211130 Sentinel, Christmas Memories

I have a lot of Christmas memories.

Christmas of 1968 Was the first Christmas Joyce and I had together. We were married in 1964, but I was overseas until 1968. I took leave from the navy and we went to Saint Louis to be with family. We stayed up there until New Years day. That day brought an ice storm, but I had to get back to Millington, Tn. So we left. We got as far as Perryville Mo. when a semitruck had jacknifed on the two lane road through there. We waited for an hour, but I was low on fuel, so I pulled out of line and went back to a gas station to buy some gas. I asked the staton owner if there was an alternate route around the blockage. He pulled out a map and showed me a way around it. The snow down there was piling up. The station owner said if I let some air out of my tires I would get enough traction to get through the backroads around the blockage. I did that and followed the map he gave me. The snow was piled up high along that route and I think I was plowing some of that snow with my front bumper on the car. I couldn't stop or turn around at that point so I just kept going. Annie was just a baby and Joyce held on to her and prayed we didn't slide into a ditch alongside the road. We got to the Arkansas border and it was like there was a curtain there. The roads were clear without a speck of snow. We made it back to Millington and I checked in off leave about 2 in the morning and had to report to work at 7 the next morning. This was the car we were in that night.

Christmas of 1969 was the first Christmas Joyce and I were in a place that was ours. We had bought a 60x12 mobile home in Millington, Tn. Joyce wanted to have our first tree together in our first home and it had to be a nice one. She went out to find her tree while I watched our daughter Annie. The weather turned from cold to rain while she was out. That did not deter her at all. She bought the tree she wanted and brought it home. The tree was soaked, so we brought in through the back door where there was a tile floor for it to dry on. It was a magnificent tree and she decorated it beautifully. We went up to Saint Louis to be with families for the holiday. When we came back after New Years it was time to take the tree down. The branches on the tree had sagged and the branches had extended outward. We found out the tree would not go out either door. We did not have a saw or anything but a serrated bread knife to cut the branches. That did not work well at all, so we just jammed the tree out the door. It took both of us to push it through the door. As we did that the dry needles flew like a snow storm into the living room. We were picking up tree needles for months afterward.

Later in Escondido, Ca. We had a big Christmas party in our Townhouse.

Joyce invited her friends from work and I invited mine from work. My mom and dad and sisters were there too. Annie and her friends were there too. The home was packed with people having a good time. It was the best Christmas party ever. Everyone was over 21, so there was alcohol served. Joyce had made a huge batch of her home-made Kahlua. As the evening wore on the guests had consumed nearly all of her Kahlua, so Joyce sent me to the store to buy the authentic Kahlua. We started serving the real thing and people started asking why was this not as good as before? It was a tribute to Joyce’s skill at making liquors.