Christmas past

Our first Christmas.
Race and I were married in the summer and we spent our first CHristmas together at this townhouse. I remeber that the tree was $40 which nearly BROKE us! But I was so proud of that tree! So below you will see our little abode all decked out for the holidays. Note the skimpy little Christmas card string on the wall, and the charming "country" decor. Those curtains were my pride and joy. My first Spiegle purchase. Also note the stockings. There were 3 of them. You see in the first three months of marriage Race and I had made 2 large decisions that affected us for quite some time afterward. The first was trading in my paid-for mustang on a newer,hotter version. We drove a black convertible. And being the very practical young couple that we were, we also purchased a blue-blood dalmation puppy. That's who the other stocking belonged to. "Waylon".
So back to the photo.
We had a TV that Race's parents had purchased for us, and that's our wedding photo on the top of it.



So-this is where we lived.
























And THIS was our dog.

And THIS is where I worked.



Stop laughing.



Seriously. Are you finished?

I was the perfume counter gal. I loved that job. You know all those testers that they have setting out on the counters? Well, when the reps would come in to replace them, you got to take the others home.Woo!Holy cow, I had the nicest stash of expensive perfumes...(sigh) O.k, Please note the wooden earrings. They were black with white dots. And of course the white hose, in keeping with the style at the time. It was my meager earnings from this job that I saved up enough money to buy Race a mountain bike for Christmas. It was a total surprise. (And getting it home in the winter.......in the convertible was no easy trick, either!)




Oh, it was a great year that year! We rode around on every nice warm day with the top down and with the dalmation seated in the back. It was funny because the dog would sit up straight in the seat like a person. He didn't move around, he just sat there.

And to the best of my knowledge this is the only year that I can recall Race doing anything with the Christmas tree after getting it home! One of the things that I notice about this picture is the football. Power-lifting and football were a very big part of Races life...and therefor MY life...at that time. Oh......they were great times. And how could we have possibly imagined at that time that by the very next Christmas..................























We'd have our first child. Austin was born on Halloween. How could we have known that the next Christmas we'd have a BABY?!!........That the third stocking would be a real little-human-person's?? How could we have possibly fathomed how much and how wonderfully our lives would change?How could we have imagined how damned hard it would be to get a baby in and out of a carseat in the back of a mustang??? How could we have known that we'd have a baby...............!!!????

And that sometimes..........................we'd dress him like the dog.