The Murphys of Christmas Present, Specifically 2008…Two Days After Christmas
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
It wasn’t Christmas. It wasn’t even a reasonable facsimile of Christmas. Traditions had been broken all accross the board. For starters, we held our annual Murphy family gathering two days after Christmas on Saturday, December 27. The reason for this revolved mostly around Mom staying at Denise’s house through Christmas and the day after so she could be with her for a good portion of the holiday. Denise was unable to travel in her pregnant state…doctor’s orders! And for this reason, the Murphy gathering wasn’t held at Mom’s house either, where it had been held for closing in on a decade. Darlene quickly stepped up to the plate and hosted for the first time in about a dozen years. Read the rest of this entry »
This year in our installment of photos from early Murphy Christmas celebrations, color comes to the Murphy family as we enjoy these photographs from the Christmas of 1967. Some appear to be taken on Christmas morning in the house on Cunnington Lane, while some later in the day for the Murphy family Christmas party. This in fact was not so much a ‘Murphy’ gathering but rather a ‘Murlin’ gathering, since the siblings present were those of my Grandma’s. 
Of all the pictures I’ve located of me during my childhood, there are perhaps none so comforting as these – at least to me. It is unlikey that anyone – including my parents – can quite understand what they represent. But for a two-year old, I’m sure there is nothing quite so comforting, nothing so safe, as your own home in the company of your parents.