Putting Away Christmas

I was late getting Christmas up this year, even though I started early November. We had a lot of old Christmas decor stored in our attic over the garage that we were determined to downsize this year. Not going back up there...no matter what.

More lights, less stuff this year. I didn't even put up the Christmas tree. Instead we decorated the top of the cabinets, especially in the kitchen. 

The 12 foot ceilings come in handy for displaying tall objects. I like to keep big baskets up there for storing seldom used items and that's probably where part of the Christmas stuff will go when it finally gets taken down.

Long ago my grandparents left Gresham Nebraska, during the depression, for a better life in Northern California. A relative let them store some oak furniture in his barn since they planned to return for it after they got settled. 

Over 40 years later, around 1976, the Nebraska barn was being torn down and a relative notified my father that it was now or never...so Dad drove to Nebraska and picked up some of the old family pieces.

I like to recreate that barn scene up above this side of the kitchen with the old wood framed mirror, pumpkins and chickens mixed together. That's how I imagine that furniture must have looked in that old barn after all those years!

My father passed his furniture pieces from the barn to me. He had chosen his grandmother's dresser and mirror from when she was a child. He also brought the family's old dining room table and chairs for his sister Ruth and Aunt Fran got another piece she requested.

This picture is from Thanksgiving morning 1978, when dad visited me in Illinois after having a lung removed. I'd have combed everyone's hair better if I had known I would be publishing it on the internet this many years later. I moved back to California a few months later and he gave me the dresser and mirror a little after that.

My father and his two sisters were the last members of their large family. My father died first in 1994, his sister Fran a few years later, and Aunt Ruth lived until 2013. 

I'm not sure if Ruth's daughters still have the dining room set, but I cherish my great-grandmother's little dresser and mirror. Even after 45 plus years sitting in a barn, and then another 35-plus years with me, the beveled mirror is still perfectly clear. I plan to feature the set early next year in another post about my grandparents, Harry and Sabra.

Thanks for listening to me ramble tonight. I guess the holidays lead us to remember the people who raised us and shared our childhood holidays with us so long ago. I appreciate all of you who take time out of your busy day to stop by, leave comments, and I love when you share your memories too.

Thanks SO MUCH for dropping by!

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