Christmas Day 1959 in Huntsville, Alabama. We would have been 8, 5, 4, and 3 here. (I’m the blonde kid with her eyes closed.) I’m thinking my mom did the tinsel on the tree – no way could us kids have hung that much that straight. Note that even my brother has a doll. My folks were way ahead of their time.

In addition to the annual posed picture, my dad also hauled out the big lights and took movies. Fun times. 

Huntsville, Alabama December 25, 1959

Huntsville Xmas 1959

Holidays – Miki – Holidays When We Were Little seriesPost + Comments (12)

Please send in your holiday pics!

My wife and I had the good fortune recently to spend a few weeks in Europe. We stopped in Paris for a day, followed by Malta and then Istanbul, each for about a week. After Istanbul, I continued on alone to Poland for a business trip. I arrived at John Paul II International Airport near Krakow Sunday evening and was able to visit the Krakow city center and two Christmas markets before the work week began. It was my first time in Krakow itself and unfortunately I was only able to see it at night before taking the train early in the morning to my final destination. Since it is the season, I thought I would share these photos of my visit.

KrakowDecember 8, 2024

My hotel was near the train station. I walked using a pedestrian underpass beneath a busy intersection to traverse to the old town “Stare Miasto” and the central plaza Rynek Główny. Entering the plaza near Saint Mary’s Basilica, I was greeted by this impressive Christmas tree. Some of the light displays on the tree mimicked falling snow – it was a really neat effect that a video captures better. The decorations on the street lamps had the same lighting artifice.

The plaza itself dates from the 13th century and is surrounded by beautiful palaces and town houses as well as the Basilica. Many of the town houses are now hotels with restaurants opening out on the plaza.

Holidays – Winter Wren – Krakow and Christmas MarketsPost + Comments (24)

Albatrossity is getting us started with our Holidays When We Were Little series.  The images in the post are in chronological order, but this one absolutely needs to be featured first.  Precocious!  I could be wrong, but I don’t think that was Elizabird.  I wonder if she knows about this!  :-)

Please send in your holiday pics from when you were little.  Pics from holiday markets and holiday lights and decorations are also welcome!

~ WaterGirl

I love the idea of posting pics from Christmases past, even if mine date back to somewhere just this side of the last Ice Age. So here are a few to get the ball rolling.

I may have mentioned before that my dad was a professional photographer, so my childhood (and those of my 5 siblings) was well-documented. He produced a Christmas card, with a family portrait, every year to send to friends and relatives. I have a few of these, but not a complete set. Here are some from the early years.

And, like my dad, I have a photographic project or two every Christmas. Click here to see the links for the 2025 bird photo calendars (Hummingbirds, Birds of Flyover Country, and Bird Butts!).

December 25, 1950

I was born in September of this year, so this is my first appearance on the Christmas card. Click here for larger image.

Holidays When We Were Little – Albatrossity – Christmas (cards) from when we were littlePost + Comments (30)

This morning we have a set of great Christmas pics from cope!  (Thought I had better belatedly clarify since apparently “cope” doesn’t necessarily jump out as a nym!)

My stepdad took lots and lots of pictures when we were growing up.  He only took slides, though, so after a single viewing, they pretty much disappeared into a closet.  Over the past couple of years, I took it upon myself to scan all his slides and turn them into digital slideshows complete with opening and closing credits and accompanying songs of the period.  Some of the slides were, after more than fifty years, in sad shape and my scanning and editing software could only do so much but there you go.

Northbook, Illinois

This is my cohort, my brothers and sisters in arms. I am the oldest. As I keep blathering about, my wife and I are moving back to Colorado after thirty three years in Florida.  The five of us will all be living within fifteen minutes of each other. That small rocking chair is already packed up, ready to go.

cope – Christmas Long AgoPost + Comments (56)