Tiny wooden soldiers that resemble nutcrackers standing on a glass top coffee table. The tables shiny chrome legs settled deep down into the thick cream colored shag rug. A freshly cut cedar tree with tiny white lights and a conglomeration of familiar old ornaments collected and made throughout the years. Maybe some silver tinsel (although this we quickly abandoned decorating with as cleanup was complicated when disposing of a natural tree in a hippy responsible sort of manner…). A warm fire popping and crackling in the old stone fireplace. Surprise balls from Mexico.
Some photos of Christmas past. We used to take the old Internation H tractor and manure spreader up the old creek rock road to the top of the hill on the neighbors farm. We would run through the woods looking for the perfect tree.
Looking for the red light of Rudolph’s nose in the dark star filled night sky. It is very dark at the end of North Stoney Creek making star gazing almost automatic. Mom and dad telling my brother and I we need to get in bed before Santa Claus gets here. We quickly leave a glass of milk and a plate of homemade cookies on a table beside the fireplace. It is cold outside and even though the old stone house is full of cold drafts I mostly remember the warmth. I clearly remember seeing a red light blinking across the sky one Christmas Eve as I looked through the glass of the front door. Jumping up I take off running to bed certain he was going to pass us by.
The above photo on the left is Keenan sitting with Mortimer Snerd. I am nestled deep down in the cream shag rug probable taking inventory of my Christmas haul. You can see the corner of the glass coffee table in the lower right of the photo. The above photo on the right is Keenan and Dad playing pickup sticks on the old glass coffee table.
These are some my earliest Christmas memories in the stone house at the end of North Stoney Creek Road. The Surprise ball is one of my most vivid. I was introduced to them as a young boy that cold Christmas morning. To put the experience in perspective I need to go back to how the surprise balls came into our lives. Or rather, how I believe they did. I am not certain I know the trip in which they were acquired. Maybe not in great detail but I do recall bits and pieces. I will have to discuss this trip more with my dad and brother to see if they may know. This trip could very well have been later.
In what was most likely the early\mid 1970’s, the four of us traveled from North Stoney Creek Road to Austin Texas in a red and white 1972 Dodge D150 pickup truck. This was a regular cab 1/2 ton pickup with a long bed and a camper top. Mom and dad were up front in the cab most of the time and took turns driving. My brother and I were in the bed of the truck. We boys had the whole bed of the truck to ourselves with a mattress laid out on the floor. Fantastic way to travel as far as I was concerned.
In recent talks with my dad I discovered he soldered up the leaky radiator on the 72 Dodge the night before the trip. We hit the road early the next morning. We had an old CB radio (still have it) which used the trucks existing factory radio antenna. So from all outward appearances we had no CB. Yep, we are good to go.
The drive down was relatively uneventful really. I do recall the truckers talking back and forth on their CB’s completely unaware of the little red Dodge pickup listening in on there conversations as it drove by. One of these conversations the trucker mentioned the cute little blonde driving the little red Dodge truck. Mom promptly got on the CB and informed them she was the little cute blonde. The trucker quickly responded assuring us that that was very much intended to be a compliment. We all had a good laugh with that.
We did a short stint as the headlights for one of the truckers who had lost his during the nights drive. I understand he followed down the highway for a ways until he got to where he needed to be. Seems the rest of the drive for me was just riding on that mattress in the bed of the truck. Nothing else from the drive down really stands out at the moment. I imagine further talks with my father and brother would uncover more happenings.
We were driving to Austin because that is where my mom’s parents lived at the time. I don’t recall exactly what year this was or exactly why we went down. I was pretty young. I do remember a day trip that we took from Austin down into Mexico. Drove right down, went right in. I don’t remember much but a couple things stand out. I remember walking around all the open air markets and looking at all the cool stuff. I remember the sombreros my brother and I both got. I remember all the kids my age running around holding out there hands filled with little colorful squares yelling “Chiclets!” “Chiclets!”.
I don’t remember if we bought any Chiclets or not. I also don’t recall seeing anyone buy anything like a surprise ball but I am suspicious that this is the trip in which they were attained. I don’t remember much anything else about the trip although I do have some scattered and disconnected memories of being in Texas. All that and what stands out most. That bright yellow surprise ball smiling at me Christmas morning. Well, that and the Chiclets.
A surprise ball is basically a bunch of tiny cheap trinkets, toys, gadgets and whatever one wants to put in there all wrapped up in strings of crepe paper. Layer upon layer of long narrow crepe paper a varying colors. You just have to find that last strand of crepe paper taped in place and start unraveling it. Like a ball of yarn. Miles and miles of tissue paper it seems then bam! A toy. More unraveling and another surprise. Layer after layer, color after color, surprise after surprise. It was pretty amazing to me.
Above photo; Keenan is on the left checking something out that he got. Not quite sure what. I am on the right hard at work on the legendary surprise ball.
I don’t remember all the toys or trinkets. I remember working long and hard at unraveling it. I remember the excitement and how cool this thing was. I do however clearly remember one of the items that came out of this thing. The tiny wooden soldiers and the tiny wooden guard shack. Kind of like the royal guard and looked a bit like the nutcracker. This and all the other toys and crepe paper ended up scattered on that glass coffee table. We still have this set somewhere. Dad still has the coffee table.
We tossed that old shag rug not too long ago. It was pretty gnarly. The old glass coffee table still celebrates Christmas with us today. My wife Lori and I give our own children surprise balls at Christmas as does my brother. Our children are older now, some young adults and some out on their own. They still enjoy surprise balls. We do too.
Merry Christmas!
Christmas past on the farm circa 2011.