I’m following my yearly pattern of writing two Christmas themed posts before Christmas. I’m actually posting three photos that were taken the same day. Two of them were a bit blurry, so I was never that attached to them before. But now that we are able to sharpen them a bit with software magic, I’m liking them a lot more. I suppose I’ll start with the one that I’ve always liked, even though my face is not showing in it. Just like last week!

Singing around the piano in Hathaway, Louisiana, for Christmas in 1970.
How could you not like this photo? It’s such a cute photo of my cousin Charla and my sister Jamie. You can tell that they are right in the middle of singing a song. At least it’s obvious to me. I was standing there listening to them as I was looking at my Zobor robot. I loved that battery-powered mechanical robot! Al and I both got robots that year for Christmas. I think they were from Grandma and Grandpa. It had replacement body parts and one of them was a magnetic hand. I still have that piece! Charla is sitting in my dad’s lap, and he is sitting on a stool near the piano. Uncle Ronald’s head can be seen in the foreground on the right of the photo. You know, the big blob that is blocking my face!
My mom is not in any of those photos, even though this blog post is about her side of the family. She was Betty Lou Bucklin, the second child of Fred and Myrtle Phenice Bucklin. We called them Grandpa and Grandma, and we would go visit them in the country every year on Christmas Day. They were in Hathaway, which was only a ten-to-twelve-minute drive from our home in Jennings, Louisiana. We usually visited them once or twice a month.
Mom had an older sister named Sylvia, and her husband was Ronald Pilcher – the man on the piano and blocker of my face. He was a really good musician and mainly he played the piano and sang. My dad was Bob Landry, and he was also a musician. He played many musical instruments and sang. But he was mostly known as a music educator. It made him a legend! So when the Bucklin family all got together, there was lots of music about. The Bucklin family had always had musical get togethers long before these sons-in-law came along. Mama and Grandma both played the piano and sang. Even before that, Grandma’s parents played piano and fiddle. I’ve shared some of those old recordings before.

Bucklin sons-in-law making some music during the 1970 Christmas gathering of the Bucklin family.
And then there was Uncle Ernest. He was also a musical fellow. I’m pretty sure he was involved with the church choir in the Baptist Church that he attended at the time. That’s him in the white shirt in that second photo. Ernest Woolley was his name, and he was married to my mom’s younger sister Loris. I always remember them living in Texas around Houston.
One of the other things I like about these photos is that we can see a little bit of my grandparents’ home. Their piano was in the living room of their house, and it looks like it was decorated a bit with some Christmas flowers. On the wall behind them, you can see some family photos hanging on the wall. One of them is our Landry family photo that we took in 1969. Those photos were sent to everyone!

Christmas 1970 in Hathaway, Louisiana, for the Bucklin family
The third photo is the one that I changed the most. I sharpened it up a bit and also “restored” the color. It needed it. It was the 1970s. Color was everything and everywhere. And evidently for the Bucklin sisters, so were wigs! That is Alma Bucklin Seal, Sylvia Bucklin Pilcher, and Loris Bucklin Woolley standing in the back of this photo. They were my mom’s three sisters. I’m pretty sure Alma and Sylvia are wearing wigs. Loris looks like she’s showing off her own hair.
In the front are Daddy, Uncle Ronald, and Uncle Ernest. So even though this was a Bucklin gathering, not one person with the Bucklin last name shows up in the photos. The only ones with the Bucklin last name at the gathering were Grandma and Grandpa. Uncle Austin had the last name, but I think he was living in Australia at the time.
I wish Grandma and Grandpa had shown up in the photos. There were also a lot more cousins around. There were five Pilcher cousins, three Woolley cousins, and two Seal cousins. Where was everyone? I know we were all there when the presents were being given out. That was a big commotion and lots of fun. Especially when you get something cool like Zobor. Maybe they were too busy playing with their new presents to gather around for the singing.
At least we have these photos, and they’re better than they’ve ever been before! Enjoy.