Everyday until Christmas, I am going to try to post a picture from a past family Christmas. 

This was our Christmas in 1956.  Picture on left is my brother, Ronnie, with Santa.  He is about a year and half old.  I love his face, he looks so happy seeing Santa.  Some kids at that age are afraid of  him.  You can see some of his toys.  This is one of the first pictures I have of Christmas in our first house.  We moved there in 1953, yet I could find no photos of Christmas 1953, 54, or 55.  The tree is behind my brother, and I can see cards taped up around the door.  On the right is me playing the accordion for Santa.  I was nine years old at that time.  The accordion was my Christmas present the year before.  I took lessons for three years and gave it up when my teacher kept me on a song that I hated until I played it perfectly.  I seemed to be stuck there and bulked at taking anymore lessons.  My father was upset with me.  No one ever suggested changing teachers.  I remember the accordion cost $500 at that time, and it must have been a lot of money for my parents.  That’s is probably why my father was upset with me.  I quit lessons and  he sold the accordion.  I didn’t want him to sell it because I would have played for my own enjoyment, or maybe a few years later I would be ready to try again with another teacher.   A few years later my father bought an organ, and I was able to transfer my knowledge of music and the accordion over to the organ.  I  never took lessons on the organ but can play it because of those accordion lessons.  Behind me is a built in shadow box .  My mother used that spray snow and stencils all over the house, and it looks like she put some on the mirror of the shadow box.  

Copyright © 2019 Gail Grunst