Jay, Kay, and Santa
Their son Chris with wife Rachel, and daughter Ava with Santa
Their son Shane with girlfriend Kristin, and Santa
Santa with Flat Stanley
Me, Santa, and Jay
THANKSGIVING 2012...
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
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Saturday, January 19, 2013
HERE'S SANTA
I moved back to Forest Park after living in Hawaii for twelve years. I came back to help
take care of Nannie, Elizabeth Reid, in the family home until she passed a year later.
I lived there until the family decided to sell the house in 2005. I moved to Colorado and the house was sold in 2006. You must be wondering, "What does this have to do with Santa".
Santa moved in with Jay and his wife, Kay. In 2008, I moved back to Georgia, this time to
Stockbridge. In 2011 my mother passed and left me her home at Eagles Landing. Memories
of my childhood came flooding back. Mama, Daddy, and Jay and our time at the North Avenue
house in Forest Park kept coming back. There are things around me from that time like Nannies cedar
chest, my mothers comb, Daddy's ladle that he used to drink from the river at our cabin in North Georgia.
When the holidays rolled around this year, all I could think about was the one thing that brought joy, not only to my family, but to everyone who shared our holiday tradition. It's time for you to meet
him...
Here's my guest...
But first, a pit stop...
STAY TUNED.
Friday, January 18, 2013
THE WINDOW
This was our living room before Santa came to our house.
Fact: I always thought as a kid Santa was tall, he is short.
My Dad built a platform to make sure Santa's feet were level with the bottom of the window.
home at Christmas for twenty years.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
THE EMBREY FAMILY
This is one of the few family photos we have together. My Dad Mack,
my Mother Annette, my brother Jay and me.
Decorating began on Thanksgiving Day. My grandfather Erskine Reid
helped my Dad put everything out.
Jay and I came out to help after watching the Macy's Parade on TV.
It took three days. On Sunday afternoon the lights were tested and on that evening
we became the CHRISTMAS HOUSE. This was from 1963-1983.
In the beginning pulling a couple of plugs turned everything off.
This became Mama's job. She set her alarm for midnight every night
because they went to bed at nine o clock. Later, this meant getting up and
going down to the basement to the fuse box to turn off all the displays and lights.
Here's Santa in our front window.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
This was the newspaper the article was in about the Christmas House. Top left photo
is me as an elf, my cousins Kim and Jennifer, a family friend Derek, and my Dad was
Santa. The top right photo was our ice skater, photo below was our choir, and in the window below
was Santa. This was December 20, 1979 10 days before my son Nicholas was born.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
DOES SANTA LIVE ON NORTH AVE?
DOES SANTA LIVE ON NORTH AVENUE?
A local newspaper posed this question in a article about the "CHRISTMAS HOUSE" in Forest Park
on December 20th 1979. The answer is yes.
For 20 years he greeted young and old from our living room window. When I say greeted, I mean he
literally waved. He is a mechanical Santa my father, Mack Embrey, bought from New York City.
Santa was the first of many Christmas decorations to eventually fill our yard through those years.
In 2002 I moved back to the family home only to discover that the decorations had not withstood
the test of time from years of storage in the damp basement. Let's call it a miracle, since I do
believe in miracles. High on a shelf, in a dark corner, sat a very large box. You guessed it...
the only survivor from the Christmas House... SANTA.
THIS IS GOING TO BE ABOUT OUR ADVENTURES ... TOGETHER... AGAIN.
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