My Aunt's house was formally my grandparent's house which was formally the entire
Stenaros family's house (George, Helen, Pat, Mary Carol). It is the home where we celebrate major holidays, but most especially, Christmas.
Last Saturday was the annual tree trimming day which I missed last year, due to an ill-fated trip to the Oregon Coast. It was too bad, because last year the tree trimming was fraught with problems including the tree falling over a few times leading to the
MAunts collapsed on the floor with laughter.
This year was much less entertaining (sigh) but lovely.
My Aunts cut the tree every year right in their neighborhood. Around the corner and down the street there is a man who has probably an acre or so of property on which he plants Christmas Trees. I went there once when I was unemployed and available in the middle of the week. It's pretty cool. It's so close to my Aunt's house, they could carry the tree home if they were the
hearty pioneer souls that Matt and I are, but they drive.
When I arrived the tree was in the stand, wired to the window and the lights were up. I put the angel on the top of the tree first. After I took this picture, I climbed the step stool and there was a good 10 minutes of, "Is it straight now?" "No more to the left." "How about now?" "It's leaning too far forward." This ended when Mom got the clippers and I did some actual trimming of the tree. Then she stood up straight.
My grandmother was a "
donater"--she didn't like a lot of stuff to hang around, so things went to the Goodwill a lot, or to other relatives. My grandfather was a pack rat. When they were alive, my Grandmother held sway over the upstairs and my Grandfather, the basement. Which is what makes the basement such a fun place to visit. My Aunt, however takes after my Grandfather and the upstairs has become much less spartan over the years. Needless to say, we have a lot of ornaments. A lot. There are ornaments from every decade since the 1950's, many still with their now-antique boxes.
This was Squeak's first Christmas. He was very into the tree. It's a good thing he lives over at my tree-less Aunt Carol's house.
The decorations are also many and varied. On top of the piano we have the nativity scene that was my grandmothers, cool angel candles from the 50's, angel candles from a more recent era, and a swoop of garland with music notes on it. There's also an overlord angel in back there.
I had to choose only one Christmas decoration to save from flood or fire, I would save this Christmas Village. The church is a music box that plays, I think, Silent Night.
This poor angel did something very bad, she is in prison.
After many, many ornaments are placed on the tree and I am drooping from exhaustion, then come the snowflakes. There are roughly one million snow flakes and they all must be put up. I groan about the snowflakes every year. It's a Christmas tradition.
The tree looks lovely when it is finished.
Merry Christmas!
We used to have four of the wooden chairs, but one broke and one is on its last legs (hee hee). With the two remaining and the four new chairs, we have a full set for our table.
Thanks Dana. Thanks also to Jan and Aunt Pat for hauling them home. And Matt for unloading them.
Onto dinner. I made Fruit salad with Hot and Sour dressing.
Aunt Carol made Steamed Vegetables
Kelly brought rolls.
Mom, Aunt Carol and I made cheesy potatoes.
Aunt Pat made oysters for Chris, who didn't have the main meat course.
I made squash wreaths. 
Aunt Pat made individual beef wellingtons.
And we all gathered around the table to eat.
Me, Lori, Mom, Aunt Pat, Chris, Kelly, Aunt Carol.
Here is the tree Christmas morning.
And we are all posing with a present we got. Mom has lovely pot holders, Aunt Pat has a small pot to melt butter and a compost bin, Chris has a copy of the People's History of the United States, Aunt Carol has a knife sharpener and I have a new cast iron skillet. It was a good Christmas.
My Aunts cut the tree every year right in their neighborhood. Around the corner and down the street there is a man who has probably an acre or so of property on which he plants Christmas Trees. I went there once when I was unemployed and available in the middle of the week. It's pretty cool. It's so close to my Aunt's house, they could carry the tree home if they were the hearty pioneer souls that Matt and I are, but they drive.
My grandmother was a "donater"--she didn't like a lot of stuff to hang around, so things went to the Goodwill a lot, or to other relatives. My grandfather was a pack rat. When they were alive, my Grandmother held sway over the upstairs and my Grandfather, the basement. Which is what makes the basement such a fun place to visit. My Aunt, however takes after my Grandfather and the upstairs has become much less spartan over the years. Needless to say, we have a lot of ornaments. A lot. There are ornaments from every decade since the 1950's, many still with their now-antique boxes.
This was Squeak's first Christmas. He was very into the tree. It's a good thing he lives over at my tree-less Aunt Carol's house.
The decorations are also many and varied. On top of the piano we have the nativity scene that was my grandmothers, cool angel candles from the 50's, angel candles from a more recent era, and a swoop of garland with music notes on it. There's also an overlord angel in back there.
I had to choose only one Christmas decoration to save from flood or fire, I would save this Christmas Village. The church is a music box that plays, I think, Silent Night.
After many, many ornaments are placed on the tree and I am drooping from exhaustion, then come the snowflakes. There are roughly one million snow flakes and they all must be put up. I groan about the snowflakes every year. It's a Christmas tradition.
The tree looks lovely when it is finished.
This picture doesn't capture the lovely 50's blue that is the old vacuum cleaner, but I love the ecstatic expression of the women on the vacuum cleaner bag wrapper. I also love her swinging sunken couch.
We bought our new vacuum cleaner at Oraks Vacuums (821 N. Lombard). It is a totally refurbished bagless model which only cost $59.00. It works wonderfully on the floors and has the attachments built in. I liked buying a refurbished model because not only was I getting a deal, but I was supporting a local business too.
Perhaps now Matt will look forward to our Tuesday night house cleaning sessions.
