Holiday Memories Part I
This time of year I start remembering Christmas holidays from when I was a kid. Things like the smell of a new vinyl doll on Christmas morning.
One of my favorite Christmas memories is of the year my Grandma bought me twin boy and girl dolls for Christmas. They didn't have lifelike hair but they came complete with full wardrobes that she had made.
It snowed that Christmas and I dressed and undressed those dolls all day long. I remember not wanting my two year old brother to play with them.
That was the year Daddy was working in Oklahoma and I went to first grade for part of the winter. That was also the year I told my teacher Daddy didn't have money to buy me a new coat. Someone at the school bought me a beautiful red one.
Mama and Daddy took it back and told them they had just been waiting to go to the city to buy me one. I have no recollection of the one they bought but still remember that pretty red coat.
I remember Daddy telling me to step in his tracks through the deep snow from the house to the car. I wonder why he didn't just pick me up and carry me. I was pretty tiny in the first grade.
A few years later, my brother got a Huckleberry Hound doll for Christmas. I remember he was turquoise blue, had a yellow hat, and looked just like the one in the cartoons. Of course, when we were watching Huckleberry Hound on television back then, he was just black and white.
I thought it was cute but David really loved him. While teasing him one night, I threw Huckleberry's hat right out the car window onto Main Street. I regret being such a brat. I apologized a few years ago.
I remember Mama promising they would take us window shopping when Daddy got off work. I remember the multi-colored lights crisscrossing Spadra Bridge and the brightly decorated storefronts.
Even on the coldest nights, we would tumble out of the car to stand closer to the windows. My brother liked the dump trucks while I loved looking at the baby dolls.
I don't remember actually getting anything that was in the window though. Unless it was that doll carriage I got right before my sister was born in January.
I remember my Uncle Paul and Aunt Louise coming by to proudly show off their newborn baby girl shortly after Christmas. I remember the baby smelled pretty. Mamas baby powdered their babies really well back then.
I begged them to spend the night and let Paula Kay sleep in my new doll carriage. I told them she would fit perfectly but I guess they didn't believe me.
Speaking of Paula Kay...my mother and two of my aunts were expecting Christmas babies about the same time. (The Middleton cousins seemed to come in little clusters.)
Mama had planned to name our baby Paul Dean if he was a boy and Paula Dean if she was a girl. Both names would be after Daddy's brother Daniel Paul and Mama's brother Morrice Dean. Mama and Daddy loved those two boys.
However, both aunts delivered first and named their daughters Sheral Dean and Paula Kay. When my sister came along Mama named her after the two grandmothers.
It is late and that is enough reminiscing for now. I'll tell about the Christmas trips to Oklahoma City next time.
One of my favorite Christmas memories is of the year my Grandma bought me twin boy and girl dolls for Christmas. They didn't have lifelike hair but they came complete with full wardrobes that she had made.
It snowed that Christmas and I dressed and undressed those dolls all day long. I remember not wanting my two year old brother to play with them.
That was the year Daddy was working in Oklahoma and I went to first grade for part of the winter. That was also the year I told my teacher Daddy didn't have money to buy me a new coat. Someone at the school bought me a beautiful red one.
Mama and Daddy took it back and told them they had just been waiting to go to the city to buy me one. I have no recollection of the one they bought but still remember that pretty red coat.
I remember Daddy telling me to step in his tracks through the deep snow from the house to the car. I wonder why he didn't just pick me up and carry me. I was pretty tiny in the first grade.
A few years later, my brother got a Huckleberry Hound doll for Christmas. I remember he was turquoise blue, had a yellow hat, and looked just like the one in the cartoons. Of course, when we were watching Huckleberry Hound on television back then, he was just black and white.
I thought it was cute but David really loved him. While teasing him one night, I threw Huckleberry's hat right out the car window onto Main Street. I regret being such a brat. I apologized a few years ago.
Me and My Brother in 1954
I remember Mama promising they would take us window shopping when Daddy got off work. I remember the multi-colored lights crisscrossing Spadra Bridge and the brightly decorated storefronts.
Even on the coldest nights, we would tumble out of the car to stand closer to the windows. My brother liked the dump trucks while I loved looking at the baby dolls.
I don't remember actually getting anything that was in the window though. Unless it was that doll carriage I got right before my sister was born in January.
I remember my Uncle Paul and Aunt Louise coming by to proudly show off their newborn baby girl shortly after Christmas. I remember the baby smelled pretty. Mamas baby powdered their babies really well back then.
I begged them to spend the night and let Paula Kay sleep in my new doll carriage. I told them she would fit perfectly but I guess they didn't believe me.
Speaking of Paula Kay...my mother and two of my aunts were expecting Christmas babies about the same time. (The Middleton cousins seemed to come in little clusters.)
Mama had planned to name our baby Paul Dean if he was a boy and Paula Dean if she was a girl. Both names would be after Daddy's brother Daniel Paul and Mama's brother Morrice Dean. Mama and Daddy loved those two boys.
However, both aunts delivered first and named their daughters Sheral Dean and Paula Kay. When my sister came along Mama named her after the two grandmothers.
It is late and that is enough reminiscing for now. I'll tell about the Christmas trips to Oklahoma City next time.
This is the first thing i read when i got up this morning. Beautiful memories. Rita Ann you always make me smile with your memories i can't remember. I loved growing up in our family. Grandma & Grandpa are two very special angels in heaven. Thank you for your wonderful stories. I am very proud to be a Middleton. Love you.
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