It's quite possible that most people of a certain age
get nostalgic on this day. Old photos stir memories
of the ghosts of Christmas Past....
Funny how you notice the details on old photos...
how Gma Mieska hung Christmas balls from all
her lampshades....those drapes...my new doll
I named "Janie". (I think Steve eventually
tore her arm off.)....and dad's hair!
I think this was 1957 when Aunt Phyllis made
these felt stockings for all the Mieska grandchildren...
a tradition that continues for my family with 16 stockings now.
That's cousins Jay, Fred and Rynda with my baby sister,
Ann, me and my brother Steve at Gma Mieska's.
Believe it or not that tinsel was saved from year to
year to re-hang on each subsequent tree.
I believe this was Christmas, 1974
Chad-3, Scott 9 mos.
I loved those little red suits.
Christmas 1983
Scott, Jesse, Chad
(look at that wallpaper!)
For several Christmases the Mieska grandchildren
put on a Christmas play. This first play was
the story of the birth of Jesus. I was
pregnant with Jesse and holding Zac (baby Jesus). Chad
is the shepherd/Joseph; Heather was Mary, Jer
is the angel (crying because he got his
fingers pinched somehow) and Scott as a wiseman.
The next year Sue helped with "The Night Before Christmas".
We had programs and everything.
Chad is Santa, Heather is Ma, Jer is Pa, Josh
is a mouse and Zac and Jesse were the "children nestled
in their beds". What was Scott?
Another year...another play
This time it's "The Porcelain Doll (Heather) and
the Teddy Bear (Jer).
Notice the lineup of stockings at that time.
"The Velveteen Rabbit" with Beth in the lead role.
Scott and Zac were "real" rabbits.
And, of course, "Santa Goes Mod" where Chad
was the narrator, Jer was a newsman and
Josh, Beth and Jesse were elves.
Jer made his "camera" from legos...
not pictured here were Scott as Santa,
Heather as Mrs. Claus and Zac as a mailman.
And I think this was circa 1991 with
Chad, Scott, Jer, Heather, Zac, Josh
Jesse and Beth arranged in birth order.
And...skip ahead a couple of decades.
Christmas 2013
Briggs, Ethan
Everleigh, Andrew
Matthew, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Brighton
Merry Christmas to family near and far!
