Once Upon a Christmas

While setting up Christmas decorations this year and looking for photos of family with Santa, I happened upon this little jewel. Yes, yours truly about 1961. I believe it was taken at Leonard's Department Store downtown. Of course, there is no Leonard's now. I can remember window shopping at Christmas time years ago. Window dressing was still an art then. Leonard's had a distinct smell to it - musty old building, new clothes, wooden floors, and popcorn all rolled into one. Not too far from Leonard's was a Red Goose shoe store. Amazingly, the building is still there. I loved going there to buy Paul Parrot (Poll Parrott?) shoes, and there was a big red goose that would lay a large golden plastic egg if fed some coinage. Inside would be a prize - can't remember the prizes, but certainly remember the golden eggs. If you bought shoes, you got a golden egg free! This photo was taken in black and white, but I can still visualize the dress. Red, with green and gold ribbons on it. My tights were red as well. And probably had the traditional scratchy nylon netted slip on, too. The haircut was courtesy of my dad's barber, Mr. McNutt, and my mom hated the "Buster Brown" cut. So, she permed it. Southern women have this penchance for perms. If you have fine, thin hair like mine, all that happens is a nice frizz instead of curls. I suffered through these chemical douses on the hair until I was about 13. I am surprised I have any hair left. According to my mother, straight hair was the mark of the devil or something - just did not do to have hair that "looked like a board" whatever the heck that meant. Ahh, the rites of passage for Southern Women.