Christmas was always a big deal for me. My family always got together...all of us, and it was a crowd!... and I started planning to get gifts in August (our budget wouldn't allow a huge expenditure at the end of the year, so gifts were purchased all fall to stock up for the arrival of Santa Claus, and for other gifts for family members. Here Diane and Doug are checking out all of the toys they got. At this point, it looks like 'Santa' was still being conservative in his selection...
Diane loved her pink cardboard kitchen. We eventually had it set up in the basement of the house, along with other larger kids' toys. (In this photo, it is still in the kids' bedroom.) That was fine until we had a whole lot of water back up into the basement during a deluge. That happened the summer Dave was born, and the tornado siren was always going off - so often that the two older kids began to sleep on the floor of our bedroom so they would be close to us. One night the siren went off about 2 a.m. and I thought it was a tornado warning, so I herded the kids to the basement stairway. Well, we saw that the entire basement had about 2 feet of water in it, and our dehumidifier was still plugged in and floating around, running like mad! It would have been deadly to step into that water with the electrical connection with the dehumidifier, so we all sat at the top of the stairs, and hoped we wouldn't be blown away.
Actually, the town had sounded the sirens because there had been 6 inches of rain in Waverly, north of us on the Cedar River, and a 'wall of water' was coming down through the area. In fact, that night, an elderly man who lived on an island right across from the fire station died because his house caught on fire, and there was so much water the fire trucks couldn't get over to his house.
In another low part of town, several houses ended up with four feet of water in their living rooms. This part of town was right along the creek I mention in the next paragraph, and some homes had bedrooms in their basements. In fact, one man had realized how heavy the rain was coming down, and had gone down to get his son up so he could get out of the basement. While the man was down there, one of the basement windows broke in, and water began pouring into their basement. They were lucky to get the bedroom door pushed open before the water got too deep, but before they reached the stairs to go up, the water was so deep that they had to bob between rafters to keep their heads from going under water. They did make it out, but their house was one of the 4-feet-of-water-in-the-livingroom homes... In another house down in that area, the family had company and some of the kids were sleeping on air mattresses in the basement. They realized they had a problem when the air mattresses began to float! Luckily, no one was killed, except for the man whose house burned, but the next day, there were a lot of water-soaked pieces of furniture on the curbs..
Vern's sister's husband got up
during the night and looked out the back of his farm, and saw a huge
'wall of water' traveling along a normally dry creek bed in the field
behind their house. He called Vern's folks to warn them because their
house was in a low area of Cedar Falls. Well, by the time he had called,
their basement was full of water, their freezer had tipped over, and
lots of frozen meat was floating. Also, a whole lot of their family photographs were lost when a bookcase got turned over and the albums all fell into the water. All of the meat from their freezer had to be thrown out, and they lost furniture as well.
The next day, we spent all day getting everything out of the basement, and scrubbing down the floor with bleach water. The biggest issue was hauling a soggy mattress up the basement stairs and out to the curb. We had put an old full-sized mattress down there for the kids to jump on, and it got soaked. Ever try to lift a soaking, wet mattress? It's is not easy!
So, that was the end of the cute little cardboard kitchen...
Looks like Santa was generous to Diane. We sure loved Christmas!
We usually put out an advent calendar for the kids to open a 'window' each day. Here are Doug and Diane checking it out.
We also had a nativity scene, and the kids enjoyed looking at all of those little pieces.
Here is Vern with Doug and Diane, looking at the candles of the advent wreath. Notice the charcoal portrait of Diane hanging on the wall above our television set. I don't know what became of that drawing...
Doug looks rather happy with his new fire truck and bulldozer...
In this shot, Diane and Doug are putting together a puzzle. It may have been a Christmas present...
Diane and Doug loved Dr. Seuss... and the books were read often, and over and over again!
This must have been taken the same year my nephew Michael graduated from high school, as I have his picture on my desk. Diane and Doug are with me at my little desk. This piece of furniture was one my Aunt Rachel had given my mother. When I got it, it needed work on the finish, and back in those days, 'antiquing' old furniture was the thing to do (big mistake...may have ruined the value of quality furniture by removing the old finish that, as we know now thanks to 'Antiques Roadshow' destroys the piece's 'provenance.' Well, unfortunately, I refinished a lot of old furniture, and didn't know that would make it less valuable, but rather it looked better for use in my house. This desk is actually made of cherry wood, and I ended up giving it to Diane whose husband Jerry removed the 'antique' blue paint, and refinished it to its natural cherry, which is much nicer. They still have that desk, I believe...although I'm not sure, now that they have moved into a newer home...
I always had little figurines sitting around the house, and here is Doug taking a closer look at the silk-dressed Chinese dolls I once had...wish I still had those! Notice the Brothers Four album in the rack next to the stereo cabinet. I still have that album, and a whole lot of others of that era. (And, I have one of the newer record players so I can actually listen to those albums!) I remember when we got that stereo. We were on a very tight budget in those early years, and most of our furniture was used, refinished, and even sometimes reupholstered. This was the first really nice piece of furniture we bought, and I remember going past the living room every so often to look at it... I was so pleased with that stereo!
Diane and Doug in their bedroom, with the rocking chair that was once my grandmother's. (Stupid me, I got rid of that chair, and even more foolish, painted it red... I can only claim ignorance of the value of old finishes to a piece of antique furniture...) The little cabinet was one I received for Christmas when I was about 3 or 4, while we still lived in Chicago. At that time, it was varnished, and had glass doors on the top, It was a child's china cabinet, and with it I got a set of child's china...and I still have a few pieces of that set... This cabinet was used by my nieces and nephew - Scott, Jill and Janey Brown - and when they had outgrown it, I was ready to get it back for my own kids. The glass in the doors had been replaced by masonite, so they ended up with Contact paper on them in this instance. I still have the cabinet, but now it has been refinished again. I use it in my art room to store some of my supplies. The new finish has the original oak on some parts and burgundy paint on others. If I wanted to really take it back to its original look, I would put glass back in the upper doors, and remove the burgundy paint. Who knows if I'll ever get that done...it has still lost it's 'provenance' because I removed the original finish...
Here is Doug, putting on his white dress shirt...I guess he is getting ready for Sunday school or church... such a cute face...
This is the play-room we eventually had set up in the basement (recall the flood story?) See the Smokey, the Bear stuffed toy on the floor? That was one of Diane's favorite toys... and may have been the start of the 'bear family' the kids had so much fun playing with...
This table was another of my refinishing projects. It was solid oak, and eventually, after having been a few different colors, I did strip it and used it with just a tung oil finish. I think we got rid of it just before we moved to the acreage...
Diane and Doug in the 'master bedroom.' I guess I had a flair for the 'dramatic' with the swag above the bed... I did make the curtains, too... always had a project going of one sort or another.
Another view of the bedroom...and my cute kids!
Same bedroom...different time. Hi, Doug! (I was a big user of iron-on patches on jeans...saved throwing out clothes that still had some wear in them!)
The bunk beds... those were well-used for quite a long time. Hey, there is Smokey, the Bear again!
And, here I am in my 'sweatshirt'...in our kitchen on West 7th St. I made the curtains, of course, and refinished the silverware chest on the counter. I also made the little angel in the 'teardrop' ceramic holder on the shelf...in a ceramics class (just green ware, already molded, which I glazed and had fired...not actual sculpting).
I guess that's enough for today... see you again...
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