Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas Past

These are some old Polaroids I have.
Christmas 1969.
 I would have been just about a month and a half shy of turning 4.
I was looking through these a while back when I was working on another post
 (that I never got finished, but I will!)

I was so excited to see this doll! She was my favorite doll...and I never knew that I had pictures of her!
She was very well loved. I don't know what happened to her. I do know that a couple of the neighbor girls floated her down the ditch once...but she was rescued. I'm sure I just outgrew her, and didn't know my adult self would wish I had her back!

 I loved the stroller/buggy too. Had it for a good many years as well. I think toys were a little sturdier back in the day.

Loved my kitchen set too. I think I must have gotten different pieces to it for a couple of years. I'll have to ask my mom. This is the stove. It was made out of metal. It probably came from Sears. I also had a sink set that really worked! It was awesome. And I had a cupboard that my Grandpa built for me (still have it, though it needs to be refinished).

It's fun to look at these pictures and remember playing with so many of my favorite toys.


This one is pretty washed out. But I loved this Mrs. Beasley doll! She had a pull string in her back & when I pulled the string she would say a different phrase. Wish I still had her too!
I must have been a very good girl in 1969! I got a lot of cool stuff that I had for a long, long time!  I was also the only child at this point...so I think I might have been a little spoiled.


We often had a flocked tree. I don't remember ever going to get the tree, but I do remember watching my dad flock the tree one year. I was a little older than this, but I remember sitting in the basement watching him turn the green tree into a beautiful white one! I loved flocked trees. I don't remember much about decorating our trees when I was a kid. I do remember a few ornaments.  And I do remember that we never did the decorating until around the 15th, which seemed like forever to me! I also remember my mom had these big plaster picture/plaque things. There were 3 of them, each one was one of the Wise Men. She always hung them up in the hallway. They were some of my favorites when I was a kid.


 After my grandpa passed away, my grandma would sometimes spend Christmas Eve at our house. We would always have tacos for dinner. We also used to drive around and look at the Christmas lights. Then, when we got home, we always would listen to Christmas music. My favorite was our Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer record. My brothers and I also each had a candle to burn. They were always those small, cheapo candles, that burned really fast. They are hard to find now~ Santa's, Snowmen, Christmas Trees...the idea was, once our candles were burned out, we had to go to bed.
Santa never wrapped the gifts he brought to us. I used to love to sneak out to the front room, as we called it, and try and get a peak at all the fun stuff he had left under the tree. One year, Grandma was sleeping over and she was in my room & my brothers and I were all in their bedroom. I would have been 10 or older probably. Slowly, stealthily, I crept to the bedroom door, then I got down on my stomach and painstakingly began inching my way ever so slowly past my bedroom door, past my sleeping Grandma. I was almost past the doorway when suddenly Grandma said in a clear voice; "Valerie! Get back in bed!" Try as I might, I could never get past her!

Was I stinkin' cute, or what?
 This was probably my Christmas dress~ made by my Grandma. And my hair is in ringlets. Man, those were painful! My mom could roll those curlers so dang tight! And if I didn't hold still, I might get smacked with the comb! OUCH! 

Merry Christmas
May your heart and home be filled with warm, wonderful memories of Christmas

8 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas Valerie! What a nice trip down memory lane. I hope your Christmas holiday will be filled with just as wonderful memories.

    Love you!
    D

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  2. Since we are about the same age, I'm older... I remember most of the things in your pictures. Always great memories. We had flocked trees too.
    I laughed out loud about you trying to sneak past your grandma... that was great!
    Merry Christmas!

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  3. Way cute....Santa never wrapped my gifts either when I was growing up. Although, he wraps my children's gifts.

    I love flocked trees, we never had one growing up. So one year I talked my hubby into getting one flocked... I loved it.

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  4. Oh my gosh you are totally stinkin' cute!!
    My grandparents always had a flocked tree so seeing those always brings me back to them.
    I sure wish my mom had saved some of my childhood dolls and toys too - they would be such treasures now. Oh well, we just don't know till we reach this age that they would have been important.
    You have so many wonderful memories - thanks for sharing them.
    Merrry Christmas!

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  5. Wonderful pictures, and the memories that you have shared with us, sure make me think back to those 'good ol' days'!!
    My parents used to load all 6 of us kids up, and drive around to see Christmas lights. Man oh man.... good times !!
    From our home to yours, here's wishing you all a very, very Merry Christmas !

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  6. I was born in '64, so I have lots of polaroids that look a lot like this, only the girl in the photos is a brunette!

    Merry Christmas!

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  7. Absolutely stinkin cute! And I remember my dad always saying to me, "Valerie, get back in bed!" I guess we're a lot alike. :)

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  8. How did I miss this? What cute pictures and what fun memories.
    You were/are stinkin' cute!

    Merry Christmas, my friend.

    p.s. I couldn't make a comment on your most recent post.

    ReplyDelete