Tag: Christmas
Canterbury Village 2004
If you are looking for a true fairyland for small kids I don’t think you can beat Canterbury Village and the Christmas stores that they have here (in addition to the carousel of course). The animatronics come to life and perform a short story for the shoppers, James just loved it.
Christmas 2003
This was James first Christmas and because of that it was probably my favorite one of all. A quiet but fun time at home with the newborn. James seemed to enjoy the atmosphere and all the presents, he played with some, other were for when he gets older. Its kind of tough shopping for a newborn, most of the toys say 6 months and up but Idgie and Lucy helped him look over his gifts and I am sure they would be happy to show him how to play with them.
He seems to genuinely like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and the Bumble snow monster. I remember being scared of the Bumble when I first saw Rudolph.
Christmas 2002
The Christmas celebration was in Trenton and Natalie and Renee came into town to help in the celebration. James Dad was very sick with a cold this day and spent Christmas in bed so Mom and Dad missed this one. It looked like an awesome time as Aunt Louise met her Great Grandson Jaden. Aunt Peg made it and took these pictures which amazed alot of us when we saw them because they are pretty good pictures, no thumbs or fingers in front of the lens or anything.
At the time we did not know that this would be the last Christmas celebration at the house in Trenton which was known for parties.
Christmas 1999
We used to do the Christmas display in the basement since my father was pretty much living in the living room (he was unable to walk in his later years). This year, after over a decade of having Christmas parties in the basement, we moved it up to the living room and decorated the entire house. This made things easier for my mother who’s task was to feed the huddled masses and she did not have to go up and down the steps to do that. This was my mothers last Christmas I believe.
The Christmas party went well and everyone had a good time. While having the decorations upstairs did not have the same atmosphere as having it in the basement, it was much more convenient for everyone since the bathrooms, kitchens, cable televisions, etc are all upstairs.
Christmas 1998
There was a little more motivation for the Christmas display and Christmas party this year as we received recognition from the City for our window decorations, just think what we would have gotten if they came into the basement.
More structures built with Styrofoam this year, we buy the Styrofoam where they sell insulation, certainly not at a craft store as it would be too expensive there. Once we cut it to shape, we use toothpicks to hold it together, placing a toothpick into one side about a quarter of the way, then moving the part we want to attach on top of this which usually pushed the toothpick halfway on each side. It also conceals the toothpick. Next we take lights and garland and place these around the areas and borders which makes for a light up house which looks pretty good and is very easy to store. The windows are added to the front by using a knife and garland is added to where the Styrofoam was cut. The windows need to be big enough so that you can decorate the inside from the outside.
From the Styrofoam we are able to build some cool structures.
Christmas Eve 1998
This year was the biggest display of all as we actually decorated under the steps. We added Styrofoam insulation to the wall where the doorway is to under the steps and painted them to look like bricks by using masking tape and spray painting very lightly so as not to completely dissolve the Styrfoam.
Once underneath the steps we had more Christmas displays, but you could not walk all the way through, you had to turn around at the end because you would come out at the washing machines which really do not invoke the Christmas spirit.
Many more Styrofoam items this year including a ferris wheel.
City Beautification Award for Christmas Display
For Christmas we setup a display in our front window with an animated life size Santa. This is something we do every year to one extent or another. But this year was special as we added for the first time some icicle lights to the display. We did not really think much more of it, except trying to remember to turn it on at dusk during the holiday season. Someone must have driven by from the city and seen it and they gave us the “City Beautiful Commission Award”.
We were all surprised and enjoyed our little token of fame, even though they spelt the name wrong, it was still a very nice sentiment from city hall.
The letter said they were going to have a run off of all the houses and a winner would be announced in the paper, but since we were never contacted we assumed it wasn’t us that won the overall prize.
Christmas 1997
The Christmas display is now encompassing the entire basement. The blue tarp goes completely from one side to another and their are about 70 of the small animated figures. The first animated figure (and most of the others) were bought at Forest City in Taylor. Since then we have gotten them from all over including Ray Hunters and Bronners but by far most came from Forest City each year. Buying them over the years creates a true variety of characters in the display, yet they are all pretty much in scale with each other.
Forest City was Home Depot and Lowes before their was a Home Depot and Lowes and has now vanished from the retail landscape, however its Christmas sales of animatronics is well represented here.
One year as a surprise for Kenny we flew his son in for the Christmas holidays. You can see him here with Criss and Kenny in the picture to the left.
Christmas 1996
Christmas dinner at the Kleibers is a great way to spend the holidays. Once again the entire basement is decorated and this year we had a special guest, Santa Claus.
Dinner was served by Grandma Loretta who waited to get the best ham in Michigan, it was really delicious. Plenty of deviled eggs, pickles, and scallop potatoes rounded out the meal, along with every snack and candy imaginable.
This was about the third party we had here during the Christmas season. So much effort goes into the decorations that we felt we should have multiple parties with friends during the holiday season. Of course the main event will always be Christmas but we certainly got our moneys worth out of the Christmas basement this year.
Christmas 1995
Our Christmas Party is now in its sixth year and has really become a bit of a tradition. This year we have had neighbors and friends over for multiple little parties before the big party on Christmas.
As usual, Mom cooked a huge meal and had two choices of main entree’s which was unique to me. Usually its ham, turkey, or roast beef. At this party we generally have two of the three and sometimes all three. Turkey gets the lowest preference since it is more a Thanksgiving meal.
This is the first year without my father, who past away earlier in the summer. Although he never came down to join the party (he was physically unable to but probably would not even if he was, he enjoyed people coming to see him and showing off his big screen tv). Because he pretty much lived in the living room with a medical bed and such, we began the party downstairs. Now that he passed we are going to continue having the party in the basement since we have more or less designed it around the basement.
