Pablo Picasso
First, I want to mention something. Google or listen for this song on the radio --- Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Canon. I have heard Pachabel's Canon played at weddings, but this is a gorgeous version especially for Christmas. Whenever I hear it on the car radio, I crank up the volume and enjoy!
This morning I asked Hubby what had been his favorite Christmas gift ever. He grumbled something about, "I don't know." He's never been one for the holidays, so that's okay. I do remember him talking about a B-B gun he got when he was about nine or ten, so I suspect that was it.
I got a doll every year. I still think that "plastic new doll smell" is the best ever. That feeling of having a brand new baby with a pretty crisp dress and white shoes is amazing. Of course, as the year goes by and you have repeatedly hand washed her clothes and ironed them with you little iron (honestly, I had a small red toy iron that plugged in and really got hot!), and your sister Judy decides to trim all of her hair off, telling you that it will grow back, your toy doesn't look as good, so it's always nice to look forward to a fresh brand new baby to start off the new year.
When it was just us four little girls, we had a ritual that we did every year. On Christmas Eve, Karen would set the alarm on her ivory colored Bakelite radio for something like 6 AM. That was the time that the folks said we could come downstairs --- no sooner! Unfortunately, we would invariably wake up much earlier so we would pile onto one bed and turn on the radio to listen to music. That radio was an odd contraption. When you first turned it on, the glass tubes inside had to warm up, and for several minutes it gave off the most ghastly squeal. We would pile pillows on it to muffle the sound. Then, when the alarm officially announced that it was time to go, we would line up, youngest and littlest (me), then Judy, then Sandy, and last, Karen. And that's when it happened just like it did every stinking year. Once we reached the last step of the stairs, it was everyone for themselves. Can you imagine what happens when three excited sisters are behind you and they start to stampede toward the tree? Someone gets run over! Me.
I think it was Sandy's job to plug in the tree lights in the semi-dark living room. One year, she reached under the tree to get the cord and laid her hand on the head of my newest doll. It was one of those three-foot tall "My Little Sister" dolls that everyone was getting that year. It nearly gave her a heart attack since she thought she was touching someone's hair who was sitting under the tree. FYI Those darn dolls were a pain to so many people. Us little girls who had received one for Christmas felt the need to drag it to school to show to all our friends. But when you ride a school bus, and your doll takes up a seat that some real kid could be using, well, that spells TROUBLE!
If you are not ready for Christmas, you have six shopping days left. So, don't just sit there . . . GET MOVING --- NOW ----NOW---NOW! Happy Holidays, Y'all.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL