Advent Calendar; Day 5: Outdoor Decorations

Did people in your neighborhood decorate with lights? Did some people really go “all out” when decorating? Any stories involving your ancestors and decorations?


Wow, Here it is day five and I have only written one post on this theme, I will try to do better...


Most of the houses in our neighborhood never had Christmas lights outside. I do remember one Christmas Eve when my family piled into my Dad's Oldsmobile and we were taken down a street in Oakland, in which every house was lit up for Christmas. The line of cars to pass was so long, and everyone drove slow down the block, so as to not miss any of the decorations. I am not sure the name of the street, but I still remember my excitement at seeing all of the decorations.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, Day 1: The Christmas Tree

 Every year as long as I could remember, my Mother and my two sisters, would drive to the local tree lot and pick out a Christmas tree. Some years they were flocked, some years they were natural.

Once at home, we would start the fire in the fireplace and turn on
Nat King Cole and Rhythm and Blues Christmas (Amazon Associate link). Then we would search high and low for our boxes of decorations to place on the tree. Every year my mother would have different color schemes and unique uses for our decorations.

When my mother passed away in 2001, her many boxes of decorations were divided up among my sisters. I didn't want  any at the time and now with the birth of my daughter, I wished I had kept some to pass on to her.

I don't remember how my grandparents celebrated Christmas. I do remember going to my Dad's family dinner one year, but mostly I think this was one of my Mother's favorite holidays. I have many photos of Christmas as a child somewhere, but for now, here is a picture of me in Hollywood, California at Christmas time.