these are pics of eddie's first christmas...1972
mom's lookin' pretty good!!
Christmas for us as a family began after Thanksgiving when we would all have to go to my dad's drugstore and help decorate with paper bells, crepe paper, and a few other random decorations. Mom would buy a few gift items at our local big box stores to sell as Christmas gifts in the drug store. (I don't know why I remember that, but I do!) This was a time that we usually would fuss and get cranky b/c none of us really wanted to be there. Dad probably was rushing to get home to see a football game, but if we didn't have each row of crepe paper garland even we'd have to redo it!
my first christmas...1975
how cute is this gown and cap??
looks like a good christmas:)
i love mom in the background putting on my christmas morning cap so my cap/gown would match for pics!
check out the harvest gold carpet!!
my first pic with santa
i'm not even crying!
you see a baby doll here
i would continue getting dolls every year until i was 10 years old
dolls were my favorite things to play with!!
Then at home, we would decorate a lot. Usually we'd put up 2 trees (one in the living room and one in the den), and dad and eddie would put up lights outside for us. Eddie would have to crawl up on the roof and mom would think he may fall off every year, but dad would say he would be fine!ha!
When I got older...probably about 11 or 12 years old, dad would give me money (usually about $100-$200 in cash) and drop me off at the mall to shop for mom for a day. We lived close to a mall and I lived there when I was little. I was totally comfortable shopping for a day. Looking back, I can't believe he would give me that much money but he really did.( he would have given any amount to get out of shopping and I pretty much knew how to work him even from my youngest memories!) So, I would get something nice for her...she said that is when she actually started getting nice gifts! When I was old enough to shop for her.
eddie's evil knievel bike
all these vintage toys...would be so great to have!
i got a holly hobby table and chair set with big bird
we both have our mouth open like baby birds!
the funniest part of my christmas memories is the memory of snooping for my gifts most years! i was a huge snooper. i found most of my presents after about age 5...and i have no idea why i did that. eddie on the other hand could have a half opened gift beside him and he would never even look that direction. I snooped and also unwrapped presents under the tree to see what they were and then would re-wrap them. mom hid presents deep inside her closet, in the attic, and in the trunk of her car.
this looks like the million dollar man??
looks like i got a doll bed, kitchen, and high chair for my babies
would be great to have that vintage donald and mickey mouse!
we each had our "side" filled with presents...
mine was usually on the hearth and eddies under the tree
you can see the empty plate and cup from santa's cookies and milk
he was hungry that year!
how about the year of the underroos??
here my hair is curled in curlers for the night...was probably a saturday night.
mom always curled my hair for church on sunday.
this baby bed was a real bassinet that mom bought and asked grandma sherrill to make the ruffles for. my whole bedroom was made with that blue/white checked material and was so cute!
again, here my hair is curled for church!
this is the early 1980's ...the year of the atari!
i love this picture of dad playing with eddie!
dad rolled the tv from their bedroom in to plug into the atari b/c he didn't want it plugged into our "big screen" tv
i was thrilled with my golden dream barbie!
and my gerber babies and real baby stroller!
hear you can see the crissy doll beside me and 2 red cowboy hats behind me!
and this was a big year...eddie got a 3 wheeler and i got a desk for my room
we loved that 3 wheeler so much (dad especially) that he went out after christmas and bought a 2nd one!
we all had some fun times riding those things around, to the dismay of my papa maze! he hated them!
this was another big year! we got tickets to the orange bowl (ut was playing that year of course) and we also went to disney for a few days
we got to skip the last day of school for that semester and fly to orlando!
that was a great christmas memory!
we got new orange jackets for the game and we stayed at the contemporary resort which was like new at the time...i guess it was about 10 years old actually.
my parents planned the whole trip secretly!
the christmas parade
check us out! great hair!
it was a very rare occasion that my dad could leave the drugstore for a vacation, at this time he had a very reliable young man (daryl mosley) working for him that he trusted enough to leave town evidently.
this was one of only 3 family vacations that we actually went out of the state for several days for!
as a business owner, dad just had to be close to home most of the time.
we made frequent trips in the fall for UT football games, and spent time in the summer on the lake, other than that he was at work.
all dressed up for something nice!
we came home right before christmas...as if the trip wasn't enough that was 1984...the year of the cabbage patch doll and i got my long awaited lela bernadetta! i still have her and i can tell you she smells like she did on that morning. those first ever cabbage patch dolls smelled like baby powder or something. none of the other dolls i got years later ever smelled as good as she did!
ok, here is another year and another cabbage patch doll
this was the start to eddie's weight lifting...they set it up in the dining room and he would work out at night and call for people to "spot" him!
it would make mom and dad so mad b/c they would be right in the middle of a tv show and eddie would call for them!
here i am at about 10 years old and this is the last picture of dolls for christmas in my album
kind of sad...getting older
but i loved these 2...twins!
boring teenage gifts...
ready for sunday service...
this picture above i was about 13 years old probably (like the shoulder pads)
and between that year and the picture below the following year i lost 50 pounds
this picture above is the pink pearl ring my dad bought me while he was in knoxville for a game
he saw it in the mall at a jewelry shop and bought it
i don't even think mom was with him so he did really good!
there were also earrings and a necklace!
i love how i'm holding my hand over my pink phone!! somehow i convinced my parents to install a phone jack in my bedroom!
the picture above is in 1992 a few days before my dad died.
i was on my way to a holiday concert and he was so sick
mom and i knew it; but he wouldn't go to the doctor!
stubborn man!
this was christmas 1992 in bowling green, ky
it snowed so pretty that day!
this was the year the titans came to nashville...we wore matching jerseys! we're so festive!
so there you have it...my christmas childhood memories until "adulthood"! we had some really great times and lots of good memories together. I treasure these pictures that document each year so I can remember what was popular then or how we decorated or whatever. I guess that is why I try to take so many pictures these days...so Molly will have something to look back on.
1 comment:
I loved looking at your pictures! I well remember my kids opening their super hero underwear, cabbage patch dolls, etc. I often wondered about your dad. You have some wonderful memories. I still love dolls and have always wanted an AG one so I bought myself one a few months ago. When my mom was little, they had a drawing for girls up to age 12 to 'win' a doll and she won when she was 12. I have her doll - it is large porcelin like. Again, I loved looking at your memories, thank you for sharing them.
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