Christmas 2011 was back in line with Christmas traditions of Murphy yore. For the first time since 2007, we were returning our family gathering to Christmas Day itself. It made for an incredibly full and fulfilling day, although in the end, I wondered if this much activity and fun was best spread out over more than one day after all! But no matter, it was what it was. And it was a blast from start to finish. I had spent the night at Denise and Aaron’s house, so this was where my Christmas morning started.

Sleeping downstairs, I had heard the rustle above coming from Adam at about 7am. I had slept long enough so I made my way up to make sure I didn’t miss any of the kids’ gift opening activities. Aaron was already up, sitting exactly where he was the night before when I retired to bed. I’m still not entirely convinced that he didn’t sit there all night long. This year for the first time, Adam was more than cognizant of the fact that Santa Claus had brought more presents and left them under the tree and had eaten the Christmas cookies. He excitedly yelled out to me, “Uncle Brad, today is December 25th!” I told him that this date sounded familiar and asked if it has his birthday. He answered, “No! It’s Jesus’ birthday!”

Megan wasn’t yet up, so Adam remained patient, showing me how he played Angry Birds on Aaron’s iPad. Apparently Santa had also loaded a new version of the game and added a couple of ‘hidden Golden Eggs’ to the menu. Whatever. It kept him quiet.

Eventually, Denise, Megan, and Mom & Bob made their appearances. Eventually we were all ready to witness another gnashing, tearing, and clawing of the Christmas gifts. Adam played Santa mostly, giving the gifts to Megan, who parked herself on the fireplace ledge to open them. She would politely thank Adam each time he brought over a gift.

The rhetoric that came out of their mouths was mostly hilarious. At one point I couldn’t stop laughing when Adam proudly declared after opening a gift: “Look Mom! Just in time for my day off. Just kidding!” The laughs compounded when Megan went running across the room with her newest gift: “Look Mommy!” – CRUNCH – as she stepped squarely on an unopened doll’s plastic case.

Megan and Adam are poised to commence operation: gift opening

Megan and Adam nearly get tangled in each other as they begin the shredding

Each of them marvel over their new items, then toss them aside

Megan’s zone

This one’s pretty good

The gift opening over, Adam is back to the Wii

Megan kicks back with the guitar that I got for her

With my favorite nephew and niece

The melee was complete in less than 30 minutes as the kids opened up all of their presents from Santa and others from their parents. I fail to see the distinction, but the kids certainly do. As tradition has dictated since 2008, Denise made her delicious French Toast casserole for breakfast – along with bacon, eggs, and juice.

Bobby and Mom dig into their eats

Ready to enjoy the fruits of Denise’s labor

But unlike the past three Christmas mornings, this time I actually did have someplace else to be that afternoon. So I gathered up my loot from the night before (forgetting my pillow accidentally) and hit the road by 9:30am. I drove back to my house to take a shower and get ready, then re-packed my car and headed to Jamie’s parents’ house, chatting with Bob and sending Christmas greetings his way.

I got there a little bit after 1pm and we had a nice time looking over her gifts (including a swell Karaoke machine that wasn’t yet put together), chatting with her Mom, and snacking on cookies. I brought her Mom a candle and she gave me two root beer float mugs – which could be used interchangeably as beer mugs.

Jamie and I left there, driving separately, at about 3:45pm – for the third leg of the day’s Christmas celebration. As I said, it was nice to return to the Murphy gathering on Christmas Day, but the location was all-new for us. This gathering was held at the home of my cousin Debby and her husband Mike. In all of the years of Christmas gatherings, this was the first time it wasn’t held in either the home of Grandma & Grandpa or one of their kids.

But never fear, Debby had the absolute perfect venue for it: a very spacious and lovely home in Bellbrook. I was immediately impressed with it and quickly felt right at home. As usual, the food selection was amazing and included ham and turkey and usual array of side items and desserts. I brought along a smattering of cheese dips and pretzels, and the leftover soda from the night before.

Quite a spread. Like I need all this.

Denise enjoys Mom’s standard devouring pose

In attendance at the gathering were: Diana & Tom, Cathy, Lori & Shane and Abbey and Elise, Debby & Mike and Bradley and Tyler, Dan & Natalie and Tori, Mom & Bob, Jamie & me and Ashleigh, Briana, and Silas, Denise & Aaron and Adam and Megan, Bev & Ed, Susan & Charles and Charley and Sammy, Chris & Sarah and Livi, Jim & Jan and Nikki and Eric. Conspicuously absent were Karen’s family (who alternate Christmas Day with Joe’s family every other year) and Darlene’s entire family. Darlene and Bob had chosen to spend Christmas in Key West, Florida, but why none of their kids came I’m not sure.

As we’ve done for many years now, there was a White Elephant gift exchange. I brought along a giant bean bag ottoman that I found at Macy’s for $5.00 (regular price $60) and Jamie brought along a DVD of The Patriot. Jamie ended up with the DVD Due Date and I got a huge box of Fingers candy (both of which incidentally were brought by Chris and Sarah). Ashleigh, Briana, and Silas didn’t arrive until after the gift exchange, having spent the bulk at the day at her other Nana’s house.

Tyler and Debby

He’s a good kid for the camera, and has some great pale blue eyes

The Murphys – ready to introduce Eric to Farkle

Denise and Tom as usual are connected at the hip

Colorado Livi, now visiting her Ohio roots

Bev and Abbey, who is clearly ready to konk out

Sisters share a moment

When kids cry on Christmas, I usually go ahead and post it for the world to see

Lori is thrilled with her candles from the White Elephant gift exchange. Shane is not.

I’m not sure if Adam was dressed like Christmas or Freddy Krueger. Denise looks unsure.

Briana, Ashleigh, and little Silas show up for the festivities

Mom requests a picture with Silas and he is happy to oblige

Megan and Adam attempt to construct the Tower of Babel

Jamie sees Silas for the first time in several months. He’s considerably bigger.

Jamie and I spent a lot of our time talking to Chris and Sarah and hanging out in the basement with the kids, where we played drums and sang in the ‘music studio’. The studio was adjacent to the Dance Club that Abbey, Elise, and Bradley had set up, complete with strobe lights and the occasional dance song found on the radio. So Jamie and I had no choice but to participate in their disorganized fun.

Jamie and I share our first Christmas together

Pretty and purple everywhere

The gang’s all here

The entire Claude Clan Crew

Not sure if everyone is watching TV or the Silas feeding

As Adam would say: “he sleepin”

Mom, Diana, Mike, Debby, Bev, and Denise enjoy the seasonal game of “Oh Hell”

Taking my Silas time as it comes

Jamie and Megan provide the beat

Megan also lends some vocal dexterity

Briana takes Silas for a dance

Boogie in the basement. Or perhaps Mom is getting sick and Debby is keeping Tyler out of vomit range.

Panic on the streets of Bellbrook

Since this was our first year without Grandpa Murphy, many of us wore a Merry Frickin’ Christmas sweatshirt in his honor. I didn’t actually wear mine throughout the evening, but donned it when the time was appropriate for pictures. Jim did the honors of wearing the bow on his head. Clearly and obviously, he was sorely missed.

Jim not only sports the Merry Frickin’ Christmas sweatshirt, but assumes Grandpa’s role as head-bow-wearer

The Frickin’ sweatshirt assemblage

 The Frickin’ siblings

Overall, it was another terrific Murphy family Christmas gathering. Jamie and I stayed until about 9pm (which was shortly after Megan decided to remove all of her clothes) and then headed back to my house, grabbing a couple of Bud Light Limes along the way to put in the new mugs. We then exchanged our gifts. She gave me a great DVD that simulates a fireplace on the TV and a comfortable t-shirt from the University of Findlay. I gave her a necklace, season one of Outsourced, and some CDs from Madness, Psychedelic Furs, and Men Without Hats. We snacked on our cheeses, cookies, and beer and watched a couple episodes of Outsourced until we fell asleep, leaving behind my 41st Christmas on earth.

And in the end… the Bob and Tom you make is equal to the amount of Bob and Tom you can take

I had Monday off following the holiday and Jamie and I spent it together with a McDonald’s breakfast at home, and watching the premiere episode of Smallville, Due Date, and Chalk. I also made her Ramen for the first time. It was another grand day.

Life will hopefully continue in 2012…

December 24th fell on a Saturday this year. This was nice at it meant a half-day of work the day before and the Monday following Christmas off. Obviously being a Saturday, our office was closed on Christmas Eve.

Jamie and I got up that morning and had a nice breakfast at Waffle House. I made sure to remember that our waitress was working on Christmas Eve. Then we went back home and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. Jamie headed out around 1pm that afternoon, and I began to get together the gifts, food, and clothes I’d be bringing to Westerville for our family Christmas celebration at Denise and Aaron’s house. I was in charge of the bread, buns, soda, and I brought along some extra Jarlsberg cheese dip and buffalo pretzels.

I headed up to Westerville, chatting with my friend Dean along the way, and arrived a little before 5pm. Mom & Bob had been there since the morning, and my Dad & Vicki and Bill & Dottie had already arrived. Ashleigh and Silas weren’t far behind me. And Briana, although late, would eventually make her way there.

The food spread was absolutely incredible… probably the grandest we’ve ever had on Christmas Eve. I regretted that I only had one stomach to give to the cause (although I’m certain I had more room in there than last year). We had ham, turkey, green beans, potatoes, shrimp, meatballs, Oriental salad, homemade Chex mix, cheese and crackers, chips, dips, banana bread, pumpkin roll, pies, cookies, and soda. There was a ridiculous number of choices, and everything was amazing. Denise and Mom did an excellent job of preparing everything.

The food frenzy begins

A portion of the dessert sector

Mom is eager to begin some ham chewing

Silas is content with some book chewing

The happy boy’s first Christmas

Mom and Dad do some investigation of their cameras

All the grandkids, both the great and the small

Ashleigh and Silas, radiant souls

We quickly segued from the dinner portion of the evening into the gift shredding portion which began promptly at 6:19pm. Briana showed up (following a diaper-picking-up mishap at Meijer) just as we were about to start, so she caught up on food for the first segment. Adam, with the assistance of the lovely Megan, acted as the gift distributor, stopping to open his own gifts whenever possible. Silas was really good while the gifts were being open. For most of it, he parked himself in the middle of the living room floor and reached for anything he could grab and put in his mouth. I did also learn from Ashleigh that Silas can stand on his own while holding on to the couch, and I witnessed him doing such.

Adam and Megan survey the loot

The elf hats make them worthy of handing out gifts

Megan’s first gift was the pink Barbie Jam with Me Rock Star Guitar that I got for her. Somehow the wrapping paper had gotten ‘accidentally’ torn by her while we were all eating, so she ran into the room to announce that she could see the Barbie guitar under the paper. This seemed to be one of her biggest highlights, and she was seen throughout the evening ‘jamming’ on it.

Megan finishes the job she had already begun: opening the Barbie guitar

Here is what I gave: To Mom & Bob: mug rack, $50 Olive Garden gift card. To Dad & Vicki: Laurel and Hardy DVD set, $25 Olive Garden gift card. To Denise: Laurel and Hardy DVD set, Bridesmaids DVD. To Aaron: Clone Wars Season 3 Blu-Ray (from Mom and me). To Ashleigh: Sewing machine, $25 Kroger gift card. To Briana: $50. To Adam: Brilliant Creations Advance Notebook, Little Rascals Vol.7 DVD, Wii Monster Truck – Path of Destruction game with wheel. To Megan: Barbie Jam with Me Rock Star Guitar, Baby Belle doll. To Silas: I opened a bank account for him with $100, rattle, Fisher Price Rumble and Learn Driver. And I brought along my newsletters for Denise, Ashleigh, and Briana.

Here is what I got: From Mom: Nightmare Before Christmas pajama pants and t-shirt, $25 Chick-fil-A gift card, Five Generations picture frame, two bottles of lotion, Community season one DVDs, picture calendar from Snapfish. From Dad: Time: 75 Years book, Life: Legends book, mousepad with picture of Silas on it, Bob Newhart: Button Down Concert DVD, Dragnet 1968 DVD, Dragnet 25 episodes DVDs, The Lucy Show season two DVDs,  From the Ocks: Facts of Life season four DVDs, In the Line of Duty: The FBI Murders DVDs, Cheers t-shirt, Ohio State shirt. From Ashleigh: Muppet Abbey Road t-shirt. From Briana: iPod shoulder strap, ceramic pot that she made.

The Advanced Notebook that I got for Adam

Vicki shows off the cat treats that Adam and Megan got for her

Silas goes straight for the bow

Briana, in typical late teenage fashion, is just now getting her food ingested

Silas is pleased enough to just be at the center of the gift-opening frenzy

Bob receives a gift card to Lowes and is understandably jubilant

A new rattle from his Grandpa

Mom steps in for Grandpa Murphy to wear the bow this year

Silas plays with the car dashboard that I gave him

He tries to help open the gifts…

…but gets distracted by a phone call

Bill and Dottie observe the goings-on whilst simultaneously blocking the TV

I open the cool Five Generations frame from Mom

Megan adds a new cowboy hat to her ensemble and strums away

7pm: The damage is done to the living room as the gift opening winds down

Everyone hung around and socialized for quite a while. Bill and Bob became interested and possibly hooked on playing Angry Birds on Aaron’s iPad. As usual, this was initiated by Adam, who had moved on to playing some of his new Wii games. It was hard to stay away from the kitchen counter full of food, as it made good stuff on which to snack. I also waited for the ice to harden in the trays in order to enjoy some Vernor’s ginger ale at its coldest.

Mom takes a break from peddling jewelry to play some Angry Birds with Dottie

Aaron gives Silas a healthy toss

Briana thought she’d join Silas in fussing. Little did she know that I have the power to turn his frown the other way around.

Yaht and me, sharing our 22nd Christmas together

With the beautiful young ladies

Mom gets ticked off and gives Silas a wallop in the mouth

Actually this is what she was doing

Ashleigh coaxes Bill and Bob into a healthy Angry Birds competition

I think the shirt stain helps make Santa Silas too cute for words

Our sixth annual traditional family Christmas Eve portrait

Megan in her new boots, hat, and guitar strap is picture perfect by the tree

Ashleigh, Silas, and Briana  took off around 8:45. They were heading back to Kettering to stay at Stephen’s parents’ house so that Silas could have his Santa visit that morning with both of his parents. Dad & Vicki and Bill & Dottie followed them out the door. Mom & Bob and I stayed over that night. The ladies headed to bed after we all witnessed Adam and Megan trying to pose with cookies and chocolate milk for Santa Claus at around 10pm. Bob, Aaron, and I stayed up for a bit watching the addicting TV show Dumbest Stuff on Wheels. I headed down to the basement at around midnight to work my way through the toy maze and fall asleep on the futon.

Megan and Adam gingerly place Santa’s cookies onto the designated plate

Time for bed, but Adam would be up about two more hours pondering the whereabouts of his newest Monster Truck

Although it would have been better to have Jamie with me, I must say it was one of the best Christmas Eves I’ve had in a long, long time.

2011 will conclude with Christmas Day…

A parting shot, capable of warming even the coldest of hearts

Thank you for reading my 9th annual holiday newsletter. As you may or may not have noticed, I finally changed the masthead to eliminate the “ABC Crew” logo. I figured since Ashleigh was now out of the house, and neither she nor Briana were contributing, it was too much of a stretch to include Baby and Clementine and some unknown A. Plus since Silas is now in the picture, the S was missing.

Feeling so far behind on the website, Christmas, and other things, I almost considered not doing the newsletter this year, but tradition won out. Besides, this year saw the birth of Silas, who obviously is the apple of my eye. Thankfully, I actually got caught up with this…and everything.

I finished this edition on Friday, December 16, 2011, after spending two evenings on it. I don’t think I’ve ever put one together so quickly. I must be getting good at it. Jamie got the first copy on Saturday and helped me proof-read. I cleaned it up, and so far, I’ve only had one spelling mistake pointed out to me. I’ll let you find it on your own.

After Jamie got her copy, I printed 20 more to distribute to folks who sent me a card. Again, I re-iterate that I only do this to avoid maintaining an address list and just find it easier to use the return address labels from incoming cards. I think before all is said and done, I’ll have to print up some more copies (like 9 perhaps). So if you have a hankering for your own hand-signed card, simply send me a card, no matter how crummy, through the mail.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of my friends and family reading this, and I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and a most excellent 2012…

Return to December 2011…

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…

The holiday season started as early as Saturday, December 16, with a ‘Lunch with Santa.’ I can only assume that this something that we found out about through school, and I went along begrudgingly on behalf of my two-year old sister, who both believed in Santa and was most likely scared to death of him.

The next day came the traditional Christmas party at Eagles, the fraternal organization that my Grandparents were a big part of. Between my Mom and me we took an inordinate amount of photos of the event (which inexplicably included Hawaiian dancers). From the photos, I gather that the wrapped boys’ gift that I received was a nice art set, complete with paints. But what I really recall was the color-by-numbers Bee Gees poster and marker set that I got as a bonus gift. I was very familiar with the Bee Gees and their music, as Saturday Night Fever had gained momentum of the course of the past year. More on why I’ll never forget this poster momentarily.

Part of the afternoon’s Christmas entertainment…Hawaiian dancers

Santa Claus makes his entrance, guided by the Missus

Grandpa, Grandma, and Darlene all play a role in distributing the gifts

Denise does the sidewards lean, indicating that she wants nothing to do with this freak

Denise continues her struggle

I receive my gift – a nice art set

Having not believed in Santa for several years, this is the last time that I would really cooperate for the photo op

The warm-up photo of Denise, gingerly holding her Holly Hobbie doll, under the Eagles Christmas tree

A miraculously good photo of two-year old Denise

Pretty Darlene at the Eagles party

On Monday the 18th, Mom sent a Christmas gift along with me for the gift exchange. From the 1978 “Old Cars” calendar notations, it looks as though my last day of school prior to the holiday wasn’t until that Thursday, which was probably the day we held our gift exchange and First Grade Christmas party. (Incidentally, I was also off school on Friday, December 8, for some reason).

We (or at least some of us) also attended a Christmas party on Tuesday the 19th, although I don’t know which party it was – possibly my Dad’s company party. There was no notation made for the Beavercreek Church of the Brethren Family Christmas Celebration, but we usually went to that also. On Saturday the 23rd, Bev had the birthday party for my cousin Susie. Poor little thing’s Christmas Eve birthday almost always guaranteed that she’d have to be worked in around the holidays.

Christmas Eve came on Sunday. Needless to say, I was bouncing off of the walls all day, constantly asking when Bill & Dottie and the gang was going to be arriving. None of the pictures that I have reveal who was actually in attendance that night, but you can bet that Grandma & Oscar, Bill & Dottie and Lora and Robby, Carl and Arline, and Harold were all there. I’m not sure if Joe & Hazel were there or not. If so, it was our last Christmas with them, as Joe passed away the following year.

When the time came to open the gifts, I got the traditional gifts from my folks (the bulk of the gifts came from ‘Santa Claus’ the next morning). This year I got the huge Marx Guns of Navarone mountain playset. (Incidentally, in 2011, this toy is now selling for about $175). I had hand-picked this item from the Sears catalog (the arrival of which - for about five consecutive years for me - signalled the start of the Christmas countdown and gave Denise and I the opportunity to go through and pick out what we wanted that year). I had also requested the second gift that I got that night – an early version of a Doodle-Track car. That is, and battery-powered vehicle that would follow the line drawn by a crayon on an erasable board. Very cool idea, but didn’t work all that well. Denise got, among other things, her set of Bristle Blocks.

Denise is ready for our first Christmas Eve gathring at the Winterset house

The only photo of one of our Christmas Eve guests, the debonair Robby

Denise begins to dig in, next to what are presumably Harold’s knees. Note the infamous Bee Gees poster in the background.

Dad assists Denise with one of her gifts…

…and she is consumed in the highly addictive world of Bristle Blocks

A fabulous shot of me with the Navarone Mountain – and even more importantly, the entertainment shelf with our advanced sound system and Christmas decorations. In 2011, that shelf is currently in my basement.

I give the Doodle-Track van a spin

That night I slept poorly. I’d have to say that for some reason I was more excited about this Christmas than ever before. So much so, in fact, that at about 3am, I got up to go check out the gifts that had been scattered under the tree for Denise and me. After giving them the thorough once-over, I grabbed that blasted Bee Gees poster and sat at our tacky orange bar and began coloring. After about twenty minutes of this, Mom heard me up and sleepily came into the dining room and asked me what on earth I thought I was doing. I thought that she would just accept the fact that I couldn’t sleep, but noooooo! She made me go back to bed. I can’t recall if I ever fell asleep or not.

Eventually the morning came. Denise was mildly more interested in opening gifts than she had been the year before. And I was ripping threw them in a flurry of jubilation and greed. A lighted coin viewer here, a metal detector there, a rolled-up sled, some crayons, a Stretch Monster (akin to the old Stretch Armstrong dolls, and best of all, my very own Pachinko machine – albeit a plastic one. My parents had noted how enamored I was by the one that I had incessantly played during our summer trip to visit Louise and Carroll. That’s about all I can recall (or at least all I can identify in the photos). Denise’s haul was equally impressive and included a doll hi-chair, a Mickey Mouse bank, a Hasbro Mickey Mouse Castle, and a big orange slide. That giant orange slide lingered around our house for what seemed like many years.

Mom in her robe assists Denise in opening her doll hi-chair

I wonder what was in here 

Denise gets dressed for the day and we begin our afternoon of play

Denise mounts the giant orange slide

I remember specifically that this year, I asked my Mom how much they spent on us for Christmas and she told us $100. That was quite a bit back then, and although we were spoiled, by today’s standards of burying children with gifts, it doesn’t look as if we got all that much. But kids happier than us on Christmas, you’ll never find.

On Christmas Day, we were back at Grandma and Grandpa’s house on Kruss, after a one-year hiatus. There is a Lego set in the photo of me with all my loot and I believe that I received that at this gathering. At this point we were still holding the bulk of the celebration down in the basement. There would only be one more year down there and then they would move the Christmas tree up to their living room. I think I miss that house more than just about any place on earth.

Grandma and Grandpa Murphy distribute the gifts

Eager grandchildren Debbie, Chris, and Lori await their turn

Darlene, Bev, Mom, Diana, Grandma, Grandpa, and Jim assemble for a family portrait. The metal detector and Stretch Monster that I brought along with me, await play

Denise creeps into the family portrait – much as her twin daughter would do 31 year later

All the cousins up to that point. Considering we’re all looking in another direction, I’m sure that there must be a better version of this. In the back row: Cathy, Danny, Lori, me, Debbie (hidden), Chris. Up front: Susie, Denise, and Ben getting assistance from me

Christmas is over and all I’m left with is a toon of great loot – as seen in this invaluable photo

Life will continue as the decade begins its descent…in 1979…