Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
This day was going normally at Christmas 1955 until that call came from Stockton. My Aunt Kaye called Mom and said Stockton had flooded, and her home was sitting in 7 feet of water from the overflow of the levee across the street! Aunt Kaye said everything was lost, including the Christmas presents for cousin Tom and Gayla.
Throughout its history, Stockton has been prone to periodic and often catastrophic floods. In 1955, the so-called “Christmas Eve Flood” inundated much of the city. It was caused by a series of “pineapple express” storms barreling in from Hawaii, by early, rapid snowmelt in the Sierra, by eight days of steady rainfall in San Joaquin County, and by a preventable human miscalculation.
Although Pacific Avenue was temporarily closed due to water sloshing into stores, South Stockton felt the brunt of the storm when Mormon Slough began to overflow. A year before, the Stockton City Council had decided, based on bad advice from the Army Corps of Engineers, that the city no longer needed the slough for flood control and protection.
It therefore approved filling in part of its bottom for a parking lot and constructing several earthen bridges to join city streets across the chasm. According to The Record columnist Michael Fitzgerald, “through these obstructions, engineers ran a culvert as adequate to the coming flood as a straw to a swimming pool.”
Under water!
We packed up everything the next morning, including several of my presents that we had NOT opened, and headed to Tracy, California, where my grandparents lived. Aunt Kaye and family stayed there on Christmas Eve and for many days afterward, until the water level went down.
Cousin Tom Hale (1944-2017) and Aunt Kaye (1924-2019)
We celebrated Christmas with Ray, Kaye, Tom, Gayla, and my grandparents.
Mom, Dad, and I returned home a couple of days later, as we could not do anything to help other than provide financial support. To get to their home, they needed a boat. The water finally receded a week later, and they went to the house, but the flood destroyed everything, including their new 1954 Mercury.
It was a time to remember how families stick together during emergencies.
We were up early and had our cars ready for their baffy! Our new car wash guy, Manuel Rios, was here at 8:00 am sharp and began making the automobiles look brand new. When I went outside to give him Robin’s keys, the Silver Fox looked like it was in a snow bank. There were white bubbles and soap everywhere!!
At 9:30 am, we took off for the Rogers Gardens for our annual Christmas Visit—time to do some serious shopping in the fairytale land.
The first thing the girls do is to accost a poor, innocent soldier.
“Hi, soldier!”
They look so innocent; yeah, right!
“We’re going in!”
While they were chasing soldiers, I followed the choo-choo train around the facility, and I helped it by making my famous train sounds.
ZYje cjoo choo was running.
During our walk, we spotted many incredible decorations with the brightest reds one could imagine! This tree was made of red jingle bells.
Red?
Robin caught us at a good moment in the doorway to the packaging center.
Just us!
Inside the store, more decorations were available. Mary’s eye caught this one, and we almost purchased it since it was so true. We were not sure who the pillow was referring to: Mary, Robin, or me!
How appropriate!
Everyone knows about the “Elf On The Shelf,” but I caught a glimpse of “The Elf In The Tree. It looked like Mary, but I was sure Mary would not be climbing inside the tree, or would she?
There was an elf in the tree!
From Rogers, we made a quick stop to see Dr. Bill, who applied his skills to my feet. He chopped off my toenails, and now I can put on socks without them hanging up.
The American Legion that Mary belongs to is in Newport Bay, Balboa Island. We sat and enjoyed the view, and could see the fog blotting out our usually great view.
The Legion was fogged in!
We had a glass of wine and shared their amazing turkey club sandwich, which kept us full all day! Rovin tried their roasted bell pepper soup, which she proclaimed as fantastic.
We had a fantastic lunch!!
The fog was so thick we could not see across the bay! Driving toward Dr. Bill’s, the fog cleared up, and it was a bright, sunny day!
We need Rudolph.
After we departed Dr. Bill’s, where I got my toenails trimmed, we ended up on Irvine Blvd, so I suggested we stop at Verde for a daycap (it’s like a nightcap but different).
We entered Verde, and Anthony was awaiting our arrival! Mary and I had a “Becky’s Good Hair Day” while Robin went for the Christmas drink made of Fernet and Chartreuse.
Fernet is a dark, bitter Italian herbal liqueur (an amaro) known for its intense, complex flavor from ingredients like myrrh, saffron, chamomile, and rhubarb, typically served as a digestif to aid digestion after meals or mixed with soda/cola, especially in Argentina, where “Fernet con Coca” is a national drink. It’s strong, with an alcohol content around 40%, and offers a potent mix of bitter, minty, and spicy notes, developed initially as a medicinal tonic in the 1840s.
110 Proof, Chartreuse is a potent, complex French herbal liqueur made by Carthusian monks from a secret recipe of 130 plants, flowers, and herbs, famously existing in green (stronger, woodsy, 110 proof) and yellow (sweeter, honeyed, milder) varieties, used in classic cocktails like the Last Word or sipped as a digestif. Its natural green color comes from chlorophyll, not artificial dye, and it’s aged in oak barrels for distinct flavor profiles.
After downing the hairday, Mary tied the Christmas drink with the following results:
She tried the Christmas drink!
Robin seemed to enjoy the drink, although towards the end of our visit, her glass got poured into mine.
Someone liked the drink!
Anthony did his usual selfie, which we sent to Becky!
We stopped at Verde to see Anthony and get a drink!
We made it home around 3:00 pm, and Robin took off for her “date night” with Bob. We went to the TV room and binge-watched “Landman” until almost 10:00 pm. It was time for bed.
