No matter how difficult it is to see just how, my parents did in fact have a short life together before I was born. In fact, they spent two Christmases together before I was even conceived: one as a newly dating couple who had only been together for a couple of months, and one as a married couple who had yet to set the wheels in motion of creating me and forming our family. There is a home movie that exists along with a small batch of photos showing my parents during this holiday.
The Super 8 film starts off showing my Mom gathering the gifts from under the aluminum tree to take to the Christmas Eve gathring at Arline and Carl’s house. Then it moves on to their family room where the Christmas Eve gatherings would continue to take place for my Dad’s side of the family up until 1976, when it moved to our house on Echo Hill. Present at this 1970 Christmas affair was Grandma Range, Joe & Hazel, Harold, Arline & Carl, Bill & Dottie and Laura and Robby, and Dad & Mom. Arline and Carl’s son John may have been present but cannot be seen in the film. One of the gifts that Dad opened that night was a Super 8 film projector and an Argus Super 8 camera. So when the camera started to roll that evening, it would be the first of quite a few home movies that Dad would take of the early 1970’s.
After the gathering at Arline & Carl’s house, my Mom and Dad did what they would do again during my first Christmas on earth: go back to their home on John Glenn and exchange gifts with each other. Instead of taking an movies of each other opening their gifts, they each took one snapshot of the other, as well as of the tree – both before (seen at the top of the posting) and after the opening of the gifts.
Mom gets ready to see what’s in the magic shoebox
Skinny Dad with a goatee rips into his gifts
The gifts – including the Super 8 camera and projector
As a bonus, there are also a few photos of Mom and Dad at the New Years Eve gathering at ‘The Club’ – in actuality the CYPC, or Catholic Young People’s Club – as they trasitioned from 1970 to 1971. Judging by the number of bottles of various types on the tables, it really actually looked like it was a lot of fun.
With this number of bottles, how could anyone not have had fun here?
Mom across from my parents’ friends Frank and Mary
I’m wishing that my Dad had vowed to wear this hat for every New Years Eve party
Mom signals 1971 – the year that she would be giving birth to me
1971 will continue…
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