Today is Throwback Thursday. In thinking of Christmas’ past, one of my favorite ones was in 2003. This was the Christmas following Hurricane Isabel. Richmond, where my sister and her family live, was hit particularly hard. They lost a number of trees in their yard and a significant amount of time was spent with a chainsaw chopping them up following the storm.
As I was cutting through Sears one day at the mall that fall, I saw a fake chainsaw perfect for a child. Because aunts, godmothers and the like are allowed to buy the worst toys ever for the kids they love without repercussions, I bought that for my nephew Liam. It came with goggles and as I recall made some sort of loud noise. I think I did ask my sister first so she knew it was coming. As you can imagine, Liam, who must have been 2 or so, loved it.
As you can see from the picture, he took the safety goggles seriously and his sister Helen was nice enough to allow him to chop her up. The chainsaw was a lot of fun as was the whole day. It was a warm day and the kids played outside. Kathryn received a ballet tutu as a gift and she wore that as her cousin Max drove her around in his electric jeep. We even got the older kids outside! While we’ve generally gone back and forth hosting Christmas, the last few years we’ve met my sister and her family halfway in a restaurant. Coincidently, Kathryn and her cousins both asked that we meet at someone’s house again this year. It’s wonderful that they want to spend time together. We are heading back to Kathleen’s house. Maybe she can find that chainsaw…
Today’s song is a throwback too. It’s Andy Williams singing “Happy Holidays”. All the songs from that era had a big sound – orchestra or band behind them. I feel like all you have to hear is the first few bars of a song from that era and you know exactly when it was done.
spooningwithsmokey 