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Why was the snowman looking through the carrots? He was picking his nose.
The old stores had wooden counters, and the goods were laid on the table, separated by glass, which was in turn held by clips. Every “bin” had a price on it. The tables were flat, allowing customers to converse with the salesperson while shopping.
This image is from our trip to visit Colleen in New Hampshire, where they have a historical monument to the infamous “Dime Store,” and it is still in operation.
At Christmas time, Dad would go to the stores and, with the help of the manager (and me), we would add overhead racks to hold the Christmas goodies like decorations, Christmas socks, styrofoam candy canes in several lengths, Christmas wreaths, Christmas Lights, and all the other “oversized” items carried in a dime store.
Dad was the engineer, and we were the hired help. We would go to the local lumberyard, and Dad would make his selections; usually an assortment of 1″x4″ pieces. While Dad rearranged the table tops, moving items to other areas in the store, we would fasten the uprights to the counter and run 1x4s down the entire counter at about 84″. Then we would fasten 2x2s across the structure so items could be hung from them. It would take almost a day to transform the toy counter into a Christmas/Toy counter.
After New Year’s Day, we would return and package up the remaining Christmas items, tear down the overheads, and then move everything back to where it came from.
Yes, it is Monday, and time to submit ourselves to bodily harm; we went to the gym. One of the exercises caused me to observe my knee cap, but after severe pain, I found out I was looking directly at my elbow. Today, I walked out feeling good, except for some joints that have NOT been bent in that direction EVER.
We, of course, went to Ralph’s to get more eggnog.
Things went well at home after we returned. I had just sat down when the doorbell rang. Mary jumped up and yelled, “Mary Christmas, Paul!” Our local massage artist was at the door; Mary arranged a body massage for me. I thought the timing was excellent; maybe he could get rid of some of the pains induced this morning.
The remaining part of the afternoon, we stayed in the TV Room and watched TV. Mary would occasionally get up and down, puttering around, getting the last of the decorations arranged.
We had dinner around 6:00 pm and then returned to the TV room for a while.
