Halloween Memories

Source: flickriver.com via Melissa on Pinterest

A year ago, I participated in Mocha with Linda's Flashback Friday by recording my answers to Linda's questions about Halloween memories. Worth a re-visit!

It's a little over 7 minutes long.

(Originally posted October 28, 2010)

Flashback Friday: O Christmas Tree

Our Swanson family tree a couple of years ago

No, I haven't decorated for Christmas yet, except for putting the Christmas wreath on my front door. After our houseguest and dear friend Ray had a major heart attack on Thanksgiving Day, things have been a little crazy. I hope to attend to that task this weekend.

However, I'm linking up to Mocha with Linda today for Flasback Friday, which is all about Christmas trees. Here we go:

When you were growing up, when did your family put up and decorate the Christmas tree? --We usually put up the tree around my birthday, which is December 10th. In later years, after I was grown and gone, I believe my mom did it shortly after Thanksgiving.

Was it real or artificial?--It depended. I can remember a fair amount of real ones, but we also succumbed to the metal one with the color wheel light during the 70's.

Who usually decorated it? Were there special decorations? What was on the top?--Decorating was a family affair. I can remember early on, throwing tinsel "icicles" at the tree so they would land just right. (When did people stop using those icicles?

After my mom's beloved aunt died in the late 60s, she inherited some beautiful Christmas decorations and ornaments. Her uncle had been German, and he had some gorgeous German pieces which came to my mom when her aunt died. Her uncle had been a Christmas enthusiast and had always made a huge deal of the holiday.

As I recall, there was usually an angel on top.


White lights or colored, blinking or steady? Definitely colored lights...the white light trend didn't come into vogue until much later. I can remember huge colored lights...it doesn't seem like they make those big ones anymore. Sometimes we had blinking ones, sometimes steady.


How much did your family decorate for the holiday other than the tree (wreaths, dishes, snowglobes, miniature villages, etc.)?--There were decorations all over the house...nativity scenes, dishes, candles, wreaths, etc.

Did y'all do outdoor lights?--I can't remember ever having outdoor lights@ My dad was a busy pastor and I guess he just never got into it. We always enjoyed looking at other people's lights, though!

Are there special memories associated with decorating for Christmas?
Christmas was always a very special time. My dad loved Christmas, and always wanted to make sure everyone had a great one. We didn't get tons of presents, but we loved and appreciated everything we got. Decorating the tree was always a warm time, with holiday music playing in the background.

As always, Linda, thanks for stirring up good memories!

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I'm also linking to Company Girls Coffee today. Click the icon!

Thanksgiving Memories

The table ready for Thanksgiving at my mom's house, 2009

Mocha with Linda's Flashback Friday today calls for delving into some Thanksgiving memories...no problem, since Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays!

Thanksgiving during my growing-up years was always a wonderful celebration. Turkey was the star of the show, always made delectably by my mother.

It wasn't until I grew up and moved away that I really appreciated the fact that my mom had to get up early in the morning, while we were all still snoozing, to get the bird in the oven.

Mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, and my mom's 24-hour marshmallow salad were always featured on the menu...and yes, football was always part of the festivities.

Growing up in a Christian home, we always took the time on Thanksgiving to reflect on our blessings and give thanks to God.



When I got married and moved to Illinois, Thanksgiving almost always meant a Swanson family celebration, usually at the the home of one of my husband's older brothers. My sisters-in-law are all amazing cooks, and any Swanson gathering means some delicious eats.

Of course, the turkey reigns supreme, but pies and fudge and all kinds of desserts offer temptation. One of my favorite dishes at Swanson Thanksgivings is my sister-in-law Gail's sweet potatoes, sauteed in butter.

There are always a variety of delicious vegetable casseroles on the menu as well.

If everyone has enough energy and it's not too cold out, we often make time for a walk to make us feel a little better about consuming so many Thanksgiving calories.

And of course, you'll find many family members watching football on TV.

Many times, I've had a smaller Thanksgiving celebration for my immediate family.

A few years ago, my son and his wife and my little grandson Payton were able to come from Texas. We actually had dinner at one of my sister-in-law's homes, but it was my first Thanksgiving as a Type 2 diabetic, and I made some diabetic-friendly desserts--including low-carb pumpkin pie--that were absolutely delicious.

I try to include at least one or two of these at every holiday meal, so I can indulge without feeling too guilty!

My mom's dining room table

My grandson Payton and my niece Arden at their own little table at my mom's house, last Thanksgiving. They love this table!

This Thanksgiving, my son Justin and my daughter Elizabeth will be home for the holiday, which will make it wonderfully special!

The table in my mom's entryway, decorated for the holiday

Besides Flashback Friday, I'm also linking back to Home Sanctuary's Company Girl Coffee today. Click on either icon to participate!

Flashback Friday, Podcast-Style

Vintage Halloween Postcards

Hi everyone! I'm participating in Mocha with Linda's Halloween-themed Flashback Friday, sharing my memories of, and ambivalent thoughts about, celebrating Halloween.

Click on the player for my podcast, which is about 7 minutes long.



I'm also linking back to Company Girls Coffee. Click on an icon to participate in either one,or both!

Flashback Friday: The Toys of Childhood

Mocha with Linda hosts this fun meme. Go here to play!

Oh, and once again I'm combining this with another fun meme, Company Girl Coffee.


What toys do you remember from your childhood?--I can remember, as a very little girl, getting a baby doll for Christmas that I absolutely loved. This was one of the first dolls that actually felt soft, like a baby, instead of being made out of hard plastic. (I am showing my age here!)

I remember it had a bottle with fake milk in it that never actually came out, but it could look like the baby was drinking it. I loved that doll!

I was never into the Chatty Cathy-type doll, because I had seen a Twilight Zone episode in which that type of doll came to life and killed a family. Eeeesh!

However, as you'll see in the next question, dolls soon became supplanted by a few passions: reading, writing, and recording. It's amazing how at a very young age, my future career was already being presaged!

What did you like to do to entertain yourself?--My sister and I created elaborate stories that we acted out. We were Kay and Donna, two teen-aged sisters (several years older than we actually were, of course.) Kay and Donna were pretty, grown-up, and had boyfriends.

Sometimes when we went out to eat with our parents, we were thrilled to get to sit in our own booth so we could pretend to be Kay and Donna.

My dad had a reel-to-reel tape recorder when we were little girls, and we would record ourselves singing and having our own radio show. I never dreamed that I would grow up to have my own radio shows!



Later, when technology graduated to cassette tape recorders, I would interview anyone who would let me. Some of the funniest recordings were those in which I was interviewing my baby brother and my little nieces. I wish I still had some of those cassettes--and something to play them on!

Mostly, I would read. My favorite thing to do was sit in my bed with my knees up, getting totally and completely lost in a book. A couple of times my knees actually got locked in that position--no lie!



Did you mostly play inside or outside? Did you ride a bike all over the neighborhood?

As I look back on my childhood, it's really amazing how much time I did spend outside. There were days my mom sent us outdoors, pretty much with instructions not to come back in until she told us to.

That was a much safer era, and kids could play outside and even run around the neighborhood without much fear. I feel really sad for the children of today who missed out on that more innocent time.

My sister Lisa and I would play outside tirelessly, but it usually wasn't organized sports. For example, we would hike through the woods across the street and pretend to be missionaries in the jungle. (Most of our play seemed to involve role-playing and/or pretending!)

Lisa was very athletic and would throw a football, etc, but I shied away from sports, basically because I stunk at them. However, I did have a bike, and I absolutely loved riding it.

Was there a toy you always wanted and never got to have? I would have loved to have had a Barbie Dream House. My cousin had one, and I coveted it strongly.

But all in all, if I had books and paper, I was pretty contented.




Hmmm...things haven't really changed much!

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P.S. I hope it's OK that I'm once again combining Flashback Friday and Company Girl Coffee, another meme I enjoy. Click the icon below to participate in Company Girl, which is hosted by the lovely Home Sanctuary!

Flashback Friday: Favorite Childhood Books

Mocha with Linda hosts a meme called Flashback Friday, and I decided to jump in this time!

(I'm also combining it with another Friday meme, Company Girl coffee-time, hosted by Home Sanctuary.)

The subject? Favorite childhood books and reading habits

I'm going to cheat a little and borrow from a post I did on this subject a while back (originally posted on 12/15/05):

I've been a voracious reader ever since I could string words together on a page, and I had some definite favorites as a child.

I went to a British school in Beirut, Lebanon for two years, and read "Jane Eyre" at the age of nine. It remains one of my favorite books of all time other than the Bible...probably my very favorite.



I remember one Christmas, when I was nine or ten, I got several classics, including "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift, and "Villette" by Charlotte Bronte. But probably one of my very favorites was a large anthology of Enid Blyton.

Enid Blyton was a British writer who was very prolific. I loved everything she wrote, including a series she did about a girl's boarding school called "Malory Towers."



[NOTE 11/14/06): I'm delighted to find that you can buy many Blyton titles new now, and they are also available new or used on sites like eBay and amazon.com.]

The anthology was a huge,almost coffee-table size book full of her stories. I loved that book and wish I knew where it was today. (By the way, I still have many of the hardcover books my parents gave me in those days, and re-read them every now and then...even the ones that were for children.)

(I blogged last year about my delight in finding one of my childhood favorites, "Red Knights from Hy Brasil," by Christine Savery.)

It was during this era that I also fell in love with Noel Streatfield's "shoes" books, C.S.Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, and anything by Louisa May Alcott.



Beirut also had a Christian bookstore in those days, owned by a British missionary society. They had a great selection of books from Moody Press (anybody remember the Danny Orlis series?) as well as many by British authors. Again, I still have many of those books.

And today I ordered another of my childhood favorites...

It's "Auntie Robbo," by Ann Scott-Moncrieff.

I've probably read this book at least once a year throughout my entire life. The problem is, my copy--yes, the paperback one my parents bought for me circa 1966--is coverless and missing the last couple of pages of the book.

The engaging, quirkily humorous story is about an eighty-something Scottish lady who is highly eccentric and stubbornly independent, and who totally refuses to act her age.

Seen through the eyes of her great-nephew Hector, who is a boy of eight or nine, Auntie Robbo is a highly admirable and fascinating character. The two live a carefree and rather undisciplined life in the Scottish hills, and Hector's perfectly happy with the status quo.

When the second wife of Hector's late father shows up to claim him as her own--Hector has never met this obnoxiously annoying lady until now--Auntie Robbo and Hector go on the run. Their adventures make for delightfully absorbing reading, even at my advanced age.

******

UPDATE: I did get my copy of "Auntie Robbo," by the way, in very good condition, and thoroughly enjoy re-reading it.

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