Christmas 2011

Another year is wrapping up and Christmas is a week away.

The thing you have to love about this time of the year is that you can sit back and reminisce as you pull out those decorations and ornaments from years past and no one will criticize you for it. So here are some of my Christmas memories...
     I remember going to bed on Christmas eve with no evidence of a tree or presents anywhere in the house and waking up on Christmas morning to find out a tree was up on a platform where the couch usually sat. Trains were on the platform and the platform was wrapped in chimney paper and the presents were all around. After the gifts were opened they were stored under the platform.
     The year I was 6 and Santa brought a green Schwinn bicycle for me. My grandparents had taken me to Wannamaker's to visit Santa and I asked for a desk or a bicycle. When Christmas morning came and the presents were all opened there was no evidence of bike or desk. Then I was prodded to go out to the dinning room and look under the pile of coats in front of the buffet. Under them sat my Schwinn all shiny and new. Since the weather was cold and clear I was able to take it out for a ride. The problem was I couldn't reach the pedals.
     There was the Christmas my brother was so sick the doctor made a house call. When my mother called Dr. Klingess his wife answered the phone and my mother told her Skip wanted nothing to do with his toys. My mother said she heard Mrs. K. say "Hank you need to go over there. Any child who doesn't care about toys on Christmas needs to see a doctor."
     There was the year I was 13 (that would be 1961) . My sister and brother had rooted through every closet in the house and found most of the presents my mother had hidden away. I didn't particularly want to know what they found because I wanted to be surprised but Eileen took great joy in sharing all her finds with me. I was very surprised on Christmas morning to receive not only what she had found but a Kodak camera and a transistor radio. I felt very grown up. I had that little green transistor for a very long tome and it brought me a lot of pleasure.
     I remember when I was in high school I would meet up with my friends for Midnight Mass and then the whole group of us were invited back to Gerri Leonard's house where her parents welcomed all of us with snacks and hot chocolate. We laughed a lot.
     I remember the Christmas parties at Royal where I made an absolute fool of myself after having too much to drink.
     I remember going Christmas shopping in center city and starting out at Lit Brothers and hitting Gimbels, Snellenbergs, Strawbridge & Clothier and Wannamaker's on my way up Market St. Whenever I hear "Silver Bells" it reminds me of Market St. back in the day.  

As I got older I came to appreciate all my mother did to make sure we had a wonderful Christmas. My father worked as a bartender and worked nights with Sunday his only day off. There was no car so Mom had to take a bus wherever she went to shop. Since Dad didn't get home till the wee small hours of the morning it fell to my Mother to take care of getting the tree and the presents out. I'm sure that she was helped by our neighbors but she had to do all the planning and buying and cooking. Bars were not closed on Christmas so we had to have dinner very early on Christmas so my father could get to work. Since there were four Frett kids you know that there was no such thing as sleeping in on Christmas morning. We were raring to go by 7:00 AM and when I think that my parents hadn't gotten to sleep till 4:00 at the earliest I wonder how they made it through the day!  We had to get to church and dinner need to be on the table by 2:00. It's a wonder to me how everything got done without my Mom having a breakdown.

There are too many good memories to put down here. These were just some highlights and I'm sure my siblings would have their own unique memories to share were they so inclined. Maybe they'll take a look at this and add a thing or two.

At any rate take some time this year to take some good mental pictures to file away in your own memory bank. Remember the smells and thee sounds of this Christmas.

Most of all take note of all the people you love who are with you. Those you love are your most precious gifts. Then remember all you love who are gone and honor them by remembering all the joy they brought to your life.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2012!!!