Christmas : Tampa, Florida 1973

This ornament has seen better days. Kinda like us! We made them for our Christmas tree when Far Guy was stationed at MacDill AFB in Tampa in 1973. A few soda pop tops wired together and dipped in some kind of pretty burgundy red goop made for a half way decent looking ornament. We made several, we probably used that goop all up. This is the only surviving ornament handmade from that year.

We bought our first bright red string covered Styrofoam Christmas ornaments that year, I have several of them left. They were the kind that if you snagged them they began to unravel..once they started to unravel there was no stopping them, until you are left with a naked ball. Who ever designed them obviously had never put them on a real tree, or tested them in a household with children. Maybe they were designed to unravel, for repeat customers. They were a safe ornament in our house with a curious small child, unraveling string can be great entertainment.

I loved Christmas in Florida, it was warm. Far Guy went swimming in the Gulf that Christmas Day, just because he could. Trica and I fed the gulls on the beach! She loved them, and giggled the entire time.

Some of our memories from back then include two local TV commercials that were favorites of Trica's. She loved words. She was not quite two years old. She was quite enamored with two commercials and would recite them for us. "Chick Smith Ford in Sparkling DownTown Clearwater" and "Learn to Play Guitar with Kenny Rogers." We know how things went for Kenny, but I have always wondered about Chick. Memories from a long time ago, moments in time. Just like the memory of making this ornament out on a patio in the warm weather just before Christmas in 1973:)