Christmas Countdown : 04

Last night I managed to put the lights on the tree. I use those old light sets, the ones with bigger bulbs. The "new" sets, with the little tiny lights are just not for me - yet. The part of the old lights I would miss most are the twinkle bulbs. Sad to say, they are getting few and far between now. I haven't been able to find replacements for several years. The miniature lights (when they first came out we used to call them "Japanese lights") don't blink individually - whole strands flick on and off.

I do get a bit particular about my trees. There has to be a balance of colors and then ... oh, it just goes on and on. I like big old trees, which go all the way up to the ceiling. It's what we used to have when I was a kid and we lived with Uncle Bob and Aunt Loraine in what had been my grandfather's house.

I've got to be about 7 in this pic. Evidently, I was modeling the jacket which I had just  received as a gift.

After Dad built his own house, he went for smaller trees. He built a platform for the tree which we'd cover in brick patterned paper. Then he went a little crazy about it all. When we bought a tree, he would look for extra branches lying around. If the tree wasn't symmetrical, he'd drill a hole where a branch should be, and insert one of the extras. Sometimes he'd just move an existing branch an inch or two. It was my duty to decorate the tree and arrange the presents.

Jayne Mansfield decorates a tree

...and arranges the presents.

Except for one year when I was renting a room from a Jewish woman, I have always managed to have a Christmas tree. You know, several really good and nice things have happened to me this year. And, of course, a lot of crap. This year has been especially full of crap. Having these trees over the years has been a sign of victory over my circumstances. But even with the good stuff and my little phyric victory this year, I still an not feeling it. Christmas I mean. It's like I'm just going thru the motions now. Maybe finishing the tree will help.

Bela Lugosi on the right, Ed Wood on the left (unless he's in drag in the center?)

Paulette Goddard

Carole Lombard