CHRISTMAS PAST and MY WISH TO YOU

I had a wonderful start to my day and it gave me energy so I decided to go Christmas shopping and leave the baking till tomorrow…that’s a good thing though because if the cookies are there I’ll eat them….it was a very snowy day just perfect for Christmas shopping.
I bought the makings for a really easy recipe my friend and also my sister in-law gave me….they’re Pecan Turtles made with the tiny square pretzels, a Rolo candy and a whole pecan….just put one Rolo on each pretzel, heat in oven till the chocolate/caramel gets soft, about 5 minutes and then press a whole pecan in the top….Just that easy.
My sister in-law brought some for my Open House and they were gobbled up immediately.
My shopping is finished but I just have a few stocking stuffers to purchase. This year we’re having an extra guest join us for our festivities. Our granddaughter is bringing her boyfriend so it was shopping for someone new this year and to have a new face at the dining room table – oh, and to fill another stocking!
What a wonderful year I have had with my blog. I have found friends in all of you and I so enjoy our chats on our blogs.
Some of you I have talked to on the phone, some I’ve even met in person, others I have kept in contact with through e-mails. To each and everyone of you….my friends…. please stay safe and warm and have the merriest Christmas ever.
As I promised this morning I said I would scan pictures of our previous years Christmas Trees.
 
I’m missing some years – quite possibly they are on discs that I have packed away. Since the digital camera I don’t get my pictures developed into hard copy pictures…they are all on the computer and then I burn them to a disc.
Now mind you …. as I look back on the pictures they are rather pathetic looking. Seems we progress through the years and wonder just what the heck we saw in our decorating…I loved it at the time….but now looking back…not so good!!!  I still laugh at what I thought was ‘pretty’ But I still hope you enjoy the changes over the years.
1967 – we moved from an old rental house to a NEW duplex!
1969 we moved from the duplex to an adorable 2 story Cape Cod very similar to the one we are living in now. We had two trees this year, one in the living room and this one in the dining room.

1971 still in the Cape Cod


1975 we are now in our new home!

This is the opposite end of the living room….why I thought this looked good is beyond me!



 1976 – still in the new house


1978 – the last year in Janesville in our new home before we got transferred to Burlington


Same year - 1978….yet another attempt at red and white…how sad!

1979 our first Christmas in our Cape Cod in Burlington where we now reside
Same year…opposite end of room….doesn’t look like this now does it? The dark paneling is painted and the bookcases and fireplace have been faced and are deep brick red…remember the pictures I’ve posted before? I posted one after this one so you can see the difference




1980

1981
1983 – we took a 2 week trip to Florida over the Christmas/New Year holiday with 28 other relatives -  each family had their own condo which were owned by another cousin – I do think we had most of the condos rented that holiday. So this was our pitiful tree and gifts. My gosh how outdated this room is now!
 1984….now this tree we cut fresh one week before Christmas – wait till you see the next picture

This is all that’s left of it by Christmas Eve day!!!
As you walked through the room you could hear the needles dropping.
It sounded like rain and never stopped till the branches were bare.
We cut what was left of it off and Doug carried the dead carcass outside!
So we made the best of it, propped it up and threw some tinsel on it and walla…a mini-tree.

And….we also had a fresh one in our family room but it stayed nice and crisp the whole time. 

1986 we bought our first imitation tree….back in 1999 we purchased our German Twig Tree and gave this one to our son Dan
.
1992 – like I said….the other years are on discs and  packed away
 



































1993


1995
2000, our second year with the German Twig Tree which we still are using 
 2001
2003

 2005
My little German Twig Tree
 
2007
2008 

I know this post was so long but I just thought it would be fun to do…I love looking at my old pictures and I hope you did too.


Karen