I'm sure there are some people left in Hays who might recall the strange Christmas decorations that appeared on a home at 527 W. 23rd many, many years ago.

My brother Jim and I were a year apart in age. We did a lot of things together. What I didn't think of, he did.

Well, the Christmas season of 1953 finally had begun, and Mom thought we should unpack the boxes containing the decorations neatly stored in a large closet area on the second floor of our home. This would be the first Christmas without Dad, who died June 12 of that year, a couple of weeks after my graduation from St. Joseph's College and Military Academy, now Thomas More Prep-Marian; Jim had graduated in 1952.

Our house was at the corner of 23rd and Hall, across the street from the KAYS radio station. Hall Street wasn't as busy then as it is now, but it slowly was emerging as a route to Fort Hays State University.

Being the good boys we always were, we unpacked the decorations as Mother requested. She had plans to do a little shopping that evening and trusted us with the responsibility of making the exterior of the house look like the season at hand.

Poor choice, Mom!

As Jim and I discussed what to do with what and where, Jim suggested a bit of humor, reasoning this would be mother's first Christmas without Dad and maybe it was time to put a little smile on her face. So we put our thinking caps on. That smacks of trouble!

We came up with a plan. Well, Jim came up with a plan that included a visit to her bedroom. I endorsed what I heard. We looked in a couple of drawers and picked out some items that came under the category of "unmentionables."

"Oh," Jim said, displaying an armful of stuff, "These will be great spread across the front room picture window. Let's go for it!"

Keep in mind we were teenagers, so our selection fit the mindset of a couple of boys in their late teens.

So, we pulled the drapes open as wide as they would go on the front room picture window and began putting up our version of "Christmas Decorations '53."

We were very select as to what garment would go where. When we had the window filled with Mom's stuff, we went out front to take a look and were very impressed with what we saw. The only two things left to do were to string red and green blinking Christmas lights around the window, and then top that off with placing a green colored spotlight in the yard focused on the window.

Jim called it "breathtaking." I thought it sort of looked like we were preparing for a yard sale.

It didn't take long and cars traveling north on Hall Street started slowing down when they were in range of the decorated window.

"You think it's the decorations?" Jim asked, holding back a laugh.

A few hours later, Mom returned from her shopping trip. Jim and I were hiding behind one of the bushes so we could hear and see her reaction.

Well, folks, her reaction was heard throughout the city of Hays, Kansas -- and beyond! It definitely wasn't a scream of approval.

We quietly emerged from behind the bush.

"How do you like it, Mom?" Jim asked.

She answered in four words, "Down they come, now!" And they did, much faster than they went up.

The only thing that disappointed Jim and me was the fact we weren't able to enter our creation in the citywide Christmas decorating contest. I think a new wrinkle or two resulted from that experience.

* * *

Thanksgiving Day 2009 was spent in Longmont, Colo., at the home of nephew Tom and Kelly Murray. What a fun time. Must have had at last 35 people there. This was a big difference between Thanksgiving Day 2009 and 2008.

Last year I wasn't sure where I would be spending Thanksgiving Day, at the home of my sister Dolores (Tootsie) and Bob Schlyer in Hays or the Hays jail.

You see, as I came into Hays and eventually turned onto East 13th off of Vine, I apparently cut a cop car off at a street construction zone and the cop followed me all the way into my sister's driveway.

Thank goodness I watch a lot of cop shows on television, because I knew just what to say and not to say. My driver's license checked out OK, and I was a good student listening to a lecture on how to drive in the city of Hays. I did wonder this year if my red 2001 Ford Ranger was on the Hays PD radar.

Honestly, what the cop told me about driving in the city of Hays had nothing to do with the way Hays people really drive.

Tom Dreiling is a retired northwest Kansas journalist who served newspapers in Kansas and Wyoming for 42 years. He writes columns and editorials for the Goodland Star-News, in addition to The Hays Daily News. He makes his home in Goodland.

tad1@st-tel.net