The Obsolete Christmas Eve Surprise and the Wreaths of Christmas

We are together with my grown son, and my mother in law, for Christmas.

My son has been interested for years in obsolete technology. Years ago we had told him of how I purchased a Sony reel-to-reel recorder back around 1971. We left it behind in Arkansas when we moved in the mid 1980's. The tapes, though, recorded from about 1971 to 1974 and even later, had been in storage at my mother in law's house for years.

He wanted them, and he volunteered to go into the attic to get them.

We had sent them from our apartment in Tampa, FL shortly before my spouse joined the Air Force in 1976 . In 2006 we had returned to Tampa for the first time since then and had tried to remember the address - we couldn't. But now, here it was on the return label.

My son, who is in his mid 20's, got such a kick out of the box. Black and white television. Imagine!

We opened the box, and this is what we saw.  After all these years, the tapes looked like they were still in good condition.  (If they are playable, though, it might be a minor miracle.)

I had forgotten how meticulously I typed up lists of each song - name, artist and year.  He got a true Christmas Eve gift. It's fine with me if he keeps the tapes.

Now my son is looking for a reel to reel tape recorder to buy, or another way to test one of the tapes.

Today it is Christmas and, to get readers who celebrate this holiday into the spirit, here are some wreaths made locally in upstate New York.  Many of these pictures were taken in Owego, New York during the annual November O Tannenbaum fundraiser in The Coolest Small Town in America, Owego, New York.

This was one of my favorites - dried fruit, perhaps on a grapevine?

Cardinals (no, not real ones).

A snowman.

And, pink and white poinsettias.

And a final collection of wreaths at Country Wagon Produce in Maine, New York.

A Merry Christmas to my Christian readers.  And to all, a good day.