Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

As a child I was fascinated by this mid-1950's Christmas card. The sky is made of shiny threads and I thought it was breathtaking.

Christmas 1949 - 1952

I remember looking at photos of my mom when she was a child and thinking, "Wow! That was a long time ago!" Now the same can be said of the black and white pictures that my dad lovingly placed in an album that he created to chronicle my childhood. That was a long time ago.

I've selected Christmas photos that show vintage toys and games from the late 1940's and early 1950's.

1949, Salinas, California. Yep. Long time ago. 

How did we survive the obvious dangers of toys like this one? Oh the horror!

   

In 1951 we moved to the east coast. Snow! These were taken Christmas Day in Newport, RI. 

This trio of pictures are minuscule and difficult to align on the scanner. There was a particular camera that took tiny pictures and the best were selected to be enlarged. Weird. 

In 1952 we were still living in Newport. On Christmas morning I was recovering from chicken pox and had to unwrap my presents in bed. My mom used a wringer washer just like the toy in the picture. Only bigger. I still have the Sweet Sue doll.

Taking official Christmas pictures to send to relatives had to be delayed. I don't know how much later this was but my spots were gone, the tree was still up and all the presents had been magically transported downstairs.

On the left: my mom and me.

Daddy and me.

The hemp rug was eventually stored in the garage, got wet and sprouted. 

                   My grandmother Mimi made this outfit from orange quilted material.   

It was memorably uncomfortable.  
     

My dad tried to take "professional" photos. I hated the bright spotlights and didn't cooperate. 

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These pictures raise a very important question:

What in the world happened to my bangs?

Mom's family

Every time I search through family photos I rediscover an old favorite. This is a photographic portrait of my mother's family in the late 1800's.
There's so much to love about this picture. The typical Victorian parlor. The men's mustaches and women's hairstyles. The unmarried ladies dressed in white.
The middle woman-in-white is my grandmother, Mimi. I inherited the amethyst brooch that she's wearing.  

Ack!

While working on a nostalgic Christmas post I discovered that the last time I had published anything to my blog was over a month ago. It must be the time of the year... I've noticed that some of my favorite bloggers have been unusually quiet. My excuse: writing is enjoyable but the same can't be said for scanning/uploading/saving pictures. So I've been procrastinating. Yeah, that's it.

The next entry will be done by Christmas. I ran across some pics taken in the early '50's that show me opening gifts from Santa while confined to bed. Merry Christmas and Happy Chicken Pox!