Hi Everyone. On the Centre County Rootsweb list we are talking about our Christmas memories long past of Centre County and I wanted to share mine but of course it is of Clearfield County so I hope you don't mind. I grew up in a military family. We were always pulling up our roots and moving from one country or state to another. I only ever spent one Christmas in Clearfield County and that is the one I want to tell you about. I was seven years old at the time. We spent 8 hours driving time getting there. Two adults and four kids in one car. We didn't have SUV's then, the closest thing to an SUV was a Volkswagen Minibus but we just had a car. Two kids on the back seat, one between Mom and Dad up front, and one on the floorboards in the back. That was usually me. Now you might think that was uncompfortable but in yesterdays cars we had more room on the floorboards and I never had to share. Eight hours of that. We got to Clearfield and took the old road back to West Decatur and finally the old wagon trail back to the family farm. Yes, we did get stuck on a little hill and I remember Mom backing the car up to the bottom of the hill and enough space to give her a running start then gunning the engine. She sure did knwo how to get up those old strippen roads. We get back to Grand Dad's farmhouse and unload the car and drug everything upstairs. The only heat source in the house was from the old coal stove in the kitchen and the only good way to get the heat upstairs was to open up the door at the bottom of the stairwell which was only done when you were ready to go to bed. That didn't make sense to me since it was SO cold upstairs but in those days you didn't question the adults. You just did what they asked. Except for the kitchen sink there was no indoor plumbing. The old outhouse was just beyond the driveway next to the grape arbour. It was quite the adventure on a cold winters night to make that last trip out there, no light in sight except for the one from the house. Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt Henrietta and Uncle Don's House for lunch. It was there we found the toy candies. Henrietta Vaughn was the best cook around and there was always something special cooking in her kitchen. Her favorites were Apple Dumplings and Waldorf Salad. To this day we don't have a holiday dinner without Waldorf. I've adopted the salad so every get together it's my job to make it. Her tree had small little birds all over it, you know, the antique ones with the fiberglass tails or any cute little bird they saw at the store. I did the same a few years back but on a white tree. VERY beautiful with ice blue lights. We went back to the farm and my older sister and I went out and cut a very small limb from an evergreen in Grandma's yard. We took it up stairs and put it in a glass of water. We thought it was our own private tree. Downstairs my Uncle Roy who was just a few years older than I was busy knocking down the Christmas tree. Not in the woods, no, Roy had tried to climb it after one of those small cheap wooden airplanes you got at the store and it lasted about half an hour. Crash, the tree came falling down right in the living room. Mom was pretty upset about that. That's about as much of that Christmas that I can remember. I'm sure if I sat and thought about it more long forgotten memories would surface. Our ancestors and loved ones from long ago may be gone, but as long as our recorded memories exist and the stories are past down they will always be remembered.

Renee what a beautiful story. I live in Clearfield County and it still feels the same. Jeff -----Original Message----- From: paclearf-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:paclearf-bounces@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of Reneelwaring@aol.com Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 8:57 PM To: PACLEARF-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [PACLEARF] Christmas Memories Hi Everyone. On the Centre County Rootsweb list we are talking about our Christmas memories long past of Centre County and I wanted to share mine but of course it is of Clearfield County so I hope you don't mind. I grew up in a military family. We were always pulling up our roots and moving from one country or state to another. I only ever spent one Christmas in Clearfield County and that is the one I want to tell you about. I was seven years old at the time. We spent 8 hours driving time getting there. Two adults and four kids in one car. We didn't have SUV's then, the closest thing to an SUV was a Volkswagen Minibus but we just had a car. Two kids on the back seat, one between Mom and Dad up front, and one on the floorboards in the back. That was usually me. Now you might think that was uncompfortable but in yesterdays cars we had more room on the floorboards and I never had to share. Eight hours of that. We got to Clearfield and took the old road back to West Decatur and finally the old wagon trail back to the family farm. Yes, we did get stuck on a little hill and I remember Mom backing the car up to the bottom of the hill and enough space to give her a running start then gunning the engine. She sure did knwo how to get up those old strippen roads. We get back to Grand Dad's farmhouse and unload the car and drug everything upstairs. The only heat source in the house was from the old coal stove in the kitchen and the only good way to get the heat upstairs was to open up the door at the bottom of the stairwell which was only done when you were ready to go to bed. That didn't make sense to me since it was SO cold upstairs but in those days you didn't question the adults. You just did what they asked. Except for the kitchen sink there was no indoor plumbing. The old outhouse was just beyond the driveway next to the grape arbour. It was quite the adventure on a cold winters night to make that last trip out there, no light in sight except for the one from the house. Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt Henrietta and Uncle Don's House for lunch. It was there we found the toy candies. Henrietta Vaughn was the best cook around and there was always something special cooking in her kitchen. Her favorites were Apple Dumplings and Waldorf Salad. To this day we don't have a holiday dinner without Waldorf. I've adopted the salad so every get together it's my job to make it. Her tree had small little birds all over it, you know, the antique ones with the fiberglass tails or any cute little bird they saw at the store. I did the same a few years back but on a white tree. VERY beautiful with ice blue lights. We went back to the farm and my older sister and I went out and cut a very small limb from an evergreen in Grandma's yard. We took it up stairs and put it in a glass of water. We thought it was our own private tree. Downstairs my Uncle Roy who was just a few years older than I was busy knocking down the Christmas tree. Not in the woods, no, Roy had tried to climb it after one of those small cheap wooden airplanes you got at the store and it lasted about half an hour. Crash, the tree came falling down right in the living room. Mom was pretty upset about that. That's about as much of that Christmas that I can remember. I'm sure if I sat and thought about it more long forgotten memories would surface. Our ancestors and loved ones from long ago may be gone, but as long as our recorded memories exist and the stories are past down they will always be remembered. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PACLEARF-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message