I was hoping for a white Christmas for 1986, mostly because I had a new sled. But hoping for and getting wasn’t always the same – as this Christmas proved. There was sickness a-brewing in my house. Denise had interrupted my movie-watching on the evening of Saturday, December 20, to let me know that she had thrown up all over her room. She spent the rest of the weekend recovering, but not before leaving the germs of a flu bug behind. By Tuesday, Dad was feeling ill and was having productive sessions over the toilet.
Christmas Eve came on Wednesday. I had been pumped up to have my Dad’s family over as tradition had dictated since time immemorial. But this year things were different. Although Dad was beginning to feel a little better, Mom insisted that our house was full of flu germs. And since Bill & Dottie were preparing to leave on a Florida trip the day after Christmas, they decided that they better not come over. So Mom took Denise and I over to visit Grandma Range while Dad stayed home and continued his recovery.
The latest craze in our family was to open all of our ‘Santa Claus’ gifts after they went home. Once Denise had stopped believing in Santa, Mom posed the question “do you want to open up your presents tonight or tomorrow?” Denise would reply, “We’ll do some Christmas Eve, and some on Christmas morning.” But we’d always open them all on Christmas Eve. After returning from Grandma’s house, that’s exactly what we did.
Unfortunately, I didn’t document the gifts that I got, but did mention in my ‘fake journal’ that I had gotten a bit more clothes that I had hoped for. As the photos indicate, Mom got a keen fur coat from Dad. I would venture to say that I probably got a Super 8 film or two to go along with the projector that I had gotten for my birthday earlier that year.
Denise opens up a string of pearls, I’m guessing fake
Dad opens the gift from me, some cheap junk public domain Funniest Men of Comedy and Jack Benny Comedy Hour VHS tapes
Mom dons the new furry coat. Note the tiny substitute tree in the place where our traditional giant green tree normally sat. I didn’t care for this one bit.
Aftermath of Christmas Eve exploded. The only gift I can identify in the Laurel and Hardy photo in the middle of the floor, which now hangs on my living room wall. Dad had the couch made up to be his sick-bed.
We were also scheduled to hold the Murphy family Christmas gathering on Thursday, Christmas Day, at our house. But even though Dad had recovered enough to come and share the day with us, there was a fear that the flu germs were still present – so we moved the party over to Diana & Tom’s house. The biggest concern was for Darlene who was less than a month away from giving birth to Brittney.
Darlene getting set to pop. Bob doesn’t look old enough to be able to grow a beard like that.
Although I obviously didn’t take the photos that I am in, all of the photos from this Christmas were taken with Pentax camera that I had received the previous Christmas.
Pre-Frickin’- Christmas Grandpa Murphy, Lori, and Bev hang out down in the basement
Ed, Bob, and Darlene – an American family
Debby guards the bread in the kitchen, while Tom prepares something, possibly a sandwich
Family portrait by the Christmas tree and Telstar tennis video game
Panorama of Christmas – as Grandpa hands out the gifts in front of a coffee table chock full of snacks. In the photo: Denise, Chris, Dad’s feet, Danny, Ben, Grandpa, Susan, Karen (who is the only one acknowledging the camera), Bev, Ed, Debby, Diana, and Jan
Darlene, Lori, Grandma, Mom, Denise, Dad, Chris, Danny, Ben, and Grandpa Murphy
Finally I kick Mom and Denise out of the golden rocking chair and take my spot among the gift calamity
Something has caught the interest of Tom, Darlene, Lori, Denise, Grandma, and my knee
Dad digs into his Christmas gift
It was clear from my writings in the journal that I was a slave to tradition. The cancellation of Christmas Eve had upset me, not having Christmas Day had upset me, and even the fact that we built our traditional Christmas tree in the living room and only put a small tree in the family room upset me. My direct quote was: “Hopefully next year we’ll get back on track and have Christmas the traditional way.” Thankfully, we did. (Although I must say that it had hardly become a tradition for us to hold Christmas Day at our house since at that point, we had only done it one year.)
I spent the rest of Christmas break counting my paper route tip money – just waiting for the chance to go buy some movie books at the mall, working on that blasted plant science project, and staying over with Jim Harwood and scouring his movie collection. We went to Bill Knapps for Grandma Range’s 74th birthday on Monday, December 29, and then Jim picked me up and we went to his place in Springfield. We watched Gremlins and Dressed to Kill along with some Super 8 shorts. George stopped by as well. The next day, Jim took me to the Library of Congress film vaults at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. This was my first time there and I spent the day roaming in and out of the 100 or so film vaults.
My ‘fake journal’ reflected a bit of an attitude in me, which I guess is par for the course for a fifteen year old, but I still recall these times exceptionally fondly – even if it didn’t snow this Christmas.
We will continue in 1987…
I never thought much about Jacob and Zac looking like Bob. But they sure look like him in the picture above.
Chris
February 19th, 2011
I was thinking the same thing. I can’t believe how much Jacob looks like Bob.
Mom
February 21st, 2011
We were going through old pictures at Bob’s mom’s apartment and definately Jake looks like him in his younger days.
Darlene
February 25th, 2011
Really? You all see Jake more in Bob? I think it’s Zac all the way! Look at that smile in the above pic; totally Zac. I think Jake is more of a Darlene/Bob mix.
Denise
February 25th, 2011