The Reindeer Keeper

Sometimes having a father as a funeral director led to some unforgettable memories! Most people knew my father as a funeral director-a caring man who took great pride servicing families in their time of sorrow. I love this picture of my father because it's about the only picture I have where he is not wearing a tie. He's k idding around, enjoying some down time-showing his sense of humor. Growing up around a funeral home offered a unique awareness of the frailty of life-and some unforgettable moments-some quite hilarious-like the time I went off to college in the hearse and never thought a thing about it. When it was time to go to that community college, my father just happened to be going that way to pick up a remains to bring back home. So we loaded up the back of the hearse with all of my stuff and off we went. The school didn't have dorms on campus so I was renting an apartment with four other girls I'd never met.(This was way before facebook)! Adding to ...

I can't imagine summers when I was growing up without my Keds sneakers. My sneakers went everywhere with me as I played with my cousins-down to the creek and on to the raft my uncle made out of telephone poles; in the barn and up into the haylofts to walk across the plank bridge connecting the two; across the road and down to the pine grove-and some days down further into the woods to the river to go swimming; out in the field to play baseball; to the front yard of my grandparents' farmhouse to climb trees, make bows 'n arrows out of some sort of a rubbery, flexible stalk-like weed, play hide 'n seek and red light-green light, and. of course, spend time in our chicken coop clubhouse-day in and day out. I was certain my Keds made me run faster-jump higher-stop quicker. They took me through hayfields and mud; cow pies and creek grass. They stayed with me when I'd kneel down to get a drink of water at the bubble-a natural bubble of very cold water squeezing out of th...

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 fana...

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...

I have no clue how I ended up with this treasured piece of jewelry-a pin shaped like a pony that belonged to my grandmother. I remember her wearing it on special occasions-more often than not pinned to a gray/black design knit dress. Besides her wedding band, there were only two other pieces of jewelry I remember her wearing. One was another pin-a small swirl of silver circles entwined about each other and the other-a small, round silver watch (minus the band) on a chain that she wore around her neck-again, on special occasions. Now tarnished and frail, I keep the pin inside a box underneath some cotton batten in my dresser drawer. I remember the pin from back when my grandparents lived in their farmhouse. My grandmother kept it on top of an old dresser in her bedroom. There were no diamonds or rubies sitting next to it. No array of rings or endless strings of pearls. That speaks volumes about the woman with the little pony pin. ...

It used to be so much fun playing the Easter Bunny after everyone went to bed and the bags of goodies and surprises were brought out from hiding. Before beginning the process of filling the wicker baskets I'd have a plan. Some of the jellybeans and chocolate eggs wouldn't go in the baskets. I'd hide them behind doors-on window sills-beside pillows on the sofa-on top of the tv or wherever I could put them without being too obvious. Jellybeans would also start a trail at the top of the stairway-leading all the way down the stairs and straight to overflowing Easter baskets waiting in the living room. Once the baskets were examined-and then examined some more-the hunt for the hidden candy began. The race was on! Who would find the most?  It really never mattered because the baskets already had more than enough of the eggs and jellybeans-along with marshmallow chicks, lollipops, candy bars, chocolate bunnies, Cadbury eggs and candy cigarettes. Yes that's right-pac...