Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: spry for his age

From my earliest Christmas memories, I remember this snow globe featuring Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Every year, it would be brought out and carefully displayed, and never played with.  It didn't need to be said that it was something for adults to handle.  Family lore says that it was bought the year I was a baby.   Flash forward to the present, where Rudolph now lives in my house at Christmas.  For his late fifties, he's looking pretty spry!

Another of our holiday treasures was this Advent calendar, which was mailed to us by my great-aunt, Margarita "Dutch" Ives Patton.  She was born in 1901, the daughter of Charles A. Ives & Mary Catherine Myers.  Auntie Dutch lived for about a month past her 100th birthday, and was much loved by us all.  This calendar has also been carefully stored and displayed since the 1950's.  It was a Hallmark product, and cost $1.00, a pretty generous gift at the time.  We were thrilled to open a new door each day.  Various Biblical passages from the Christmas story were revealed.

Wishing you the best of Christmas memories, old and new.