Signs of the Season

When I was a kid, every year around Christmas time, a box would arrive in the mail from Lolly. Lolly was my great uncle’s mother-in-law, a soft and huggy lady who lived in Borger Texas and wore a house-dress and apron at all times. She was kind enough to remember us every holiday.

Each member of our family received crocheted slippers handmade for us by Lolly. These over-sized baby booties were usually powder blue and featured drawstring tie closures with decorative pompoms. Each pair always gift wrapped in an empty Ayds Diet fudge candy box, the slippers were a sure thing. Like a Charlie Brown Christmas and the smell of cinnamon, the arrival of the slippers meant that Christmas was close.


After a few nights of wear, our toes would begin to stick out of the holes in the large weave crochet, thus heralding the new year.