Both before and after Christmas, my Dad’s family kept busy with not one, but two birthday celebrations in the month of December. My cousin Lora’s birthday is on December 9, so she was celebrating her 9th special day. My guess would be that the little party took place after church on the 8th at her parents’ – Bill and Dottie’s – house. I only have one photo from this gathering and as you can see below, I once again was at the ready with my assistance in blowing out the birthday candles.
It’s taking everything I have not to blow out those crayon candles
My Grandma Range’s 62nd birthday was on December 29. As was typical of her character, she did not like to have her special day detract from the Christmas holiday season, so when we did have any kind of celebration for her, we did it in the earlier part of December or in January. However, for this her 62nd birthday, we decided to have a little surprise party on her actual birthday.
For the most part, it was all of the members of our family that attended (as seen below), in addition to a friend of my Grandma named Mary Bradshaw. She lived near Grandma on Union Road and they went to church together. She would often stay overnight at her house when Grandma would work on Saturdays in Trotwood. Dad took a couple of various nice, professional-looking photos of the group – bpth of which are seen below. Unfortunately, since he was taking them, he wasn’t in them.
Back row: Pat, John, Mary Bradshaw, Grandma Range, Joe, Dottie, Hazel, Arline, and Carl. On the floor: Robby, Bill, Lora, Mom, and me
Second variation of the pose – with even less people actually looking at the camera
Obviously I have no memory of this event, but it looked like a comforting, fun outing – in which I would take my three-year old self around, annoying each person at will. Bill or Dottie captured a few snapshots, including the one of Grandma with her cake at the top of the posting.
Hazel, Arline, Carl, and me toting around God-only-knows
Pay, John, Mary, and Joe – with those very familiar tinted photos of Lora and Rob as babies hanging on the wall
Lora and Grandma eating the cake – with the remnants of Christmas still in place
Christmas 1974 will round out the year, and in fact the early 1970’s…
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