The Chester Telegraph

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Chester Chatter: The Christmas tree-filled living room

Ruthie Douglas | Dec 18, 2017 | Comments 1

By Ruthie Douglas
©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Finding the Christmas tree for my family was the job of my father. His, only. For he wanted to make the selection.

It was OK for the rest of us, mostly because we knew it was going to be best: 6-feet-tall, full branches and it had to be balsam. That was fine, but we had a small house. The small living room already had a piano it. The tree filled up the rest!

Dad always strung the lights and left the rest of the decorating to us. Mother played Christmas songs on the piano while we sang and trimmed the tree. The Christmas season was spent most evenings around the tree and the piano.

Today sitting by myself with my fake, 4-foot tree, I can recall my childhood memories. How times have changed, but childhood memories can bring me a great feeling of love.

Keep the spirit of Christmas alive.

A terrible loss for Chester

My heartfelt sympathy to Debbie Phelps on the death of her husband, Mark. Mark was a sergeant on the Chester Police force and his loss has left the townspeople in mourning. He was well-liked by many. Hugs to you, Debbie.

Debbie’s sister Pam Perry and her husband Ken Burgosh of Littleton, Colo., and Debbie’s sons Jason and Christopher Albert have been with Debbie.

Sympathy also to our classmate, Mark’s father, Charles Phelps, and his wife Elizabeth.

Melvin Stowell, of Chester and Florida, suffered some medical issues and now has a pacemaker. Get well soon, Mel.

Birthday greetings and Christmas cheer

Happy birthday to Arnie Stoddard on his 80th. And happy birthday to Judy Henning.

The senior citizens annual Christmas dinner was held on Saturday at Chester-Andover Elementary School. The turkey dinner and all the fixings were prepared for and served to the seniors by volunteers. The ladies from Andover baked all the pies for dessert. And many prizes were given out.

The Brattleboro American Legion Band performed a wonderful Christmas concert on Wednesday evening at the Chester American Legion to the delight of an audience of about 60. Dr. Susan Lemei was the conductor. The musical selections included everything from classical to contemporary to classical carols. It made for a nice evening, getting everyone in the mood for Christmas.

This week’s trivia question: Who in 1949 sang and made popular the song “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?”
Answer to last week’s trivia question: We will have only one super moon this year.