Last weekend Kenzie and I met up with the ladies in our family for shopping and lunch. She's the short one in front. I'm the tall one in the back.

We all were invited to bring Christmas memories. Grampy, sadly, wasn't invited to the "girl's" day out - but Grammy represented his story well. Here it is:

Trees at Christmas Time
Grampy

I have many pleasant memories regarding Christmas time at the Averill’s when we lived on upper Pine Street in Snohomish. We had a fairly large living room that was not used much during the year but at Christmas time it was full of activity, not all of which was productive.

One of my most memorable events involved mom asking me to retrieve the ornaments from the room in the attic which was accessed through a removable opening from the bedroom that Les and I shared. As I recall, I was not in favor of doing it at that particular time because it was early evening and it was dark in the attic. In order to get to the ornaments you had to balance on the joists because the kitchen below was only a lath and plaster ceiling. I recall going in through the attic and retrieving the rather large box or ornaments and returning toward the opening. I wandered off the rafters and the next thing I knew I was hanging by my elbows above the stove in the kitchen. My elbows were on the joists but the ornaments were falling one by one or more through the hole I had created.

Mom and dad both came to the commotion and dad wanted to beat my butt. Mom was yelling to get the kid down. I don’t quite recall how I was rescued but little damage was done to my body. The hole was rather inspiring. Even after I was safe on the floor, ornaments continued to flow from the attic. There was an article in the Snohomish County Tribune about the event with the headline that Santa had come early to the Averill household.

Mom always decorated the tree. The ceiling in the living room was 9 or 10 feet high. She liked to save ornaments from year to year and usually purchased additional trimmings each year. One year she purchased a couple of dozen very large bright red balls. Dad purchased a cork gun. Before long there wasn’t a ball in sight but there were little piles of red broken ornaments all over the living room hardwood floor.

As a family we always had a couple of dogs, Don and Rock. We also usually had an array of kittens, mostly one at a time. One little cat we had was really more than rather playful. The cat was always up to something and was quite a joy for us to tease and play with. The old paper bag was always good for a laugh as this cat would come from far away and dive into the bag, regardless if you placed it in front of a solid cupboard or not. It also took a very fond liking to the Christmas tree. The cat discovered that if it went near the top and started shaking, funny sounds appeared. Those sounds were that of the ornaments flying from the tree.

Dad nearly always gave mom money for Christmas. He would put it in an envelope or place it under the tree or onto a branch. After I became of driving age, dad would give me money to buy mom her present. I would head toward the Bon Marche in Everett. I would stroll through the store and look at everything and I’d virtually always end up in the ladies lingerie. I can’t remember how many slip, etc, I bought for mom. Those ladies got so they knew me from year to year.

There was a small bedroom on the main floor that Les used while he was working his way through his bout with rheumatic fever. There was an open closet in that bedroom that mom used to store presents. There was never an item in that closet that didn’t get the snoop treatment. Les and I always knew every item we were receiving a month in advance.

Christmas was always the time that mom and all our aunts used to make candy. Divinity was the choice of most. I think Aunt Valera did the best on the divinity. Cookies were another favorite. Not too much of the dough was made into cookies if mom wasn’t on her toes.

Christmas presents were always opened on Christmas morning. We were allowed to open one the evening before, but we already knew what was in the packages. I think the only surprises came if something was in the garage and I am not sure about that either.

Mom always cooked the Christmas dinner, complete with all the trimmings. Dad usually took several of us to visit close relatives as the toddy was always brewing near any Averill. People showed up at our door at all hours of the day or night and there was always enough for everyone. Dad and mom had several friends who made our home their regular stopping off place and it usually was around dinner time.