A Christmas Memoir

This is the street I grew up on.  There was usually snow on it
from December to March.  That’s my sister walking up the
street.  We lived in upstate New York and winters were cold.
Continue to see photos and the story . . .

©booksandbuttons

Here is our front porch one Christmas.  If you look closely,
you’ll see an old set of jingle bells from a sleigh by the
doorway.  Mom always got them out for Christmastime.
Some years she made the pillars into candy cane sticks.
That’s our dog, Domino, (the blank Domino–all black)
sitting there posing.

front porch, with our dog, Domino ©booksandbuttons

One year Mom gave us a Canasta game.  It was a card game, but
it came in a SET, and with a CARD HOLDER and RULES.    The
Canasta phase was sweeping the country in the 1950s and  Mom
made sure we were part of it.  We were a card playing family
anyway—I knew all kinds of rummy games by the time I was three–
(thanks to Grandma and my brother) but this was a whole new
ballgame!

Canasta cards from the
1950s, but ours were brown.

The cards looked pretty much like these–well, exactly like these except
ours were kind of an oaky brown.  There are probably a few still around
–even after the “craze” ended, you’d find one in a drawer in the living
room, or on the floor in a bedroom.  They made good bookmarks.

My big sister and brother and I learned all the rules—-something to do
with “melds” if I remember . . . and we played it a lot.

The three of us playing Canasta in the 1950s
©booksandbuttons

It was the year I received a Hopalong Cassidy cowgirl outfit from
Santa!  Here I am playing with our little cousin, Johnny.

me in Hopalong Cassidy outfit and cousin Johhny
Chrismas in the 1950s ©booksandbuttons

They are good Christmas memories and I hope you’ll think
back to some of yours, too.  If you liked this post, you might
also like Christmas Snapshots 1953  I wrote a while back.
Or, another memoir, The Christmas Card Game.

Merry Christmas to all!