Friday, December 03, 2010

Advent Calendar : Christmas Tree Ornaments

Did your family have heirloom or cherished ornaments? Did you ever string popcorn and cranberries?  Did your family or ancestors make Christmas ornaments?


I can remember making strings of popcorn for the tree as a kid - it was great fun,  but hard to keep from eating all the popcorn.  Eileen remembers the felt elves that had floppy hats and arms and legs were sort-of sewn together so you could hang them on the tree.  Her mom always liked to have a 'flocked' tree.


I know that my daughter and stepdaughters all have ornaments that they have made as a child that still are hung on the tree.  My mom & dad have purchased ornaments for each of the grandkids with have themes that correlate to what was going on in their lives - 1st Christmas, sports they were in, musical instruments, etc.


I asked my mom and dad what they remembered :

Dad said he strung popcorn as a child once.   I probably did too, but can't remember.   I can't remember as a child our family having any ornaments that were cherished or heirloom, but since my mother did crafts, we probably did make some.  However, as I had my own family,we saved the ones that our kids made at school and still have some.  I made a lot of Christmas ornaments at school and when I was a scout.   I can remember making Santas using toliet paper tubes that were given to the nursing home to put on the patients trays.  

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Floyd "Wimp" Lambertson's Yearbook?


While searching at Ancestry.com, I was perusing the 1937 Elwood, Indiana High School Yearbook (The Crescent), looking for information on my relatives.  I found this image containing many signatures of classmates - and in the upper right you can see the name Floyd LAMBERTSON, with the nickname "Wimp" written underneath.

At first, I thought this might have been my maternal great-uncle's way of signing the yearbook, but now I am wondering if this was his actual yearbook, and somehow it ended up being imaged by Ancestry.com.  The reason I feel this way is that his name is printed, rather than in cursive.

I'm not sure how Ancestry.com obtained the copies of the yearbooks in its collection, but they have the Elwood, Indiana ones from the years 1937 through 1940.

A Joyous Christmas



Mr. Clarence Stuber
R.R. 4 Box 64
Portland, Ind.


You!  Why don't you write?  Are you alive yet?  Haven't heard from you for about a year.  Come out and visit our school.


From Wenceslaus  N.B. Aus soon if not sooner


----
Postmarked December 22, 1910


This card was sent to my paternal great-uncle, Clarence STUBER from an unknown correspondent - obviously a good friend and jokester.