Thursday, December 24, 2015

TBT: Christmas, 1965

In 1965 Judy and I were living in our little apartment on Normal Street in Denton and having our first Christmas together.  We bought our little tree (that's it on the left) at an A&P grocery store and immediately decided that would be our Christmas tradition.  I don't know how many years after that we bought our trees at A&P, but the tradition lasted for all our Austin years and extended into the Brownwood years for a while.   The decorations on that tree are some of the ones on our tree this year. 

Eventually we decided it was time to get an artificial tree because the real ones were causing problems.  The needles they dropped on the carpet were bad enough, clogging up the vacuum and almost burning up the motor.  The tree was so dry by the time Christmas rolled around that it was a serious fire hazard. 

We found a plastic tree on sale at T.G.&Y. after Christmas and bought it to use the next year.  It wasn't long afterward that the A&P in Brownwood closed its doors forever, but I'm sure there was no connection.

The artificial tree inspired me to poetic heights I've never reached since.  I may have posted this poem before, but here it is again:

PLASTIC XMAS

Underneath my plastic tree
are plastic presents, wrapped with glee
and plastic tape as you can see.
Nearby there's a nativity
(made of plastic, naturally)
with its plastic babe fast asleep
and plastic shepherds that quietly creep,
as plastic angels from the rooftop peep.

Beside it stand my plastic wife, 
my plastic children . . .
my plastic life.

12 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

Wow - deep.

I'm probably the least poetic person around.

Richard said...

Your dark side is showing--I like it! Merry freakin' Christmas, Bill!

Karin said...

Christmas on Normal Street--a good name for a story.

Todd Mason said...

And a certain Lehrer-esque swing to that. Happy Xmas, Bill!

Dave Zeltserman said...

very good--I like the left turn the poem took.

Don Coffin said...

Little depressing there at the end, Bill. But I have just one word for you..."Plastic."

Unknown said...

That first Christmas together is one you don't forget. Kathy wanted a real tree, and since we didn't have any tools in the apartment I ended up cutting off the bottom with a bread knife!

Lawrence Person said...

Merry Christmas, Bill!

Cap'n Bob said...

You, a plastic life? It is to laugh. Paper, maybe, but not plastic.

Unknown said...

Dang, 1965 I was reading about the our Space Program in the Weekly Reader, a newspaper for kids. I think we were all trying to figure out what this Vietnam thing was about & it wasn't all plastic, I actually had toys made from well crafted hard metals. My sisters and I fought over who's turn it was with the Wish Book, AKA the Sears Catalog to decide who our wealth of toys would be incressed.

Unknown said...

I miss the old days!

C E said...

Ouch.
I recall calling people plastic meaning that they were fakes.lol