Ambrose Greetings From The Past

A very young Ambrose (Gordon’s alter ego), sporting full seashore regalia, looked at us from the greeting card which said, “If you’re careful on the beach…. nothing BAD will happen.” Printed on the back: BEACH BUNNY CARD, The Gull Motel, Long Beach, Washington.

Ambrose, accompanied by two tissue-wrapped packets, came out of a plain brown shopping bag, left on top of our piano by Gordon’s niece, Karen.  “Open it later,” she said.  “It’s part of my down-sizing program.”  ‘Later’ turned out to be after dinner when Nyel and I were reviewing the fun we’d had at Gordon’s 95th.  We were pretty sure the package would contain Christmas ornaments.  Karen had inherited hundreds of them from Gordon and Roy’s collections and, in the course of the afternoon, she mentioned that she was in the process of finding homes for them as she and Bill were preparing to move to a smaller house.

Roy’s Bear

And right we were.  Two ornaments!  A gorgeous bear collectible from the Christopher Radko Collection which, no doubt, was once Roy’s as he was an avid collector;  and, a fabulous rabbit sitting on a checkered wooden egg — Gordon’s, of course.  “Collectible” to Gordon meant rabbits and OZ memorabilia, never mind name brands.

Gordon’s Rabbit Ornament

Also, never mind that we, too, are down-sizing.  Or that we have switched from 11-foot-high to table-sized Christmas trees.  We were delighted.  And for a few moments we were transported back to the days when ‘Gore and Roar’ owned the Gull Motel in Long Beach and to the years of Christmas parties which, eventually, required three trees to hold all the ornaments!!  It was a lovely Christmassy remembrance in July!  Thanks, Karen!