A Bit of Childhood

The rule was very strict in my household growing up: No Christmas before Thanksgiving. Period. And oh, at six, this was painful. I would sit in the big red chair, holding the Kingston Trio albums and long to play them.  The Friday after Thanksgiving, they would be the ones I raced to put on first.

Decorating would wait until later in the month. My mother would parse it out, slowly. First music. Then the greenery and bows along the stairs ~ we never did live in a house without stairs ~ and the nativity scene. Sometime in there, the tablecloth. More and more, until finally the night the tree went up. In New York, it went up in time for the annual Christmas party. In Texas, it just went up eventually. And in Virginia, it went up in time for Daddy's class party/final. The years when the party would be late in the month were excruciating. The years when it was early were years to be relished. Some of my favorite memories are still standing outside, sometimes in snow, sometimes in shirtsleeves, looking at the lit and decorated tree through the window, all four of us snuggled in together.

It always started, though, with the Kingston Trio and the music.

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.