Tuesday, December 1, 2009

24 Memories Until Christmas

I like to call my tree a memory tree. There are some ornaments that I bought just because I liked them but most of the ornaments on my tree hold a special meaning. Maybe they are special because they remind me of a certain period of my life. Some were bought to honor a certain person. Many were gifts. From now until Christmas I will be sharing some of these memories here.

Before I get to any of the ornaments I put on the lights. My tree has all blue lights because John is my “Blue light special.” Yup, we met at K-mart. (For those of you too young to remember they used to have a flashing blue light, like you might find on an emergency vehicle, on the top of a tall pole on wheels that they moved around the store to the manager’s special of the moment.) We both ended up in line together at the electronics counter in the back of the store. I was alone, he had PJ with him. We started chatting to pass the time. His turn came and they left. I took care of my business and headed back up to the front desk to complete my return. We ended up in line again together. The fact that I had two very small children was revealed. He still asked for my phone number and I gave it to him; that was the only time I gave a man I didn’t know my phone number. Our road together has had many twists, turns, bumps and a couple of pot-holes but our love has seen us through 25 Christmas’ together and I'm looking forward to #26.



This series originally appeared in 2006 at The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree. Some posts have been updated, others replaced.

4 comments:

Amy Coffin said...

What a great story! And I love the cross-stitched nutcracker. Did you make it?

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

Thanks Amy! I did make the nutcracker ornament and the several other cross stitched ones on the tree.

Joan said...

I have always loved blue Christmas tree lights and the wonderfully peaceful cast they give to the tree and decorations --- I just never equated it to the "blue light special." And yes, I too remember the K-Mart blue lights. Nice memories, nice story.

Gini said...

I too remember the "blue light special" at K-Mart! Had a K-Mart right down the street from us for years. Your meeting and life together was so mean't to be that day! That's pretty special.