CHRISTMAS 16 – 1986
Saturday, February 12th, 2011
I was hoping for a white Christmas for 1986, mostly because I had a new sled. But hoping for and getting wasn’t always the same – as this Christmas proved. There was sickness a-brewing in my house. Denise had interrupted my movie-watching on the evening of Saturday, December 20, to let me know that she had thrown up all over her room. She spent the rest of the weekend recovering, but not before leaving the germs of a flu bug behind. By Tuesday, Dad was feeling ill and was having productive sessions over the toilet. Read the rest of this entry »
And it’s a darn good thing. Before Megan came around, there just wasn’t anything to report in those frozen months of tedium known as January. Unless of course I was able to sneak in a reunion or two, star in a work training video, play some pool with my cousin, catch Tiny in the act of stealing and hiding her treats, or visit a Chinese restaurant where the waitress pleads to hold Adam. But in the case of 2011, none of those things happened. So I go back to saying, it’s a good thing that Megan is now around to liven up our bleak midwinter. 
The first Christmas that would be spend in our new house on Winterset Drive came about on Monday, December 25, 1978. As I recall, the transition was seamless. I had had some wonderful, warm holiday celebrations at our house on Echo Hill – but I think I was just as happy in our new digs and would remain so for the 15 Christmases after this one. This was the only Christmas during which we opened our new presents on the hideous family room carpet that came with the house. We’d be replacing it shortly after the first of the year. But I digress… 
This posting will be the last in the series of ‘missing links’ of 2006. I began the website on September 13 and thereafter chronicled two vacations from the summer that had just ended, but didn’t pick up the time period in the middle, so here I bridge the gap between August 6 and September 12. My Myrtle Beach posting did mention that in between the two vacations I opened our first Marketplace store on July 20 and that Ashleigh attended the NYC (National Youth Conference) week in Colorado of July 23-28. We left for Myrtle Beach the next day. What it did not mention was that Briana spent her first week at Woodland Altars from July 16-22. 
I had a lot to look forward to going into the summer months of 1986. Eighth grade was over and it was time to have loads of fun. It was at this juncture in my life that I began what I sometimes think of as my ‘double-life.’ I was slimmed down, vastly interested in people of the female persuasion, ready for mischief, and to be a teenager on the prowl. On the other hand, I was a geek at heart. Always was. Always will be. I had a tremendous fascination with the movie world, collecting autographs, and especially Laurel and Hardy memorabilia…but we won’t go into that…yet.