Merry Christmas!

This is a snapshot of my grandmother's Christmas tree, taken approximately 42 years ago. Every year from the time I was about 10 until I graduated from college, my mom, my brother and I drove north during Christmas break to visit her in Hyattsville, Md., near Washington D.C. We piled into my mom's Ford Escort and drove for two days on what seemed an exciting and exotic voyage, staying at a motel somewhere in the middle, usually some little town in South Carolina like Orangeburg or Santee or Manning.

I have such great memories of those trips. In the early years we'd drive US-301 up through Georgia and South Carolina, where I think I-95 wasn't entirely finished yet. We then joined I-95 through North Carolina and Virginia. Once the interstate was built, we switched to it along with everyone else, and forever after I lamented that we no longer drove through little burgs like Allendale, S.C. or Claxton, Ga. -- where we went right past the fruitcake factory! Part of the fun of the trip was seeing those familiar places over and over.

I loved the giant welcome signs at every state line, and crossing them felt like a triumph. Even though a state line is a political abstraction, we could almost feel the air change. I loved crossing the same rivers, eating in the same restaurants and staying in the same motels. The first few years we stayed in a motel in Orangeburg that was right out of the 1950s, with a restaurant in the forecourt.

Anyway, once we got to Grandmother's, one of the first things we'd do is break out her Christmas tree and decorate it. I can't quite remember where she stored it, but I have visions of it hanging upside down from the rafters in her basement or garage, covered with a plastic or cloth shroud. I may be making that up. (If so my brother will let me know.) She always waited until we arrived to break out any Christmas decorations.

She herself laughed at her little tree, saying it was rather pathetic compared to the invariably large and elaborately decorated one at my uncle's in northern Virginia (where we spent actual Christmas day, surrounded by our cousins). But we loved it.

Here's a (blurry) closeup of the vintage nativity scene we always put out with the tree.

I have no idea what happened to any of this stuff when she died in 1988. Maybe my cousins inherited some of the decorations. But finding these old pictures among my negatives brought back great memories. Voila! Time travel!

May all of you have a great day, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and may you enjoy whatever memories the day may carry for you. Here in Florida my stepmother remains in the hospital, so we'll be going to see her as well as having dinner with family and friends in the evening.