Tag Archives: Danbury Mint

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The Christmas Tree

Thought I would add just another little post this week to celebrate the season. This is our Christmas Tree. The ornaments are from the Danbury Mint in Philadelphia and also Lennox China. My folks collected them over the years and always bought two- one for me and one for my sister Molly. Their radiance with the Christmas lights is always spectacular and I always relish putting up the tree every year with these wonderful ornaments shining brightly. But there is a lot more to putting up the tree and placing the ornaments.

Erecting the tree and bringing out the Danbury Mint and Lennox ornaments take me back in time to Christmas long ago. My mother loved Christmas – to the point where people referred to her as ” Christmas Carol.” She always made a point to make Christmas special for Molly and me and to her friends and relatives. My parent’s Christmas Eve party was an anticipated joyful time for all of us. My dad and Molly and I were always on the dock to help out with whatever needed to be done. But, my mother was the coordinator and her decorations, her food, her atmosphere with music in the house was welcoming to many who needed a lift at the holidays.

There were funny times as my dad’s eggnog loosened up some folks. For instance- my mom’s cousin loved the nog but when he went to the driveway and inserted his car keys into his side car window- I knew it was time to take him home. People joyously singing carols around the piano as I played and after hours of this, I was relegated to the kitchen to wash the dishes with my sister and Sally Rose. Lots of work that Christmas party, but with people in and out of the house all day, it was always a wonderful event. The tree in my parents living room looked just like the one that Janet and I erect each year. Perhaps that is why I like the annual rite of erecting and decorating the tree. I am brought back in time. I can somehow see my dad, smiling with his Christmas pants and tie, offering the guests some of his lethal nog. I can see my mom singing behind me at the piano. My mom had perfect pitch and her singing was always appreciated by the crowd. I can just see her around the tree admiring the ornaments and being satisfied with her statement to me that” happiness is like a perfume that you can’t sprinkle on others without getting a little on yourself.” She and my dad were so generous ,and their example has carried on with me years later.

So, as I peer a little more closely into the tree, and see the ornaments depicting the manger scene, I think about the real meaning of Christmas. I think about the amazing announcement by the angel Gabriel, and the birth of Christ into our fallen world. I think how he singlehandedly saved all of us. All we need to do is believe. Christmas is so special and commercialism, deadlines, and other distractions, do not deter me from enjoying the true meaning of Christmas and enjoying our Christmas tree. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and remember to take the time to really enjoy and celebrate with your friends and families. My folks will be watching you with joy from above. Thanks for reading.

” And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ” Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.” -Luke- 2: 12-13.

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You Can Never Go Back to the Green.

So as I was driving up to the mountains last weekend, I was listening to the Billy Joel Channel on Sirius Radio. Bopping along the turnpike to the tunes of “Stiletto”, ” Piano Man” and my all time favorite ” Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”. I thought about Brenda and Eddie and how they had it all together with their crowd at the Green. But life got in the way, they divorced, and tried to resume their former life. ” The King and the Queen went back to the Green but you can never go back there again.” That line always hits me. You can never go back there again.

My friend Frank, down in Virginia ,always says to me that he would like to come back home and hang out at Stone Field again to ride road bikes and run with the Hot Harry’s crowd. Fact of the matter when I talk to Frank, is that there are not many left of the Hot Harry’s crowd and people have moved on and there is a whole new crowd at the park with the kings and queens being fresh new athletic faces whom we don’t recognize. Not the same Frank. You can’t go back to the Green Frank. None of us can.

I thought of all the good times that I had with the ski group back in the day. We all were young and at Christmas time, we boarded a big flatbed truck and sang Christmas carols around the mountain and drained everyone’s booze and beer supply. So much fun but again, reminiscing is fine but that crowd, for the most part, has married, and had kids, and now grand kids, and life has changed. My life has changed too but in many ways, I feel like Peter Pan wishing life would not change and we could go back to the Green one more time. But that is not to be and clearing my head, I think how blessed I am with my family and friends.

Driving in the car, you have a lot of thoughts in your head as you listen to music. You think about where you were when that song played. Songs remind you of the Green when you were among the kings and the queens of a younger day. You have fleeting thoughts about reuniting with old friends who have maybe moved on but like Billy says, you can never go back to the Green. It isn’t there and reminiscing all you want won’t take you there .

Janet and I put up our Christmas tree last night and as I looked at all the gold ornaments from the Danbury Mint that belonged to my folks, I thought about Christmas past in the McCloskey house. Many good memories and some not so good but for the most part, my folks made Christmas special for me and the ornaments reminded me of those days. But now I think how that tree fits in my house, and how those ornaments are part of our tree and Janet and I try to make memories for our son Jack and Jan’s mom who is 89 and living with us. 

Riding the chair lift the other day while skiing at our local resort in the Laurel Highlands, people were remarking how things had changed. This tree was cut down, and new construction completed, and widening of familiar slopes to accommodate today’s skiers all was viewed with different takes. But the bottom line is that the new ownership does things differently than the folks who started the resort back in the day. I looked at all the old pictures in the upstairs ski lodge lounge and thought about how good it was back in the “old days” and how much fun it was when we were the kings and queens of the mountain. But you can never go back.

As I get older, I start to realize that I can’t be like Brenda and Eddie. Or as the New Yorkers say, ” Brender and Eddie”. You have to embrace change. You have to look to the future. You cherish your old friends and make new ones. Life moves on folks and it is nice to have memories but now is the time to make new ones. Thanks for reading.

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