The most wonderful time of the year |
When I was a child, the weeks leading up to Christmas were exciting and culminated in a party hosted by my Great Uncle Ed and Aunt Geneva on the Sunday night before Christmas.
We looked forward to this party all year long. In October, my mother bought fabric and a pattern to make me a special dress, which I also wore on Christmas Day. It would usually be sewn of taffeta or satin, with a stiff crinoline underneath, and a sash around the middle that she’d ask my dad to tie in a large bow at the back. It was a night when my mother also dressed up, wearing her best necklace and matching earrings, high heels, coiffed hair and a shiny new dress.
After piling our coats on the bed upstairs, we all headed for the rec room in the basement where the upright piano stood over an expansive parquet floor that was better for dancing on than the broadloom running through the rest of the........