……………………It was always a fun and happy Christmas day at my parents house…………My brothers and their families would come at 1:00 in the afternoon after they spent the morning with their children opening presents. My Aunt Bea, back row, second in from the left and my Uncle Danny would spend many Holidays with us. My Aunt had one son from a previous marriage, but he lived in Kansas so they were always alone. From left to right in the back row starts with me, my Aunt Bea and my brother Mauro…….The second row from the left is my niece Danielle, my SIL Carol, my Mom and my Dad who is holding baby Jeannine, my brother Mauro’s daughter….then my SIL Kathy, Mauro’s wife. Kathy is holding Christopher who looks as if someone told him he was getting coal in his stocking!!!….The bottom row, from the left starts with Jonathan and his older brother James who eventually was a West Point graduate and just retired from the military after many years. James looked a lot like me when I was his age. Next to him is my brother Mauro and SIL Kathy’s beautiful son John who was exactly like his father in every way….Tragically he died in a\ freak accident on the Throgs Neck Bridge when he was 21….He is terribly missed even though he is gone longer than he lived…That pain never goes away……Peter and Mathew weren’t born yet, and they would complete the family. My uncle Dan and my brother John aren’t in the picture so John had to be the photographer…..I was about 22 in this photo, and designing at a company called Giorgini…………..I’m happy to have these photos…..So many are gone now,,,,..Good memories!
Christmastime is when we miss them most. I have some beautiful stockings knitted for our family by a close friend of my mom’s years ago, one each for my parents, and then for myself and my sister, and eventually for our husbands, and finally for my 3 boys as each of them came along. Dad’s had a skiing theme, Mom’s had a quilt (as these were their favorite activities), and so one. As I know I have mentioned before, we lost our youngest, Ben, on Dec. 30, 2018, in a tragic accident, and Mom and Dad have also passed, but every Christmas their stockings are still hung with the rest of ours because they will always be with us, and their spirits shine bright and always will. Thank you for sharing this lovely photo with us.
April I do the same thing. Jac had stockings for all the pups, so I hang them right next to hers. Sammy and mine will hang together
Loved seeing this photo. What a beautiful and precious moment captured in this picture.