Journey Back to Christmas

Have you seen the new Hallmark movie Journey Back to Christmas? Hallmark describes it this way: A WWII era nurse is transported in time to 2016 and meets a man who helps her discover the bonds of family and that the true meaning of Christmas is timeless.

Hanna enters a shed to escape a winter storm after her car, a Hudson, ends up in a snowbank. That night the Christmas Comet passes over. The comet has a 71-year cycle. It is 1945, and Hanna winds up in 2016 to a bewildering world.

The cars are all strange. People dress differently. The hospital where she worked is now a library. Her home is now the Organic Planet, where gluten-free toothpaste is sold; what’s gluten free?

The family that takes her in has a hard time too. How do you explain computers? They try to outfit her with Uggs that she thinks are bedroom slippers. The townspeople are suspicious of the stranger in their midst.

Hanna helped the town rediscover charms from their past: the gaily lit gazebo, caroling. The dog she rescued the night she disappeared led to a breeding program for service dogs.

Imagine being transported 71 years into the future. Would you find that you had left a legacy? Do you think the world will be greatly changed and leave you wondering if you’ve lost your mind?

If you haven’t seen Journey Back to Christmas and get the chance, don’t miss it. If you have seen it, what did you think?

The Aluminum Christmas Tree

Use this discount on my books until Christmas.

Aluminum Christmas trees became popular in the 1960s and the largest manufacturer of these trees was in Wisconsin. Their tree sold more than one million. My grandparents had an aluminum tree with a four-color spotlight that rotated: first red, then blue, yellow, and green.

My biggest memory of that tree? My dad hated it. So fake!

Two cousins, my sister, my brother (on his new tricycle), and I (down in front) pose in front of the silver tree.

Merry Christmas!

Boys in White Dresses

Take a guess. Who might this child be?

Look through old photographs and you’ll find young boys in dresses. Why?

White was easy to bleach, and diapers were easier to change with dresses. Young children grow like weeds, and dresses don’t require precise sizes as pants do.

Boys wore dresses or short skirts until age six or seven, when they received their first haircut.

The shift toward clothing associated with men―pants―came in the early twentieth century. Another shift occurred with the women’s liberation movement; girls started wearing pants.

Who is the child? A future president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1884.