Merry Christmas from Mike & Connie
74 years ago I celebrated my first Christmas in College Park, Georgia. I was only five months old, so I do not remember that first Christmas. I can only imagine that my mother and father took me downtown to see Rich’s 75 feet tall Christmas tree. Not long after I was born my mother worked at Rich’s. I faintly remember Rich’s glass bridge spanning the two parts of the giant store. And to this day, I feel a close affinity to Ralphie in The Christmas Story, sans the snow. Being raised in Georgia and Florida, I only saw fake snow until I went to college in Connecticut. My parents moved to New Jersey that same year. Then 53 years ago, Connie and I celebrated our first Christmas together. Had we met one day sooner, it would have been 54 years ago.
I look back at photographs of past Christmases, but can I remember them all? Heck, no. But I still cherish the arrival of each new Christmas. We still decorate our home with ornaments and holiday keepsakes from years ago. Our tree has but a couple of presents beneath it. We also no longer get yanked out of bed before dawn’s first light. Even if we share Christmas with our grandchildren, they are older and sleep in.
For those who have read my Shiloh novels, I wrote every holiday scene recalling my memories as a child, a parent, and grandparent.
Connie and I still laugh when we remember our first Christmas in 1973. Our eyes bought a tree twice the size of the Griswold tree for an upstairs apartment. We still hang the hand-painted wooden ornaments. May your Christmas memories be merry this and every year.
Mike and Connie
Enjoy the December Newsletter
