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d e c e m b e r 2 0 2 0
W W W . C L I N T O N T W P N E W S L E T T E R . C O M
THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING –
HOPING FOR A FANTASTIC 2021!
Wishing You
and
Your Family
Happy Holidays!
With Love,
Sherry Havens
Your Clinton Township
Specialist & Neighbor.
Shirley (Sherry) Havens
Sales Associate
cell: 908.507.4927
office: 908.735.8080
shirleyhavens@gmail.com
www.SherryHavens.com
I was so content to be a stay-at-home Mom when the kids were
youngsters. There was plenty of time to decorate 10 kinds of
cookies and store them in the special tins brought down from the
attic once a year. The smells of anise and ginger and chocolate
permeated our red, white and chrome kitchen in Fanwood. Of
course, I was dressed as June Cleaver in a dress, stockings and
frilly Yuletide apron.
Christmas Eve tradition at our house was Pig-Out Time. Our meal
would make today's cardiologists collapse from shock. Not a morsel
of meat, fruit or vegetables, we feasted on five kinds of cookies,
banana bread, homemade doughnuts, whipped cream cake, jello
molds and five kinds of cheese and crackers. Cholesterol hadn't
been invented yet, so what did we know? Christmas Day's roast
turkey was actually anticlimactic! Christmas morning's ritual
consisted of turning up the thermostat, letting the dog out, de-
vouring the milk and cookies left for Santa, putting Mitch Miller
records on the hi-fi and then letting Steve and Sally tear into the
Christmas stockings and presents. Our tree was tall and terrific,
barely touching the ceiling (live, of course) and was loaded with
tinsel and ornaments and a blinking star on top. I remember be-
ing groggy from lack of sleep because we'd been up until 2 AM
assembling a cardboard kitchen set that had more slot A's and tab
B's than there are planets. Many of the gadgets we bought ended
up in a pile since we had apparently not heeded the "no batteries
included" notice. All the excitement lasted while the dog knocked
off several ornaments from the tree and pine needles shed and
spread over the carpet. Then it was time to go to Grandma and
Grandpa's for more presents and dinner.
This holiday was filled with family and love and optimism for the
coming New Year. And I don't think we ever appreciated the wonder
of it. The kids grew up and their father passed away and nothing
was the same anymore.
Make this Christmas a special one, Newsletter readers. Ho-Ho
until you are blue in the face. Our wish for you is that Yuletide
2006 will go down in memory as one of the best ever. Appreciate
every last moment of it!
from D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
1 9 5 0 s C H R I S T M A S
M E M O R I E S
by Ruth Keesing
Ruth Keesing, with her second husband Fred, began the Clinton Township
Newsletter in 1982. Ruth delighted in the Christmas season and frequently
said that her favorite time of her life was in the 1950's, when her children
were small, and her first husband Gil was still alive.
Locally Owned and Operated
by Phil & Diane Koury
185 Center St., Clinton • 735.4499
