The in-between activities

We're in a time between Christmas and New Year's. As a child, this could have been very boring for us, but I don't recalled ever being bored. Oh, I suppose I was, I just don't remember it.

Don't forget, TV was a new concept, and after Kookla, Fran, and Ollie, Howdy Doody, and Willie the Worm there was nothing else on TV to amuse a kid until late afternoon. And since I was 10 when we got our first TV, the previous shows held little interest for me, and by the time I was 10 my Christmas gift receipts had changed from toys to clothes or books.

One thing I remember doing is going to visit my friends, or them coming to visit me, and comparing gifts. This wasn't as difficult as it could have been because we lived in the post-world-war II economy where men worked in factories, moms stayed home, and people weren't trying to surpass the neighbors with stuff. Most of my friends were as poor as we were, so we liked to see how the other person fared. I had more gift-giving relatives that some of my friends, so I did a little better, but the gifts were small, and really monetarily we probably all got about the same amount of things. I mean a 10-cent hankie counted as one gift, as did a jar of olives. You can see where I'm going with that, right? If you count all the olives in a jar, I, by far, had more gifts than anyone else on the block! And by the time I was 10, and was receiving books, that took away any boredom at all, because I'd just read my new book(s) and I'd be off in another time and place.

Another thing I recall is something Mom and I did on almost a daily basis -- that was to look at the many, many Christmas cards the family had received. We'd ooh and aah over the ones that had foil beneath the picture so that the stars shone more brightly, or the ones that had ribbons on the side, or the ones that were intricately cut out. Some were covered with glitter. Back then almost all cards were unique, like Hallmark cards are today.

We'd look at those cards, reminding ourselves who had thought enough to send the family a card. Often times it had money in it and that was a good thing, because Mom and Dad would give us a very small cut -- like a dime -- but a dime here and a dime there adds up to lots of pickles. That's another story. Anyway, the cards in my youthful eye were so special, and mom and I would talk about what we were going to do with them after New Year's. You see, I knew, that after the Christmas things were put away we would either be pasting those cards "as is" in a scrapbook, or we'd be cutting them apart for "parts" to be used in our own card-making efforts.

So, today is the day I will be looking through the cards Alan and I received this year, and I will be cutting out parts of those cards that I will use to put in my own scrapbook. I shall share those parts with my little friends who like to make Christmas cards, hopefully, next year as the next Christmas season comes upon us.

This year I made many cards and I taught a class of children how to make cards. They had a great time, and some of the things they used on their cards -- many were very imaginative -- were those pieces and bits I had cut out from previous years' cards.

Tomorrow is New Years' Eve. No church service here. I wonder if Mt. Calvary still has a New Year's Eve service. I've told the tale of our New Year's Eve services before. A new year is beginning and we need to reflect and be thankful for what God has given us this past year, knowing that His blessings are great and we have a lot to look forward to from Him in the coming year.