The Reindeer Keeper

Besides Laura Ingalls Wilder and Louisa May Alcott books, I loved reading the adventures of The Bobbsey Twins when growing up. This was a series about two sets of twins in the same family-Bert & Nan and Flossie & Freddie. I think I read "The Bobbsey Twins at Big Bear Pond" a hundred or so times. I never realized it back then but those kids never aged. I recently found out that Laura Lee Hope was not the author. In fact she never existed. The Bobbsey Twins was created by Edward Stratemeyer who wrote the first book in that series and outlined many of the books that followed. I discovered Mr.Stratemeyer also created The Rover Boys, The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Nancy Drew-150 popular series in all under 100 pen names. This was such a surprise to me. As a lover of the Nancy Drew series I grew up thinking Caroline Keene penned Nancy Drew. I guess it doesn't matter. Just because there never was a Laura Lee Hope or Caroline Keene doesn't change anything. To

Even when spending a day at the North Pole visiting Santa Claus in the summertime my mother wore spectator pumps with a good dress. Of course back then women didn't wear jeans or pants but  if they had, I don't think my mother would have followed the crowd. She even dressed me in fancy shoes and a fancy dress that day. I see I have a Band-Aid on one of my knees so the tomboy in me still showed. I'm sure Santa Claus was impressed. My mother loved shoes. Lucky for her, one of my uncles owned a shoe store. Her closet was full of shoe boxes. Most contained high heels. She had about every style and every color. Even with a shoe store in the family I never cared much about shoes. Barefoot was my favorite way to go. My mother would tell anyone who would listen how I'd run outside without anything on my feet even in the winter. I think it had to do with shoes making me feel confined. That hasn't changed. I didn't inherit the shoe fanatic gene. I don't go shopping f

I was lucky to have grown up during the TV era of great Variety Shows. I liked them all. From Red Skelton to Carol Burnett, Dean Martin to Andy Williams and more, they were all entertaining. Each offered their own take on the word entertainment. To me, there was something special about Red Skelton-something in his eyes. When he was in a sketch playing one of his many characters he truly became that character-especially Freddie the Freeholder. At the end of a show I felt as if he was talking to me when he'd say, "Good night and God Bless." TV watching got even better as Christmas approached. They all presented special Christmas programming. Each was an event in the home. We'd check the TV listings to make sure we didn't miss any of them.  Sunday evenings were reserved for the family to gather around the TV set to watch The Ed Sullivan Show. With the dishes done and baths given to the youngest ones, anticipation would build before the 8:00 hour-when Ed Sullivan