Covid has messed stuff up for everyone, and the holidays, especially in 2020 and 2021, were a really rough period for people. We lost my buddy Richard in 2020 and Ruben’s dad in 2021. A lot of other friends and family also passed away these past few years. When Christmas came around last month, however, things were looking better, and I was determined to make this holiday season a more enjoyable experience for me and Ruben. And indeed, it turned out to be a much more pleasant holiday than the last few have been.
My favorite Christmas song…
Thanksgiving turned out well. Ruben and I took his mom with us to have dinner at his brother Robert’s house. The occasion put us in the mood to start decorating the house for the Christmas season. I got the outside lights up the first weekend in December and Ruben started working on setting up the tree at that point too. It felt good to have this stuff done and out of the way. We kept the both the tree and the outside lights up through early January.
Ruben and I spent Christmas eve at home together. He made us a big stuffed baked chicken. It was delicious. The following day, we drove to my sister Irene’s house to pick up a dozen tamales and some gifts (socks etc.) she had for us. We then drove over to my other sister Becky’s house and dropped off some tamales for her. From there we went to Ruben’s mom’s house. We shared the tamales with her and Ruben’s brother Jerry and his partner Petra. Here’s a photo of Ruben’s mom with her two sons, and Petra. It’s been two years since Mr. Jimenez passed away, and we all miss him terribly, especially during the holidays. Mrs. Jimenez is 91, but active and as sharp as can be.
Petra, Mrs Jimenez, Ruben and Jerry.
It took me a few hours to get the outside lights up. The older I get, the more difficult this task becomes.
It’s a good thing I had extra strings of lights on hand. Several strands were burned out and needed replacement this year.
Getting the lights up above the awning is always a difficult task. The awning sticks out at least 3 to 4 feet, making it difficult to hang the ligths.,
We bought some new decorations this year, including the lit up Santa that’s in this photo. Ace Hardware on 22nd St had an amazing selection of holiday decorations.
Ruben and I have had this little Christmas village since 1993, our first Christmas together. Friends of his went to Germany this past year and found more little people for us to add to the village. They were the perfcet size.
The statue of the holy family on the left and the little snowman were more new items that we purchased this year. The statue is quite heavy..
Tamales and menudo, gifts from my sister Irene. An annual tradition during the holidays.
This year, I decided to send Christmas cards to my friends and family. I hadn’t done it in years, but just felt like it this year. Below are a sampling of cards Ruben and I received this year.
From Fran Gordon
From Albert and Sarah Elias
From Doreen Simonsen
My good friend Doreen’s annual Christmas letter. We met when I worked at the Undergraduate Library at the University of Michigan. She was a student intern. She’s been sending these to me since the early 90’s, and I still have all of them too!
From Emily Elias
From Shelly Black
From Carla Stoffle, my old boss at the UA Library.
From my sister Irene and her husband Phil. Irene sends me a Christmas card and a birthday card every year.
From Belisa and Frank. Belisa also sends me a Christmas card every year.
Vintage color lithograph from 1898 showing Father Christmas and his reindeer flying through the sky. I used this as my Facebook background photo this year.
I don’t remember where I found this card, but I just love its vintage look. Reminds me of Christmas when I was a little kid.
I used to decorate my trees with vintage Christmas ornaments. I found this ad and posted it on Facenbook. The colors are gorgeous.
Another Internet find.
Ruben and I were in Boston in November, and this was posted on Facebook this year. I had to keep a copy of it.
Love it! She reminds me of Patsy Stone on Absolutely Fabulous!
When I was six or seven, maybe eight years old, my parents went out and bought a silver tree and a color wheel, just like the ones shown here. I would sit and stare at the changing colors on the tree for what seemed like hours at a time.
This was my Facebook banner this year.
Ruben and I bought our families kringles again this year. They seem to really enjoy them. We didn’t buy each other anything. We stopped doing that a while back. We figure that we can buy anything we want for ourselves any time of the year, so why bother with the crowds and the congested roads at Christmastime? He gets lots of gifts from his customers at work. This year, I bought myself a brand new turntable. I consider it my Christmas present to myself.
I purchased this Sony turntable at Best Buy. It’s pretty basic, but it works and I don’t have to adjust the tone arm! It sounds great!
