Steve and Judy's Travels!

Every kid got a chance to lick a beater or a scraper.  If you’re not big enough to lean over a sink, next best place is on the floor.

Some years, Santa would make an appearance on Christmas Eve.  We would know he was near when we could hear the jangling of bells on the reindeer reins outside.  In with a load of ho-ho-hos and a big bag of presents.  One year, I recall brother Bill was there, and Santa was surprised to see him.  Santa had missed him in Washington and was so glad to find him at our house because he still had the present for him.

Santa and kids weren’t very good at holding still for indoor photos.  Matt is the little kid in front, and Becky is the blur.  After a jolly celebration, Santa would go on his way with a chorus of ho-ho-hos, and jangling jingle bells, disappearing into the distance.  Shortly after, our friend Todd would show up to sleep on the couch and join in the Christmas morning celebration.  Todd fit right in at our house and was a big help around it whenever he was there.

That’s Mom’s elbow off to the right of the frame.  She would sleep upstairs on Christmas Eve so she could be there first thing in the morning.  After the kids fell asleep, Santa would fill their stockings upstairs so they could occupy themselves early in the morning.  It was a rule at our house that the kids couldn’t come downstairs on Christmas Day until it was light outside.  Mom recounted that one year she woke up and Becky was working her way through her Christmas stocking, describing each item out loud as she went.  When she was through, she then went through every item in her brother’s stocking before putting everything back together and waking him up!

Back about 1975, Christmas at our house looked like this:

A $5 permit in hand, we trudge through the snow in the mountains picking out the perfect tree to cut down.  We never wanted to cut off more than we had to, so sometimes the tree had to duck the ceiling a little.  Not many decorations, but we would buy one new box of Christmas ornaments every year knowing that eventually we could absolutely overload a tree.

A legacy from my childhood, there was the American Flyer train layout, different every year, with the Lionel transformer so the locomotives would have plenty of power.  Lots of practice putting train car wheels back on the tracks.  Drops down the smokestack of one of the engines would provide chuffing smoke (and a special aroma).  As presents started to accumulate they could be arranged as backstops and tunnels.  Running the trains was good for a week or two, until the tracks were overwhelmed by presents, even if we had to take the pack of a dozen Hot Wheels cars apart and wrap them all individually to accomplish our goal.

Reflections of my own overwhelming Christmases with presents piled high.  Later in life Mom told stories of Dad telling her that Christmas needed to be different this year.  We were just going to buy a few presents, then looking at the tree right before Christmas and declaring that this just won’t do, and going out shopping for a giant bag of toys because Christmas morning just has to “look right”.  So, Dad’s legacy to our legacy, Christmas just has to “look right.

Coyote through the windshield.

Not the ungulate tracks to the right, we’ve got white tailed deer, exotics, and javelina for that, but the small pointy, really sharp canine tracks on the left.  The tiny predator.

I’m thinking maybe gray fox.   Or maybe a Pomeranian in need of a pedicure.

Lesser Goldfinch.