Two little girls at Christmas

In the midst of wedding frenzy, it's nice to step back and remember who we are. Two of my favorite Christmas photos star the bride (at age 4) and MoB (at age 7).

I love this picture of Kate, looking so humble and petitioning at the feet of Santa, her little hands folded respectfully behind her. I've no memory of what she could've been asking for that year. Just as endearing are the faces of her two cousins in the background. Mikey, the little guy with his hands in his pockets will be Greg's Best Man at the wedding. And Matthew, in the blue shirt with the excited look on his face, is a new papa to baby Sarah Aurora. No idea where niece Lizzie was; just outside of the shot, I reckon. Lil Sis and I had taken them all downtown to Rich's Department Store to ride the Pink Pig (don't ask - it's an Atlanta thing!) and visit Santa. My how time flies!

The interesting thing about the picture of 7-year-old MoB, is that my very favorite gift is out of camera range. I got my first pair of snow-white shoe skates that year. But, yeah, I have 'em on my feet - a shame you can't see them. I also got a Brownie Girl Scout watch (see wrist) and a Ginny doll, both of which are probably worth a small fortune now. Wish I still had them! Another thing, this was the only year we ever had a small table-top tree. It must have been all the rage in 1959, but we reverted back to the standard size model in 1960. Note the perfect placement of the icicles. That's the work of none other than my mother, who was our resident icicle specialist. I've never been able to replicate the shimmeriness of those trees (but in my defense, the icicles are lousy these days!).

Though there's a wedding in the works, it's good to remind ourselves that we weren't always grown-up, making grown-up decisions (however juvenile they may seem and we may act sometimes).

Merry Christmas little Kate and little Mary.