When Grandma was a little girl of ten-years-old - 1954 to be specific, she lived in Los Angeles. When the Christmas season started she and her mom would hop on the P-Car Trolley and go downtown to see the big windows of May Co. and Desmonds as well as other large department stores. They were full of mannequins dressed in wonderful holiday clothing, with fake snow on decorated trees and lots and lots of lights. It was a magical thing to see.

Grandma says she even visited Santa, even at the grown up age of 10 and sat on his lap. She remembers wearing a black velvet dress with a wide red satin shirt and lots of fluffy petticoats. She wore black paten leather Marijane shoes and white ankle socks with angora cuffs. In those days a young lady also wore black kidskin gloves and a small hat when she was really dressed up. Grandma says she always felt special and lovely at Christmas.

"We decorated our tree a week before Christmas because it was a live one and my mom was always afraid the lights would short out and cause a fire," Grandmas says. "We had lights on the tree that got hot enough to make water bubble up in their candle like tops. They were very pretty but they really were hot, so worrying about fire was always something to think about. We had colored glass ball on the tree and at least 10 of them would be broken before the tree came down two days after Christmas. That's because our cat Puddles liked Christmas too and loved to climb the branches and nestle in the tree.

Christmas morning Grandmas says she woke up early and went into the living room. My grandma wasn't allowed in that room except on special occasions. It was always dressed for company. The tree was lit and her mom had put a Bing Crosby record on the Victrola. The kids each took their gifts and opened them making sure to keep the room today because even though it was Christmas, it was still meant to stay dressed for company.

Grandma told me that her best Christmas was when she received a small Cocker Spaniel puppy that she named Mikey. He was her inseparable friend until she left home at 17. When I asked about her other favorite gifts, she remembered a red bike with training wheels, roller skates, a pogo stick she never quite got the hang of, a complete cowgirl outfit because Grandma was nutty about horses, and one year a Chatty Cathy doll that spoke like a robot but was a mechanical marvel for the early 1950s. Chatty Cathy came with a matching outfit for her, which made it a memory that lasted Grandma's whole life. One time she even received a turquoise birthstone ring that she still wears today.

Later in the afternoon there was a Christmas dinner - usually ham or roast beef. It was very fancy and served in the dining room, which was only used at Christmas and Easter. Grandma recalls that they also had a dessert, which was an unusual treat. Grandmother's mom wasn't a great cook, so this extra fine meal was so special and always a good memory she likes to recall. Grandma says that she stills makes some of the salads and vegetables that her mother made and remembers her when she serves it at her holiday dinners.

The days after Christmas were spent riding bikes, and fall off until she got those training wheels off, falling off her pogo stick so many times she finally stashed it behind some old boxes in the garage, and click clacking her roller skates on the sidewalk in front of her house. She always wore the skate key on a strung around her neck so she could tighten them up from time to time. All too soon it was back to school for a long January ahead, but lots of stories to swap with her friends at St. Mary Magdalen's parochial school.