Christmas on Andover Street
My parents decided to show the "locals" what a California Christmas looks like.
The front staircase was circular. Gerry bought a thirty-five-foot-tall Christmas tree. He removed the bare sections and reassembled them with wooden dowels so they were perfectly proportioned twenty-five-foot trees. The tree was placed in the hollow of the circular stairway at the front door. We would then stand on the stairway and place lights, tinsel, and ornaments on the tree. Once a section was complete, we would turn the tree.
A large bay window was at the front of the house (in the living room). Shirlee announced she wanted a white Christmas tree with turquoise ornaments - no lights. Gerry bought an eight-foot tree and moved to the basement, where he used ten gallons of white paint (several coats) and placed it near the furnace to dry. I do not remember where he bought the glass Christmas tree bulbs, but he was good at finding things. We formed turquoise ribbons into bows for several nights, combined them with the bulbs, and then hung them on "Mom's Tree." It was placed in front of the bay window with medium-power spotlights illuminating the tree.
There was a city bus stop almost in front of our home. After the first or second night, we noticed the bus was stopping fifteen to twenty feet short of its scheduled stop so passengers could see "That Tree." Passengers would all move to the right side of the bus, and it would develop a starboard list. We would sit in a darkened living room and chuckle every time the bus stopped in front of our home.
Massachusetts had laws controlling the sales of alcohol. It also had 'blue laws' forbidding working on Sundays, so most stores were closed. The big Gotcha? We lived but three or four miles from New Hampshire and ninety miles to Portland, Maine. We would take a Sunday afternoon drive and end up doing our shopping, visiting, sightseeing, and having meals outside Massachusetts.
My father's boss 'decided' to hold the company Christmas party at our home. So we drove to New Hampshire and bought five cases of liquor, four cases of wine (all California wines), ten cases of beer, and forty pounds of ice.
We took several doors of the "linen cabinets" and made a food and alcohol service area for our guests.
We put several extra tables in the kitchen. The appetizers were California-style: avocados, oranges, salsa, tortillas, tacos, well, you get the idea.
While cleaning up the house the next day, we counted the empty bottles. We had the same number of bottles, but several labels had not been bought. Obviously, some BYOB was going on. Our guests were swapping their empties for one of our less empty bottles. Gerry took all of the empty bottles to work to dispose of them.
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