A couple of new editions

I completely appreciate that the timing for Christmas is just terrific, distracting us from our struggle to get through the gloomy dark days of December. But as a holiday, I could take it or leave it. 

I have family over for Christmas Eve, and that I love. (Been doing it now for over 30 years!) And I love Christmas music. Not to mention cookies.

But mostly, I'm relatively meh on the season to be jolly.

Other than having a Christmas tree, which I love decorating. 

I have a smaller tree than I used to - a foot shorter (6 feet vs. 7 feet), which makes quite a difference - so this year I finally downsized my ornament collection. Any ornament that hadn't made it onto the tree since I my trees got smaller, any ornament that did  not give me joy, I put aside. I brought them to the Christmas in the City signup, and we offered them to those registering for toys for their kiddos. Most of my discards were snapped up - they were all pretty nice; I just had too many of them - and the couple that were left behind were used to deck the halls of the dingy donated storefront we run our toy giveaway, Jake's Toy Mania, out of.

I really love putting my ornaments. I don't have one of those perfecto matchy-tatchy trees. I have ornaments of all sorts. A few from my parents' first Christmas tree. Counted crossstitch ones my mother made. Ones that were gifts. Ones the commemorate late, lamented pets. 

Most of my ornaments hold some meaning, if only that they are really pretty.

But there's plenty of meaning in the all the Worcester-related ornaments, and in the ones I picked up on my travels.

My cousin Barbara started me off on the Worcester-themed ornaments. They come from Sharfman's, a Worcester jewelry store, which each year for nearly 40 years, has put out a Worcester ornament. Some are of specific buildings - the Antiquarian Society, the old Municipal Auditorium, the historic Salisbury House, Polar Park where the WooSox play -  and some are of Worcester things - a three decker, a diner. I have about a dozen of them now, and I really get a kick out of putting them on my tree. 

This year's is an especially good one. It's of Spag's, a discount store before there were discount stores, that sold all sorts of stuff: small appliances, tools, workboots, work clothes, jeans, toiletries, "art" work, hardware, food, plants - all haphazardly laid out. You'd just wander around, picking up whatever caught your eye and putting it in your.... Hmmm. Spag's didn't have shopping basket or carts, so what you'd do was find an almost empty carton of, say, shampoo and dump the contents. Voila! You're very own shopping basket. When you went to pay, Spag's didn't have shopping bags, either. You just left with your arms and pockets full, or took the carton with you. 

There was no such thing as a fall return to college without a stop at Spag's to stock up on shampoo, deodorant, soap, toothpaste, whatever. And a pair of Wranglers or two. It was as if you were going to college in Timbuktu, rather than in Boston where there actually were stores that sold shampoo, etc.

Spag's has been gone for a couple of decades now, and I still miss it. And I can guarantee that there is no one anyone near my age who grew up in the Worcester area who doesn't have memories of Spag's.

My other new edition to the tree this year came from my wonderful blitz trip with my sister Trish and nieces to Stockholm last spring for the Taylor Swift concert. 

I have ornament from Ireland, France, Italy, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, and probably a few other countries. (Not to mention NYC, where I have one with the Chrysler Building on it.) And now I have one from Sweden.

Merry Christmas in Worcester-ese is Merry Christmas. In Swedish, it's God Jul.

So Merry Christmas and God Jul to all.

In keeping with tradition, Pink Slip is taking some time off. I'll be back on January 6th. (Ugh!)