Now where were we?
And yes, you are correct we have moved to here from there just recently and are going to try out this new space with the help of a friend of mine who has been tremendously helpful about moving and grooving around here in cyberspace as I fumble around in the dark trying to get this Log Book placed and functioning…so a Hat Tip to Keith in North Carolina who has helped me get this far with this Log Book as it evolves
And with that we can roll back the clock to Christmas Morn, 1958, Lake Oswego, Oregon
To set the stage a little bit…usually, in our household, the stockings for all four of us would be hanging from the mantelpiece, stuffed with goo-gaws and miscellaneous tiny toys that would fit in the stockings and the Christmas tree apron would be slowly, day by day, filling up with Christmas presents from and for all four of us…
But not this Christmas
Instead, this Christmas Morn the stockings were hanging empty and the Christmas tree apron was bare and bereft of any presents, at all…needless to say during the run-up to Christmas Eve, this puzzled us as kids…so we were surprised on Christmas Eve when Mom and Dad said we would wait until Christmas Morn to open presents since we traditionally opened one present each on Christmas Eve…it should be noted here that presents to Mom and Dad were always kept in our rooms, already wrapped and brought out on Christmas Morn to be added to the pile so we as kids accepted what Mom and Dad said on Christmas Eve even though I was a little puzzled by this change in tradition but I was a kid and thought: Oh well, Mom and Dad knew what they were doing so no big deal…so I went to bed on Christmas Eve with the usual excitement I always had on that special night…
As I have previously said, I was usually the first one up on Christmas Day and this Christmas Day was no different…I bounded out of bed while it was still dark, woke Mom and Dad up and then woke my sister up and went to the living room while Mom and Dad rustled around in their bedroom…I do not know what I was expecting that particular Christmas Morn but I know I was not expecting what I found on the apron of the Christmas tree
A single white envelope addressed to my sister and me
My curiosity factor was off the charts with the fascination that single white envelope created in me…as I sat there in the living room waiting on Mom and Dad to emerge from their bedroom…Mom and Dad slowly came out of their bedroom and walked to the kitchen to brew up some coffee…meanwhile, I am running around, pestering them to hurry up so we could find out what was in the single white envelope that was addressed to us kids…eventually, Mom and Dad emerged from the kitchen with their coffee, took their seats in the living room and said: Go ahead now and open the envelope…I could not get to it fast enough since I was over the Moon with wondering what could be in the the single white envelope…
I tore it open to discover a single paper with these words written on it:
Four tickets to DisneyLand and four tickets to the Rose Bowl
I sat there stunned, realizing that we were going to DisneyLand (every kids dream at the time since DisneyLand had just opened in in Southern California in 1955)…I was ecstatic, happy and grateful of what Mom and Dad has just done for us kids…I could not believe it: DISNEYLAND
I was jumping around and waving the piece of paper in the air, whooping and hollering…making so much noise that I thought the neighbors could hear me…Mom and Dad then explained we going to the Rose Bowl since the University of Iowa (Mom and Dad’s alma mater) was going to the Rose Bowl to play California on New Year’s Day (1959)
Here is the beauty and elegance of Mom and Dads gift to us:
we all were going to share an experience together in Southern California…we were going to DisneyLand (kids) and the Rose Bowl (adults)…life could not get any better than this…this would be known today as a peak experience, one that I would never forget and treasure as as I grew older and a Christmas that would forever be etched in my memories of my parents and their wonderful deeds as we grew older
well that should wrap this one up (no pun intended) as move on to the Roman Numeral VIII
to be continued