This is my earliest remembrances of Christmas.
Christmas when I grew up was very low keyed. The tree was decorated a week or two before. A few times the family went to buy the tree but most of the time Dad would bring it when he came home from work. If we were home when mom decorated we would help. I do remember hanging the little strings of ice cycles on the tree. Most of the time I would take a handful and throw it but mom would make me take it down and hang it one string at a time. On Christmas Eve mom and dad would always go out to one of their friend’s home or they would come to ours. We were soon shooed off to bed. On Christmas morning we would gather around the tree and the gifts were handed out by mother. We usually got a toy, a piece of clothing and a book and of course the stocking which had nuts, candy and fruit in it.
I do remember one special Christmas. When I was about twelve years old dad gave mom an envelope and in it was the deed to our home. Mom and Dad both grew up in very poor circumstances and this was a big thing with them. They had only been in their home about ten years and it was paid off. It was never under bondage after that. Dad was able to pay for it from buying and selling horses. He was a good horse trader.
