A HOLIDAY VISIT WITH INA -- DAY 7

This post is a tribute to my parents, Vance and Dorothy Dobson, who were married December 7, 1947. Mother and Daddy's wedding anniversary was always a part of our Christmas celebration. Below is an excerpt from Christmas memories written by my mother:

Just before Christmas in 1947, Vance and I were married and he began decorating outside. Others were decorating, too, and various organizations encouraged lighting. Vance made shapes, wreaths, and cut different pictures out of plywood. Once there was a horse and sleigh, once a Madonna and child. [Over the years] Vance designed many different star shapes, and the wreaths changed, too. The lights that he put up were never in the same pattern. I still did all inside decorating with lights in the windows and the two trees.

My parents were “on the same page” when it came to decorating for Christmas, and I miss that very much. I would say that I don’t have the talent to decorate like my dad did, but it’s more than that. You just can’t make Christmas in 2016 totally look like a mid-20th-century Christmas. Lights, ornaments, and materials have changed. Even in the ‘80s, my dad complained that boughs were becoming hard to come by. And perhaps most of all, people and circumstances change – individually and collectively.

I coped with changes in my life by adopting my Grandmother Ina’s simple Christmas – what I call the “understated celebration.” I think my dad would be pleased. He would find a pine bough and make a swag for the door. KW

[The cards on this page are some that Mother sent in the '90s.]