Landry Family 1976

This is Thanksgiving week and for some reason this photo keeps coming to mind when I think of this week’s topic.  So here it is.  This is me with my immediate family on Christmas Eve 1976.  It’s not a photo of Thanksgiving, but I don’t think I have any photos that I can identify as being from any Thanksgiving.   Of course Thanksgiving doesn’t have an easily identifiable thing like a Christmas tree or Easter eggs in a basket.  Thanksgiving is about giving thanks, and I have always been thankful for my family.

I have lots of photos of my family and this is one of the better ones.  Sure, we were wearing lots of loud prints and patterns.  What can I say?  It was the 70s!  It was December 24, 1976, to be exact.  From left to right, starting on the back row, we have my dad – Robert Joseph “Bob” Landry, Jr., me – Van, and my brothers Al and Rob.  In the front are my sisters Jamie, Karen, and Jodie, and my mom – Betty Lou Bucklin Landry. I only have the black and white version of this photo.  I’m not sure who took the photo, but it was taken with my sister Jodie’s camera.  There is another photo taken at the same time and it is in color, so I think the original of this one was in color, too.  With all the colors of the 70s clothes, I can see why Jodie chose to make it black and white.

We were at my dad’s sister Frances Landry Raley’s home in Lake Charles, Louisiana.  For many years Aunt Frances and Uncle Joe hosted the yearly Christmas feast and gift exchange at their home.  It was a very festive occasion.  My parents continued this tradition with their own children and grandchildren in the 80s and 90s and into the 2000s.  So many get togethers to be thankful for.

Things have changed quite a bit since then.  We lost Jodie in 1989 and both of my parents died in January 2017.  Then Karen passed away in 2020.  So of those original eight in my immediate family, we are down to four.  When I focus on that and the fact that the four of us are spread across the country, it can seem a bit sad.  But the family continues to grow as time passes by.  There’s even a grand nephew that I’ve yet to meet!  We also have our partners and friends and extended family that we can be grateful for.

And yet I’ll never get over missing my parents.  They are a part of me.  I’m made up of their shared DNA.  But it was much more than that.  They protected us and taught us how to love and be loved.  For that I will always be thankful.