Christmas Day at Grandma & Grandpa’s

It’s Christmastime again!  You already know that, though, because I wrote a post about Christmas last week.  Of course, you are getting reminders of it everywhere you look these days.  It’s on the television, on the radio, and on the internet.  I doubt that you rely on my posts each week to know what time of year it is.  But if you do, read the first line of my post again!  It’s Christmastime.

When I was growing up, our family had a few traditions.  We’d go and buy gifts for each other from the local department store and wrap them up when we got home.  They’d go under the tree that we had decorated with some handmade ornaments from the present year and past years.  On Christmas Eve we’d go to my dad’s side of the family.  In the early years it was at Mee Maw’s.  Mee Maw was my dad’s mom, and her name was Germaine Erie Patureau Landry.  After the Landry Christmas get together on Christmas Eve in Lake Charles, we’d go back home to Jennings.  Sometimes that was followed by attending mass at Our Lady Help of Christians Church at midnight.  The next morning we’d get up to the sounds of old Christmas songs my dad would play on his LP record player.  After that we’d head on over to get together with Mom’s side of the family.

We would spend Christmas day at Grandma and Grandpa’s.  Their names were Myrtle Sylvia Phenice and Fred D. Bucklin, and they lived in Hathaway, Louisiana.  They had five children – Sylvia, Betty Lou, Alma, Loris, and Austin.  In case you didn’t know already, my mom was Betty Lou.  She is the one sitting smack dab in the middle of this photo from the Christmas of 1956.  

The reason I know this is from 1956 is that my mom has my sister Karen in her arms and Karen looks like a fresh, new baby.  Karen was born on December 2, 1956.  I’m sure my dad was taking the photo, because he is the only one that was in the family at the time that was not in the photo.  I’m not in the photo, but it’s because I wasn’t born yet.  At the time of the photo, Grandma and Grandpa only had six grandchildren.  Sylvia and Betty Lou both had three children.  The tie didn’t last long, because Sylvia gave birth to Lynn just a month later.

Those first six grandchildren of Grandma and Grandma were not a majority of their total count.  There would be a total of twenty grandchildren, with the last one being born in 1977.   Mom would end up with six children, Sylvia had five, Austin had four, Loris had three, and Alma had two.  We sure had a lot of fun with all of those cousins at Christmastime.  We played chase.  We made mud pies.  We picked camellia flowers.  During that time of year in Louisiana the satsuma and kumquat fruits were ripe on the trees.  Since Grandpa was nurseryman, he had lots of trees.  I remember eating lots of satsumas and kumquats.  I still love them.

I can’t close without identifying everyone in the photo.  It would be remiss of me to not do so.  Standing up in front of the others from the left are Paul, Larry, Toni, and Ronald Pilcher.  The first three are the children of Sylvia and her husband Ronald Pilcher.  My brother Rob is the boy in the overalls standing next to Uncle Ronald.  I don’t remember those overalls.  They must not have lasted long enough to be passed down to me.  Or maybe they were passed down to me and I still don’t remember them.  Sitting on the truck is my oldest sister Jodie.  I wonder if that was her truck.

As I said earlier, my mom is in the center of the photo and she has my sister in her lap.  Standing up in the back is Ernest Woolley.  He was not in the family yet, but he would marry Aunt Loris in September of 1957.  I’m sure you guessed that the girl next to him would be his soon-to-be wife Loris.  Next to Loris is older sister Sylvia.  She looks a little tired, but who could blame her?  She’s eight months pregnant and has three children under the age of six. 

The next two people are those mentioned in the title.  Fred Bucklin was my Grandpa.  Myrtle Phenice Bucklin was my Grandma.  I think they enjoyed having our big family at their house for Christmas.  The girl in the white sweater is Aunt Alma.  There is a guy standing behind her, but I don’t think it is her future husband Charles Seal.  Those eyebrows don’t look like they belong to Uncle Chuck.  Plus, he had lighter hair.  And lastly, we have Uncle Austin.  As you can see, he could be playful at times.  I wasn’t there at the time, so I don’t know if anyone fussed at him for making a silly face.  They might not have known until later when the film was developed.  When I did the same thing ten years later with a Polaroid camera, I did get fussed at.  

Oh, the memories of Christmases past.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas this year and make some cherished memories.