Memories of a Christmas Long Ago. Every year as another year swiftly flows down the river of time, I become nostalgic and like to thankfully remember special Christmas’ gone by.  At Thanksgiving my daughter asked me, as a boy growing up was there a Christmas that was a most memorable one. I told her I was about five or six years old, I had gotten a play filling station for Christmas that was brought by Santa Claus.  It had all the “furnishings” of a filling station of that day, from gas pumps, to a lift to change the oil in a car, a lift to change tires, cars, attendants, etc. I knew there was a photo my mother had taken of that Christmas Day long ago. However, it had been years, years since I had seen it and wasn’t sure it still existed.  Recently after going through many, many pictures my mother saved, I surprisingly, delightfully, and thankfully found the photo!! My mother had written on the back “December 1957.” Wow…that was 67 years ago!   I would have been five years old.  The filling station was not assembled. I guess Santa was in a hurry and forgot to put it together. The photo shows my father reading the directions and putting it together, while I with a deer in a headlight look, watched him patiently assemble all the parts.  My father was a master machinic and I think he enjoyed the Christmas present more than I did!!!  It was my favorite Christmas as it was something I remember even as a five-year-old my father and I doing together and then he playing “filling station” with me after it was all assembled. Christmas is a magical time…this Christmas make some memories. One is never too young or too old to make precious memories.  Help make someone’s Christmas a memorable one. May everyone have a blessed Christmas Eve and a Merry Christmas to all.    

Blessings,

Dr. Dan