Kraken Kronicles

I'm thinking about what to write about this year, but after my Mom, Anastasia went away, my few moments of happiness were overshadowed by her absence however here are some of my memories:

I still think of that magical time leading up to Christmas, the anticipation, the lights, music and the dreams of the many toys I wanted and hoped to find under the tree. The trolley trips to Market Street to enjoy the Christmas displays in the windows of Gimbles and Lits’ Department stores, and the lights decorating Market Street.

The last year we lived as a family on Emily Street, Dad and I went out late at 10pm Christmas Eve to get a tree and to find the best deal. As there was snow on the ground, he pulled me on a sled. As I remember, we traveled many blocks and stopped at many tree stands before getting a tree for fifty cents, Dad tied it to the sled, put me on top and headed home. The tree needed some work and Dad drilled some holes and moved some branches to make the "front" appear full. As was our custom Mom, Dad and I trimmed the tree that Christmas eve. Boy was I excited. I think Mom and Dad gave me a small glass of wine (probably hot chocolate) to get me in bed.

The Christmas tree was lit by small colored lights on a series wire, that is, if one light failed, the whole string would not light. And they did fail quite often. Mom, Dad and later, me would use a new bulb and replace each bulb on the string until the bad bulb was located. Each year, Dad cut a small piece off the bottom of the tree trunk and drilled a hole for a candle in the side and planed the other side flat so it wouldn’t roll. In three years we had three candle holders, two large and a small one for me. Dad decorated them with some pine cuttings. Every Christmas Eve we burned red candles and saveed the candles for the next Christmas Eve. Most of the houses had a few branches of pine cut from their Christmas trees that were trimmed with the previous years’ red bow that they hung on the front door; few folks had either the means or the desire to purchase a wreath.

Uncle Con and Dad spent many hours in the cellar making toys for me, and Mom had to keep me busy and out of the cellar, I just couldn't contain myself, wanting to know what my Dad and Uncle were doing as I was always with them when they were making something. Well they made me a scale model of an army Jeep about ten inches long, which I could only look at and not play with. On Easter, the following year, my Jeep was displayed in the front window with eggs made up to look like Roosevelt and Truman and McArthur sitting in it and a gallows with eggs looking like Hitler and Tojo hanging from ropes. Politically correct we weren't, ah the good old days.

That Christmas I found a cap gun under the tree, a real cowboy cap gun. Roy Rodgers was my current hero and I spent Christmas day shooting at my playmates and them shooting back with their new guns. Nothing like hiding behind snow piles and having a battle on Christmas Day! Being “shot”, and sliding down a snow pile pretending we were dead. Mom and Dad and my playmates parents were tolerant of us kids as the country was still at war. I think we went to Grandmom’s house for dinner and I got some more toys. I still remember Grandmom’s Rice Pudding and could eat the entire casserole myself if they would have let me.

Usually Dad had his 1938 Chevrolet coupe parked on the street and he only drove it on weekends and when there was no snow. He would drain the water out of the radiator so it wouldn’t freeze. (Anti-freeze cost money and we didn’t have much). I think he removed the six volt Battery on very cold days. On the weekends that Dad did drive Mom and me in the car, Dad heated a kettle of water on our three burner stove and poured the warm water into the radiator and let it run for a while. Mom brought blankets, as the car had no heater and no radio either. Even though the seat was narrow, Dad, Mom and I just fit and kept warm under her blankets and by just being with each other. I can still feel the warmth of those moments and what a wonderful memory for me of my family.