The stereo/TV/extra storage space for wine glasses, wooden piece of living room furniture, would be playing the 78” albums of Perry Como, Nat King Cole, and the Best Sounds of the Big Bands, during the mid-’50s starting at around 4:00 pm during the already way too dark, dreary, early arrived cold and chilly night of a Pittsburgh New Year’s Eve afternoon. The music of OUR PARENTS was never met with great disdain or complaints, on this particular day, because, while the music from the living room, from THE, all in one entertainment consul, blared an array of SONGS FROM THE ANCIENT, our mother was in the kitchen, baking cupcakes, and cookies, her special pressure cooker version of corned beef, homemade potato salad; in preparation for my sisters and I to enjoy celebrating the coming year! Because, even though my Mother and Father were going, as she would say, “OUT ON THE TOWN,” my Mother wanted to make certain her kids were happy and well-fed!
Depending on which year in the mid-’50s, either my oldest sister would be called our baby sitter, or my next to the oldest sister, would be given the title of baby sitter, and an extra supposedly strict warning of, “YOU, HAD BETTER BEHAVE,” or as my sisters would add once my parents cleared the street, “IF YOU DON’T LISTEN TO ME I WILL TELL ON YOU!”
I still see all of this and smell the aromas of Corned Beef, fresh desserts, mixed with Chanel Number 5, (only to be worn on New Year’s Eve and weddings), Old Spice, (an added amount for New Year, so one could smell it when my father arrived, and still smell it for about an hour after he left). I see this via the vivid clarity of memories, dancing with dewdrops from the days gone by, never to be relived, but also never to be forgotten. “Be good, my parents would tell us, meaning what they said, but adding the teaser, we will bring home some special treats. (The treats were the Top Hat, with the actual number of the next year engraved with silver sparkle, a Tiara, with the words Happy New Year as a crown, which we were certain had real diamonds on it, horns that when blown into, said Happy New Year, and the best would be the squished pieces of New Year Eve cake, stuck to hotel napkins! I want to remember times when actual INNOCENCE was a saving grace for me, and hope, for next year to welcome the new good old days. Happy New Year!
