A Decade of Christmases, 1950's....

I'm a lucky girl.  My grandparents took loads of pictures.

While they were suckers for the random, candid shot, they were even more obsessed with holidays and events.  Hence, a smorgasbord of Mid-Century Christmas decadence.
Get in, buckle your seat belt and relax while I take you on a journey through ten years of my family's Mid-Century Christmases...

1949... 

This is the first of many trains you'll see.  My dad liked trains.  More importantly, my grandfather liked them!

While I'd kill for that ferris wheel thingamabobby behind my dad, at least I can lay claim to the Juice King to the left in the photo.  I just used it a couple of days ago to juice oranges for the citrus filling in my Christmas secret recipe cookie tradition...'Reindeer Balls'.  Yup, 'Reindeer Balls'.  They're amazing.  Trust me.

1950...

My uncle's first Christmas.

Dad and his godfather.

 Cheeky little bugger!

1951....

My grandfather and Dad's godfather again playing with Dad's toys!

Dad was a cowboy!

  

1952...

Loving that tin litho Union Station!!  I wasn't in the stash of toys that had been kept...lord knows, it was probably destroyed by New Years!  I did find one on Ebay though...WANT!!

My dad had many cowboy gifts over the years.  Sign of the times, I suppose.

1953....

My grandfather...I've got that jacket he's wearing...my dad and my uncle with their dog, Duchess.  Not sure who the kid is in the overalls, but he sure is a cutie patootie!

1954...

I'm sure they were both thrilled that my grandmother dressed them in matching outfits so often.

1955...

My uncle as a cowboy and my dad as George Patton dressed as a cowboy.  Another fashion side note:  We found those Roy Rogers shirts when we were going through things for the estate sale.  I cleaned them both and gave my uncle his and I kept dad's.  I'm happy to report that it fits and I wear it occasionally.

1956...

Lincoln Logs!!!  My gosh golly how I love Lincoln Logs!

One of many weapons they'd receive!

I may be a little biased, but I'm pretty sure my dad is the most adorable little boy who ever lived!  Look at that face, willya!!??

Yeah, that's a xylophone in the background of this pic.  And yes, it's in my parents' basement!

1957...

The only Christmas photos this year were taken at my great-grandparents' house.  Here's my great-grandmother proudly surveying her Christmas table.  I want that bloody centerpiece!

And here's her mother (my great-great-grandmother).  Wasn't she precious??!!!

1958....

I love old colour photos the best.  I love that you can tell what colour combos everyone had goin' on, but most of all, I love that the colours are so rich and unnatural.  Makes it seem like you're looking at images from a dream.

Many many many of those ornaments are on my own tree!

Lovin' my uncle's faux Bill Cosby sweater sweatshirt.  Stylin'.

 
I want that Chemcraft Chemistry Set!!!  Whoooosh!!!

1959...

2013:

Christmas morning here at The Brady Ponderosa:

 

I hope you all had a loverly Christmas morning, afternoon, and night!  God bless us, every one and all that...

PIIIIIIIGS IN SPAAAAAAAAACE---1969

Not THOSE pigs!....

THESE pigs.....

The Lay's Pigs.  It seems that, in 1969, to tie in with the actual Lunar Landing, the Lay's company put out a few of these as a promotion.  How many were actually distributed, I don't know.  But I could only find one for sale and GEEEEEZ LEEEEWWWWWEEEEEZZZZZ at the asking price on that baby!

I got my little mitts on this one as a kid.  One of the local high schools always had a barbeque supper to support it's booster club.  My entry ticket won me this beauty at the tender age of about 8.  I knew it was old then...and that's what I loved about it!

It's a super cool game!  The instructions read as follows:

THE OBJECT OF THE GAME is to be the first player to make a Lunar Landing on the moon.  A Lay's Three Little Pigs Astronaut Team mans each spacecraft in the race to the moon.  Up to four craft may enter the race at one time.

TO BEGIN THE GAME
1.  Each player should choose his spacecraft.  [I was always red!]

 

2.  Shuffle the stack of 32 cards [would you  believe they're all still there??]
3.  Decide who shall play first by spinning the Space Dial.  The player who spins the highest number of "Move Forward" spaces plays first.

4.  The space race begins at the Blast Off area on the Lunar Landing Board.

 

TO PLAY
1.  A player spins the Space Dial and does whatever it instructs him to do.  This will be one of three things:
     a.  Move Forward a certain number of spaces OR
     b.  Move Back a certain number of spaces OR
     c.  Draw a Card
 (IMPORTANT:  From BLAST OFF through JETTISON STAGE 3, a player accepts only FORWARD spins because the space craft has to go fast to free itself from the pull of the Earth's gravity.  [see what they did there?  A little bit of rocket science thrown right atcha!]  The player is to ignore orders to MOVE BACK and number of spaces or to DRAW A CARD until JETTISON STAGE 3 is completed.)

2.Directions on a CARD are to be followed immediately, except in the case of a LAYSer BEAM CARD. ["LAYSer Beam!  Oh, the clever word play!!]  All CARDS should be placed face up in a separate stack after they are played.  

3.  Five of the CARDS are LAYSer BEAM CARDS.  A LAYSer BEAM CARD can be used at any time.  It allows a player to ignore any instruction that might delay his lunar landing.  However, a LAYSer BEAM CARD can be used only once.  The player should keep his LAYSer BEAM CARD by his place at the Lunar Landing Board until he wants to use it.  A used LAYSer BEAM CARD is placed face up on the used deck of CARDS.

4.  When all the CARDS have been drawn, reshuffle the stack, place face down by the Lunar Landing Board and continue playing.
5.  Players should follow the directions on the Lunar Landing Board as indicated.

 

6.  Once his spacecraft has gone into orbit around the moon, a player continues in orbit until he gets a spin that stops him right on MOON PATH, the only space that permits a landing. (For example, if he is 2 spaces away, and he spins a "Forward 3 Spaces," he must "fly by".)

7.  When his craft stops on MOON PATH, the player must stay there until he spins a "Forward 1 Space."  He ignores all other instructions on he has landed on MOON PATH.

8.  The first one to land on the moon is the winner.

 I can tell ya that this is one of those games that, while it seems simple enough, can eat into an entire summer afternoon!  It is a LOOOONG game to play!  But it's super fun and was always one of my favourites!

I leave you with The Muppets....and Luke Skywalker....