GET THE RIBBON OUT!

Christmas Memory # 2-
We had a tradition at the James household of dividing the space under the tree every Christmas. I do not really remember what brought that on, but I suppose we must have had some disagreements about who was getting what. Being a "HUGE TOMBOY", I liked whatever the boys got better than my "girls things." Daddy would get a 6 inch wide piece of Christmas ribbon and divide the floor space under the tree into thirds. You knew where your space was and your "things" were all within that ribbon. Santa did not wrap gifts to bring to our home on James Avenue, so there were no gift tags to denote who got what. I really do not remember us exchanging gifts among our family members so there were not many "wrapped" presents under the tree. We always got up in the "middle" of the night and looked at Santa's Haul. My Mother & Daddy's room was at the end of the house which was built in a L shape. I think they must have closed their door to the hall, in anticipation of this midnight exploration. We also each had a stocking, that Grandmother Gillespie had made, that was full of fruit and candy and an orange in the toe, and left on the marble hearth by the fireplace. There were also plenty of fireworks to be shot for the next few days leading up to New Year's Day. Until Daddy died, Christmas was a magical time and so much fun. He loved it as much as any child ever did! Once he died, the magic also died, and Christmas became just another day. I have always tried to make our family's Christmas just as magical as those early Christmases were for the James children. I am thankful for those good memories and glad that I have shared them with you all. That which we pass on does not die, but lives in the memories of those that have been retold the story to. Pass on your memories, Friends-Pass on your memories.

Back to the real world tomorrow, at least until we leave again Thursday. We are running tomorrow AM at 5:30 for 9. BC & I have chilled all day since I am having allergy problems and he is "just tired". We will hit the ground running tomorrow early.