Christmas 1983

Christmas 1983 was another great one for our family. Carmen had just been born in November and we were up to 5 greats. It was a fun year having a newborn baby in the mix as well as the other 4 kiddies looking forward to Santa Claus. Gran and Grandma and Mollie and Nina came for Christmas on a semi regular basis and these were some of our best years with babies born and old people still coming to visit and feeling good. I would love to go back in time and watch these days again. I'd love to spend more time with these people because I remember how great it was to be together. I cherish the memories of days and people gone by. It was the best.

Having Santa with Meredith and Brooke


Not sure if these faces are happy and satisfied or pist and dissatisfied.


Me and Brooke.


Melanie having some quiet time with newborn Carmen who was one month old.


This is what parents do on Christmas Eve, but gran being a Santa was a rare occurrence.


Putting stuff together was always a challenge and the older the kids got, the longer it took. One year John and I spent hours putting one little bike together. That's the last time we ever did that. It only cost 10 bucks to pay Toys R Us to do it for us and to tell the truth, it was worth at least a hundred.


Little red wagons are a must for kiddies.


And then Christmas morning always came and it was so great having Bessie there in her warm winter housecoat. Suzie's in her jammies.


That's Billie holding 2 grandbabies at once. This was a LONG time ago. Jared's got his cowboy boots on with his jammies. LOVE IT. Also Mollie, Gran and Melanie hanging in the den and kitchen.


Big Frank and Gran are checking out the back yard, Melanie's wiping a nose and Mollie's hidden behind Randy who put on his dress thermal for Christmas. And the baskets are still hanging.


Lydia, Dale and Jared before the ripping.


The leaning tower of Rebecca.


This was one of the most shocking events in our history, boys cleaning the kitchen after Christmas dinner. Back in the day, after we opened presents, we had Christmas dinner. And although it was delicious, it meant working all day long cooking and then cleaning up. And of course the restaurant opened the DAY AFTER Christmas. After sometime, we cooked the dinner the Sunday before Christmas and then finally, we just eliminated the meal all together. Some things you just got to cut loose because people time was more important than eating time. In this picture below, Dale's washing dishes but Frank and Randy are looking at the dishwasher like it's a foreign object they'd never seen before....it's a pretty accurate statement. Check out the pitchers hanging over the sink. Also back in the day, if you could hang a decoration, we did.


Looks like they finally decided to start throwing stuff in and see what happened.


This was John's and my first Christmas together as a couple. That's quite a stylish mullet he's got going on and the huge glasses are awesome as well.


Jared's cruising Lindsey in the red wagon


Carmen's first Christmas


The boys doing what boys do...watching any kind of sports on TV.


This is what we did at the end of the day....collapse....adults and children alike.


Our Christmases were the best....still are.