Wishing you jolly holiday memories
May your week be as merry as mine in 1978
Oh Christmas tree!
See the Conrad family enjoying Christmas 1978. Everyone looks merry. Mom and Dad are celebrating a happy second Christmas in their dream house on the suburban prairie. Joanne and Rick have that special Christmas glow that comes from knowing they still have a whole week off from school ahead of them.
Note also that the Christmas tree is still vertical.
My father insisted on getting a live tree every year, even though my frugal mother would have been perfectly happy with an artificial tree.
That year, either my father picked a tree that was too big for the stand, or he really overdid it with the garland and tinsel, as one often did in the ‘70s. But whatever it was, the tree toppled over.
As it happened, I was in the next room making a mixtape on my new tape recorder when it fell. It wasn’t a loud crash, but the tinkling sound of breaking glass ornaments was unmistakable.
I alerted my dad, who was upstairs at the time, and he came down the stairs cursing like the father fixing the furnace in the movie “A Christmas Story.” He knew this would give my mom one more argument in favor of an artificial tree.
After we cleaned up and my father anchored the tree to the ceiling with a wire, I realized I’d captured my father’s entire tirade on tape.
Having an animated stream of obscenities over top of mellow ‘70s soft rock was hysterical. But since I didn’t want to inflame the situation further, I erased the tape.
If only I had been brave enough to save it—’twould have been an authentic Conrad Family Christmas soundtrack that I could have released at a more opportune moment.
What’s the point of telling this tale of minor Christmas calamity and parental profanity?
It’s to remind you to keep your eyes and ears open this week for the holiday memories you’ll want to carry with you through time. With any luck, there will be at least one incident that will make a good story to entertain your friends and family later.
Happy New Year!
For more stories like this, follow me on IG. I’m marking a big birthday in 2026, and I’ll be celebrating every Throwback Thursday with a snapshot from my life on the 0s (10, 20...) and the 5s (15, 25…)