Family Get-Togethers

Family get-togethers are the highlight of the season. I have warm feelings about many get-togethers like this one in Athens. From left to right, we have David, John, Dad, Cathy, Ryan and Tom. I would guess that this is December of 1986.

Those are holiday glasses. Candle and greenery in the center of the table. Is that a sweet potato casserole I see?

Cathy's Christmas in 1950

It has been a wonderful Christmas season with family.

This is Cathy in 1950 or so. We loved being with her family again this year.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see those old, big, colored lights on the tree that no one uses anymore. Can you still buy those? Our family used them into the 1980's, I believe, before we succumbed to the pressure and went with the all-white lights.

Joy to the World!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her king.

May your Christmas have at least as much joy as these three (Mark, David, Cathy) had in ...oh... let's call it 1958.

Merry Christmas!

Mom's update: Mom remembers that she made that bathrobe for Cathy.

Every Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve in my memory, the whole family would gather in the evening in the family room. Often we would carry Christmas treats (cookies or fudge, for example) with us out of the kitchen. Young ones would hang stockings. We would sing several Christmas hymns. Any musicians present (especially Cathy, David, and Tom) would contribute on the piano, on the guitar, or with strong voice.

Then someone, usually the youngest one who could read, would read the Christmas story from the Bible. Every year the same question: the Luke version or the Matthew version? Someone would close with a prayer. Little ones would then go to bed.

One year, I think I was the reader (though it could have been that I had been asked to do the prayer), and when I was finished, I looked up and Ama was crying. She was a bit embarrassed to be a bit overcome by the moment. I understood it some then, and I understand it more now.

I think this picture of Danny, Cathy, and Apa may have been taken on a Christmas Eve in Auburn.

 

Grandpa and Mother Hattie

Christmas is coming.
The goose is getting fat.
Won't you please put a penny
In the old man's hat?

If you haven't got a penny,
A ha' penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha' penny
Then God bless you.

I remember dancing with excitement around the kitchen, singing that song with Mom, in Auburn (before 1967 or so, I guess). That song was a perennial favorite in our house around Christmas time. It was always a harbinger of the season and quickly put this little boy in a Christmas mood (still does). I haven't heard it many other places.

This picture is of Grandpa and Mother Hattie. I never really knew them. The back of the picture says "Kodacolor," but time has not been kind to this Kodacolor's color. Still, all in all, the red is appropriately Christmassy. I'll check the original and report back (I don't have it with me), but I believe it was stamped "1954" on the back.

 

People Holding... Mammals

No idea what's going on here. Mom, Ama, and Dad have puppies... or kittens? Or... the ears on that thing Ama (in the middle) has make it look something like a baby lamb.

Mom may be wondering how often and how long she will have to hold things like this if she marries into the family.

I figure this is before they are married or very soon after. Right in the middle of the 1940's...

I almost wonder if they are at Dad's family place (his grandparents' home) in Crenshaw County.

Mom's update: Mom believes they were dogs. She does not believe that it was at Dad's family place, but she cannot place where this picture was taken.

Mark's having a ball. David's a son of a gun.

Maybe we should expect that a minister's son should lean on the Canon.

Holiday Time is Family Time

We've always enjoyed family. Uncle Jim watches his nephew Ricky H., niece Cathy J., and his own Jimmy and Barbara. For three families to get together like this (and considering how they are bundled), I figure this must be Thanksgiving or Christmas in 1950 or 1951.

Is this at Grandpa's farm?

Thirty-five year later, Uncle Jim looked exactly the same to me.

Mom's update: This was at Grandpa's farm where Mom grew up. She remembers it well, of course. The barnyard was called the lot, and Uncle Jim is standing in front of the lot gate.

Proud Papa

Papa (Dad) was so proud of all of his family, but especially his grandchildren. Here he is in Lake Junaluska with Andrew and Matthew, Mark and Judy's boys. My best guess is that this is about 1983 1986.

Dad was always good-natured, but nothing made him light up like his grandchildren. Bouncing a child in his lap to Mr. Brown...

Mr. Brown went downtown
Riding a goat and leading a hound.
Hound dog barked. Goat gave a jump

And then raising the child high in the air... impossible to know whose face shows more glee...

Threw Mr. Brown right straddle of a stump.

Many a child and grandchild in our family grew up with Mr. Brown, and I have never found anyone who has heard it outside of our family.

If we do it with our Sam, he'll squeal and say, "Do it again." And Dad would do it over and over and over and over and over with great joy.

Or "Bumblebee, round the tree..."

It's a great sadness for me that Sam and Nathan will not know Dad.

Next generation

 

Tom and Cathy's boys, Ryan and John, are hanging out with their Uncle Danny at Christmastime.

Ryan is now in college and John is married... I am smart enough to understand the progression of time, but that doesn't mean I can't be amazed by it.

Looking forward to seeing them next week. Being with them and other family is still an important part of Christmas.

If I had not cropped the photo, you could have seen right over my head the dreaded hanging lamp, the bane of family photos.

 

Good-looking threesome

 

Sweet looking siblings here. Where was this taken? My guess is that this is the Spring/Summer of 1956 or 1957.

That would mean that Cathy would be turning 8 or 9 (she looks like she could be older), David would turn 2 or 3 later in the year, and Mark would be turning 5 or 6 (almost looks younger). I think I would guess 1957.

I heard Cathy say one time that she never once wore pants to school in all her years.

If you look closely you can see the longing in their faces, that deep-rooted wish for a little brother.

 

Christmas Dinner - ~1956

Mom, David, Mark, Ama, and Dad at a Christmastime dinner in Marianna. You can see the tree in the background. Are those Christmas cards on the panes of glass on the doors?

If David is two, then this must be 1956. I figure Cathy took the picture, who would be 8 in 1956. Apa is the other candidate for photographer, but I figure he is sitting at the other end of the table, and we see Cathy's empty chair.

Mom's update: They often put Christmas cards on the panes of the doors.

Three Brothers

 

A great part about this Christmas picture is that you can see that Mom has told Dad to pull the hanging lamp out of the picture. Wouldn't want it to distract.

I figure Danny is about 19, Mark is about 29, and David about 26. Let's call it 1980.

 

Dad, Mark and Cathy at the beach.

I understand that the family used to spend Christmases at the beach with Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Julia's family - either before I was born or when I was too young to remember. These pictures must be from a warmer time of year.

These four pictures are joined by a perforation between each picture. Mom has written ever-so-helpfully on the back (from top to bottom): Mark & Dan, Cathy, Mark & Cathy at beach, Mark.

I figure this is about 1952.

 

A Joyous Occasion

Not a Christmas picture, but it sure is a good-looking picture of a happy occasion from August 1945.

I am struck by how lovely Ama looks. Then I realize with a start that I am older now than she was then.

Grandpa looks as if the jury is still out on the new son-in-law. Mom looks pretty and pleased, and Dad is quite handsome.

If I remember correctly, Mom was wearing her sister-in-law Nina's wedding dress. The war was on and many luxuries were hard to come by. I remember that Mom told me that as wedding gifts they received something like a "due bill" that friends had purchased for their china collection. Mom and Dad were given a piece of paper promising a plate or a saucer, for example, when it became available.

I wonder where this picture was taken. They were married at Ivy Creek Methodist Church. It's a beautiful little church, but I cannot picture any place at the church that would have looked liked this even in 1945.

Mom's update: This picture was taken in Mom's family living room in the Mulberry community near Autaugaville.

Early Athens Christmas

 

Wow! Did we ever look like this? I figure this to be around 1969 or 1970. (The tree is to the left of the picture where the TV usually is, instead of the usual spot which would be to the right and in front of where David is.)

This picture was taken with Mark's old Polaroid camera. That camera was magic, wasn't it? Take the picture, pull it through the rollers, time 60 seconds with your watch (or was it more?), peel off the filmy cover to the picture, shake it a bit to air it out, pull off the cover to the adhesive of the separate cardboard back, and affix the backing to the picture. It was amazing.

Mark won that camera as some sort of prize connected to his newspaper delivery job, as I recall.

I guess Tom probably took the picture.

As an aside, has any company been more hurt by digital photography than Polaroid?

Update: Looking again at the picture, it appears that only one person is happy to be there!



 

Joys of Family

 

Uncle Jim wrote on the back:

Dec. 16

Hi! Jimmy will be nine years old tomorrow - which is quite a commentary on his parents!

I'm taking 2 weeks vacation tomorrow - my first in 2 years.

Win's dad may join us tomorrow for Christmas. Otherwise we plan a quiet holiday. I expect to enjoy the kids to the fullest.

We still don't know when we will be leaving the country but our guess is possibly late February.

Love to all of you from all of us,

James

 

David and Dad in Construction Fun

 


I figure this is Christmas 1959. "May 1960" is printed on the back of the picture. David and Dad are having so much fun that Mark must be physically restrained by Mom from jumping into the scene.

The top of the piano looks empty to me compared to the small village of composers' busts that I was accustomed to 15 years later.

 

Dad sets up a Christmas train

 


I am older now than Dad was then...

 

Over 50 Christmases ago

Cathy and, I believe, Ricky H. are getting ready for Christmas in 1950 (or possibly 1951?).