Christmas memories:

The pine tree at Grandmothers. Drawing names for presents. The basketball game from Aunt Belle and Uncle Neal. Playing rummy with cousins for hours in front of the fireplace. The dangling bulb that hung in the living room. Kittens on the porch. Dragonflies on the phone line. License plates nailed to the garage door. The grinding stone. The pump on the back porch. The well in the yard. Herman the hog. Pigs in the yard. The unpainted picket fence and the cedar tree in the corner of the yard. Riding in the car at night going to Grandmother's. Singing with the Symphony Chorus and Mr. Shaw. Listening to Morehouse sing Betelehemu. Rick Clement singing Comfort Ye. Christmas eve services. Carter's solo in front of 2000. Lessons and carols. O Holy Night. Many Moods of Christmas. Bach Christmas Oratorio. The first tree in Louisville, with painted ornaments and candycane stockings and ribbon. Opening presents on Christmas eve with families gathered from afar to Mama's house. The smell of wassail on the stove. Poinsettias. Going to sleep with the sound of aunts and uncles talking in another room.