On this Saint Nicholas Day, I am thinking about old times. An azure tree with sparkling blue lights remains one of my favorite childhood Christmas memories. My mother ran a restaurant in a small town, and we lived in rooms behind the business. At that point my sister had married and my brother sailed the seven seas with the Navy. It was just my mom and me. There were bedrooms but no living room. Because the cafe had a storefront picture window to display seasonal decor, the townsfolk also enjoyed my mom’s choice of Christmas trees. The blue one from that long ago Christmas sticks in my mind as unique and complementary to my passion for fairy tales about the frozen north. The tree went right along with my idea of the Snow Queen! Here is Mama in her glitzy glam gold dress. You can see a small picture of a curly-haired me on the table behind her. Since my hair is naturally as straight as a board, this must have been one of the “perm times” that moms seem to love so well.
Enjoy this 1959 recipe for Plum Chiffon Pie:
Ingredients: 2 envelopes or tbsp plain unflavored gelatin, 1 1/3 cup cold pear nectar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 pitted, diced fresh plums, 2 1/2 cups whipped instant nonfat dry milk, 2 tbsp lemon juice, graham cracker pie shell.
To make whipped instant nonfat dry milk: Mix 1/2 cup of nonfat dry milk with 1/2 cup ice water. Whip about 3 minutes until soft peaks form. Add 2 tbsp lemon juice and continue beating another 3-4 minutes until stiff peaks form.
Soften 2 envelopes gelatin in 1/3 cup cold pear nectar. Then heat 1 cup pear nectar with 1/2 cup sugar until sugar is melted, pour over gelatin mixture, and stir until dissolved. Chill in fridge until syrupy. Stir in 1 1/2 pitted, diced, fresh plums and fold in 2 1/2 cups whipped instant nonfat dry milk. (You can substitute store bought whipped cream if you like.) Pour into pie shell and chill until set.
As you can see by this picture, even in more recent years I am partial to blue lights on a Christmas tree. 
I love blue lights on a tree (although I generally use white) and, especially, for outside decorations at night. Beautiful tree and lovely pic of your mom. I love these glimpses into the past. My grandparents had a restaurant/bar before I was born and that is where my parents met. My mom served my dad a ham and cheese sandwich one afternoon, and the rest is history! 🙂
My parents had restaurants together when I was small. Then came the period of my mom running restaurants. Eventually, she had a long term restaurant/bar, and that’s where I met my beloved husband Ronnie when he got out of service and came to visit his uncle. I used to help out in there a little. I love your story about the ham and cheese sandwich. Ronnie’s and my kidding story was that he didn’t tip!
LOL! I love the story with you and your husband. In many ways it mimics how my parents met.
Good memories all around!
Lovely memory. My great grandparents owned a general store. We kids always thought it was such fun to get slices of hard cheese, and pickled eggs. BTW, I like the falling snow.
I bet it WAS fun to get the goodies. My mom and daddy also owned a grocery store, in between restaurants. She met him in a store as a matter of fact. Thanks for stopping by, Loretta!