........and folks dressed up like Eskimos

I hope that you all have favorite memories of "Christmases Long, Long Ago".  After all, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."
In the Midwest, Christmas means cold weather. As a kid, I loved the winter weather. Every year, I couldn't wait to get out my sled. I still have that very sled!  Of course, it's now a weathered antique (sort of like me). It held up pretty well, because it wasn't really cool enough or fast enough for my kids to use and wreck. And now, as a survivor, it makes a great front porch, decorative piece.

I've kept my ice skates, too. They are in a drawer, someplace in the garage. The beautiful white leather shoe-skates were a present from Santa. I remember they were all that I wanted that year. What a thrill to have my very own skates! Until finding my new pair under the tree, I had been using my mom's skates, which were black and dated from the 1930s. And, I had memorized the advertisement for those skates from The Sears and Roebuck Catalog. Twelve dollars and 99 cents, plus shipping.
Ice skating was such fun. We had a perfect sized "lake" in our neighborhood, and all of my friends were skaters. When the ice got thick enough, when we weren't falling down, we all became Olympic hopefuls.
Happy Holiday!

Dear Lord. Thank you for Long Term Memories.