Monday, December 18, 2006

Christmases Past Yet Again...

Christmas 1965 followed our college graduations - and our wedding followed Christmas.

I made my gown from a Vogue pattern - first I made a muslin dress to fit it to my (then) tiny frame.I chose the pattern because I simply did not like the full, huge wedding gowns that were then still very much the "norm" in wedding fashion. I wanted something plain and easy to wear that still looked classic. As a self-taught seamstress, I should never have attempted a Vogue pattern, but what did I know??? The dress was made from fabric I purchased in London on a trip following my college graduation in June. I made no mistakes whatsoever on the muslin gown...not so on the bridal gown. I put several of the skirt panels in upsidedown...and was hemming the dress the morning of the wedding!

Here we are with our parents:
Ray + Catherine Mullooly Dolan, Frank + Pat, Irene + Ray Gangl. All are now deceased.

Well, after a wedding, guess what happened prior to Christmas of 1966???
Baby makes three, of course!

1968 Mike and our Christmas Tree in Carbondale, IL

1968 - Christmas in St. Paul to visit maternal grandparents and BoPeep and her family. Here is Mike with Shawn, BoPeep's first born.


1968 - Mike with his maternal Grandpa, Ray Gangl, playing the Austrian accordian.

1968 - Four Generations -

Back Row: Frank (father), Herbert L. Buck (maternal Great-Grandfather), Raymond S. Gangl ( maternal Grandfather).
Front Row: Pat (mother), Michael, Therese Grieman Gangl (maternal Great-Grandmother), and Irene Buck Gangl (maternal Grandmother).
1969 - Winter Snows - this was in Carbondale, IL - where it rarely snows.

This was in Palatine, IL where it snowed a lot that winter!

1969 - Christmas: Mike and Chris

1970 Christmas - the Kids with Santa

This has always been one of my favorite photos - Christine really did not like or trust strangers and this guy was just way too TOO for her. He also was pretty tired, poor fellow!
1970 - Christmas...
Did you ever take your children to a "Santa Land" or a "Santa's Village?" Well, we did...once. Chris hated Santa - still - but both kids loved the kiddie rides! Here's Mike with Santa.




Both of our children took after their parents in loving books and reading and researching. Here is Chris with a large Christmas book from my childhood. I still have it somewhere - it's got one of those wonderful fold-out tissue Christmas trees inside the front cover and is full of all sorts of different Christmas stories.



That's all for today, folks!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

awwww cute pics!!