the base. I remember a HUGE hanger with a million people. We all got a bag of gifts. My memory is that it was a huge bag, but then I wasn’t very big at the time.

Christmas at Mamo’s. We kids were upstairs in Carolyn’s room being unruly. The tree was in the living room but we couldn’t really see it from upstairs without being seen. I remember hearing jingle bells and we all ran back to the bed and hid. Don’t remember anything else until the next morning when of course Santa had come.

Christmas at Mamo’s. Ric and I got Shootin’ shell fanner 50’s. Double holsters, hats. The guns had sticky caps that you put on the shell and the rubber bullet was spring loaded so they really shot. I can’t imagine being a parent putting up with that. Especially multiple sets!

Christmas decorations at PawPaw’s. First in West End. They lived in the neighborhood behind where West End Baptist is now. Then in the Mill Village. PawPaw always had the house trimmed in lights. Everyone in the Mill Village was big on lights.

Driving in from anywhere west of here and coming thru Maplesville. That was our cue to start waking up and watch for Carolyn’s radio station. It still seemed like a long way from that station to Mamo’s.
Tornado in the Mill Village. Took off the end of the Mill and made a mess of the Mill Village.

Chimney fire in the house on Temple Rd. The week before Christmas and the weather wasn’t sure whether it was going to be warm or cold. Tried to rush a wood fire in the wood heater and left the bottom door open too long. Set the creosote in the chimney on fire and we had to call the fire department to put it out and check the house over. Right in the middle of it I noticed this one old guy sitting on the couch not doing anything to help but really enjoying the commotion. Bib overalls, no tee shirt, ball cap. I asked him if he was with the fire department (volunteers remember) and he said “no, but I heard it on the scanner and wanted to come watch.” I asked him to go home.

Christmas on Temple Rd. Or rather Christmas Eve. ALL of our clan coming to Dad’s. Some of us after communion at the Methodist church, other as soon as they could clear other responsibilities. Dad leaving the movie camera set up on a tri-pod in the corner and just letting it run during the festivities.

Christmas Eve Dad sitting in his chair holding court during the opening of presents. Someone else got the presents but he directed the traffic and made sure that everyone was opening something. The sheer quantity of it all! An eggnog toast and everyone off to there own home until we could bring all the kids with their presents back for him to inspect the next day.

Christmas programs at First Methodist Church Clanton. Big productions by Miss Helen. Men, women and children everywhere.

Candlelight/communion service Christmas eve at First Methodist with Mom. Who ever of us would show up and fill up two isles on the left side, mid-way down. God lives there you know. It is only right to sing out loud and clear and stand next to Mom so she can hear you. I have had my own church responsibilities for many years and have different applications of the things we learned of Jesus, but there is a comfort in that old church with the murals, stained glass and big organ that I only get when I go there.

I really thought I would have more than that. There’s a lot going on around here today and I’m just not concentrating. I’ve started the thread, y’all pitch in.

uncle westy over and out!

Decorating the tree.

Thursday, December 10, 2009
Christmas decorations are up. How much time, energy and money do we spend each year on Christmas decorations? Could we use that energy collectively for something of note? Such were my musings until we actually got the tree up.
I had Hum-bugged around for a couple of weeks using every excuse I could come up with to not bring all that junk out of the attic. I hate our tree. It takes almost two hours to unfold all of the limbs. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful tree when it is done but I dread it every year. Tuesday we got everything down and thrown around the living room. Yesterday we picked up Keelin at school and she helped us hang the decorations. As you can imagine, up to about 4 ft the tree is VERY decorated. Every time I got on the step ladder to hang something high, she would climb the other side of the ladder to see what I was doing. I just knew we would both end up in the tree and against the wall.
When it was all over I sat in my chair and looked at what was there. We had the old moose stuck inside, the elf sitting on a branch out front. We had hand made decorations from twenty five years ago made by the kids. There was a tent from the year Robby was in Boy Scouts. There was a Scotty dog that Mandy got many years ago. There is a Veggie Tales “Peas on Earth” ornament. Many glass angels of many types. There is a set of ceramic ornaments Andrea made when we first moved back to Clanton when Robby was a baby. I saw a pair of tennis rackets from the year Robby learned to play tennis. Big glass balls, “money commeth” ornaments full of shredded currency. Keelin wanted to know why we tore up all that money just to put on the tree. That’s a whole ‘nuther story. Cheap metal ornaments with dates engraved on them to make them memorable. Blown glass Santas, “special” ornament that we have found over the years in Gatlinburg, Sea Side, and parts unknown. A couple hundred ornament that are the story of our lives. They are for the most part pretty. They will never mean anything to anyone but us. They mean everything to us.
Such is this season we call Christmas. We will not forget the reason for the season. Neither will we forget the passing of the seasons.
Uncle Westy, over and out!