Dear Reader,
This being the season and all...I would absolutely love if you could share some of your Carroll Gardens Christmas memories with me and with all the other neighborhood residents.
Of course it would be fantastic to hear from the old-timers, but even if you are a 'newcomer' like me, please feel free to relate your Carroll Gardens holiday story.
Moved away, but remember the neighborhood fondly? Live in a different Brooklyn neighborhood? Doesn't matter. I want to hear from you!
For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking
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7 comments:
Katia, here's our Holiday Memory:
I remember my friend (now "Mrs D.") baking and singing with her mom while the rest of us neighborhood girls would laugh and dance and act goofy. Our doors were never locked, especailly around this time of year, and we all wandered into each others houses to see whose mom was making what. We'd have soup in one house, snacks at another, dinner at yet another but always had dessert with "MrsDee" and her family.
(Although I'll admit we'd have dinner there many nites, too.)
There were 6 or 7 of us noisy girls who would torment each others moms & dads. And if one of us had an older brother we'd tease each other and dance around with Misteltoe - holding it over each others' head. I'm lucky to be able to call "MrsDee" my friend and I miss living in the neighborhood, especailly at Christmas time.
"I can remember being married in Carroll Gardens 25 years ago. Oh my goodness we wore the worst clothes ever... my friend Terry should have taken me to the side and given me some advice. It was a summer wedding, but wait there is a Christmas connection to be made. The reception was held in a tenement backyard and Christmas lights were strung from clotheslines. Sharon's relatives from Bayonne were invited and they were knocked over by Carroll gardens... they felt at home at once. Of course we had to have our own special day, and what has ended up to be a fairly unique marriage was celebrated with fruit tarts instead of a traditional wedding cake. The colorful fruit tart has become a symbol for us. So to celebrate almost any holiday (Christmas included) the fruit tart is there and Carroll Gardens is in our hearts."
I remember (and miss) the xams lights in almost everyones windows! How my mother would prepare the seafood for our xmas eve dinner. The delicious honeyballs! The wonderful feeling of visiting friends through out the neighborhood sharing deserts, wine and champagne! Also, how the ships would sound their horns at the strike of midnight on New Years Eve and how the neighbors would all come out and bang on pots and pans--what fun!
We always bought our Christmas trees on the corner of Union and President. My father, two brothers and I would make our annual trek usually the first week of Advent. Pop would lets us pick the one that would grace our living room but he would always have the last say on the one that sat outside in our front garden. Down President St we would go, carrying our precious cargo with Pop and the brothers doing most of the carrying. I can remember Pop smiling down at me as I tried to help and now looking back, I know that all I did was hinder them, but they acted as though without me, they couldn't manage to bring those dang trees home!
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with health and happiness.
Take care, Katia.
Gina from Kissimmee FL
Hi Katia ~ Well, I have too many memories to share! I grew up in Carroll Gardens, and 48 yrs I'm still here! Some of the best were probably when I was in St. Agnes Grammer School and we used to go Caroling, and people would come out & give you hot chocolate, or a cookies - it was just fun. Back then Court St was full of stores and everyone decorated. There was anything " Politically incorrect". There we the holiday lights across the street from State Street all the way to Hamilton Avenue. People always said hello & Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays on the street(now everyone is texting or talking on a cell phone). Also, everyone decorated back then.
I think one of the best things was going to Midnight Mass at St. Agnes, and when you would come out of church there were so many people out, walking home with my friends, talking & inviting people in for few mins. Our block was like a big family. I'm lucky enough to say that I am still friends with some of the kids I grew up, even though I'm the only one still in the neighborhood. It was a great place to grow up.
Maureen M
Pssssst...
Katia, you may not know this, but Mrs. D
(the cake lady you've been looking for) must be a reader of your blog. See the last enrty in this section!
I have a belated Christmas Gift for you:
www.mrsdees.com and/or maureen@mrsdees.com
Happy New Year!
That is too good. Thank you so much for the info. Will contact her. I promise.
And, boy, those cakes look AMAZING....
Just as I was getting serious about a diet!
Thanks again.
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