The older I get the more sentimental I get about the past.  With my horrible memory, I really really cherish these old photos I ran across recently from Christmas 1982.  I was about 2.5 years old & Christmas Eve was spent at my grandma’s house for the first 25 years of my life.  It’s so many of the details of my childhood that bring back fond memories- from the couchs to the drapes to the coffee table to the toys and stockings on the mantle.

At  my grandparent’s house there, was this fabulous bar- it’s where I usually sat to eat, where all the appetizers and desserts were served from, where I created dozens of childhood forts over the years, and where many memories were made.

I found another set of photos & I think these are from around 1988, so I this would be the first year I was rocking my glasses!  I am thankful that we have so many hundreds of pictures capturing our every holiday now, but I really do prize the few old ones that I can find from Christmas’ past.  All those yearly traditions of Christmas Eve at Grandma’s house, surrounded by family, stuffed with an amazing dinner, opening up presents with my cousins, attending a candlelit church service will always be what Christmas Eve means to me.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY:  Blue skies, sandy beaches, warm sun & an island to explore today!

My grandma (dad’s mom) passed away on Monday night, October 31st after 84 amazing and wonderful years of life.  She was born on December 13, 1926 in the beautiful Texas hill country where she spent the first few years of her life.  Funeral services are today, and our family has gathered to celebrate and honor this wonderful matriarch of our family.

I was in charge of gathering photos for the services & I was so thrilled to find so many wonderful old photos.  She married on June 1, 1947 in Brenham.  Love these old photos, especially since they were taken at my great-grandfather’s house where I spent so many holidays as a child.

I was able to locate quite a few formal (professional) photos & I’m so thankful they had pictures of her and grandpa from the church directory, weddings, and their 25th anniversary party in 1972.

They lived a very full life that included travels around the US and several trips to Europe, hundreds of friends over the decades that threw dance parties every weekend in the hill country, 4 children, 9 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.  I’m guessing the photos above are their 20th or 30th anniversary party, with some of their dearest friends.  Every Halloween was always a big costume party & I remember everybody always dressing up.

As I have a horrible memory, I rely so much on pictures to remind me of all I have forgotten.  Grandma had been living in a nursing home for several years after numerous knee surgeries, but I tried to visit her every week or two to check on her and take her snacks.  These are a few recent pictures from the holidays & mostly how I remember my grandma- hair always done, makeup on, nails fixed and at least a few pieces of cute jewelry.

If I had to isolate 2 memories of my grandparents, they would be of them dancing arm in arm & large family holiday gatherings.  These two could dance & dance they did- almost every weekend they had anniversary parties or friends birthdays that involved live bands and a crowded dance floor.  The other thing I will never forget about my grandparents are the holiday memories.  Sometimes we’d be in Brenham for Easter or Thanksgiving, but Christmas was always at their house.  So many cherished memories and wonderful traditions that are forever part of my childhood.

Luckily, they lived very close to me & I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving last year and the year before with them at the nursing home.  Grandma was still sharp as a tack, even if her body was ravaged with cancer she still knew everybody’s age and birthday, loved her Astros and took great care of Grandpa, who’s dementia has worsened significantly in the last few years.

Grandma was an only child & her father lived to be 99.  Since I was 19 when he passed away, I got to spend quite a bit of time with him in Brenham as she was taking care of her dad.  The above photo was taken in 1995 at Thanksgiving at my great-grandpa’ house, when I was 15 and my brother was 2 and sister was a newborn.  Being married for 64 years is such an amazing thing to me & they had huge celebrations at most milestone anniversaries- like their 50th above.   I’ve shared photos of them before when I celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary in 2008 and when I wrote a little about the history I remembered.

It’s a time of great sadness, but our family is taking solace that she is home in heaven and not suffering anymore.  We are thankful that we were able to spend so much time with such an incredible lady and celebrate her legacy of friends and family that she has left behind.  Since I have such a limited memory, I wanted to just write down all the tidbits that I do remember about growing up and spending so much time at their house.  She was the quintessential grandma and everything a grandmother should be.