Christmas With DrGoat
I already had most of my December posts ready to go when DrGoat, aka Peter, emailed me some scans from his own family photos. They are SO great that I rejiggered things so that you can all enjoy these on Christmas Eve. If you weren't already in a yuletide mood, hopefully these will jump-start things.
Take a look at this one, isn't it delightful? Peter sits on his mother's lap, holding an awesome tin top, while other gifts (including a drum) remain under the tree. His sister holds a large stocking, still full of goodies from the looks of it. The look of pure happiness on Peter's face, as well as his mom and sister, is just the best thing ever.
I asked Peter if he could tell me a little bit about where his family was living, and maybe a little bit about his sister, and here's what he said: ...we were living in New York City, in an apartment building on west 34th street, Manhattan. Not too far from the entrance to the Lincoln tunnel. Below the Hell’s Kitchen area. The date is most likely 1952 or 53. My sister is 5 years older than me. Her name is Christine, the white sheep of the family. She ended up with a PHD in microbiology, taught and did medical illustrations for medical text books at USC.
I asked Peter if he remembers making a racket with that drum (!), and he said I don’t specifically remember that drum but dollars to donuts I did make a racket and my parents probably regretted getting it. After that Christmas I do remember and have some photos of the stuff I got when I was 4 and 5. Lots of battery operated things like Robert the Robot.
Next is a picture of Peter which he estimates is from about 1955. Just look at all that loot under the tree! And Peter has a number of wonderful tin vehicles, including an earth mover. We can see a box that says "combat jeep" on it (under the TV), and it looks like a firetruck ladder just behind Peter, to his right (our left).
I have such great memories of Christmas mornings from when I was little, my dad always put on his favorite Christmas albums, and my mom and grandma would make big breakfasts with bacon and sausages, and I think all of the kids would fry their brains on sensory overload. It was awesome!
Peter also included this version of the same photo, automatically colorized by a free online program. I played around with that program and the results weren't great, but Peter's looks pretty good, all things considered. As the years go by, presumably such programs will be more sophisticated.
THANK YOU to Peter for sharing these delightful family photos!
I will be out of town for the next three days or so, and (as usual) I might have difficulty responding to comments. But I will check in on my iPad every day! Thanks for your patience.
25 comments:
Major-
It's hard not to have a great big smile when looking at these images. Christmas scenes are always so much fun - and have even more meaning when we know the folks in them.
Love the pattern in the linoleum tile flooring in the second image.
Thanks Peter for sharing your family photos with us at this time of year.
What a great representation of Christmases past. My own early memories look very much like these photos.
In the first photo- I see all the Christmas cards taped to the wall above the sofa. We do the same thing, as I'm sure most of us do. We usually tape ours to the fireplace mantle or staircase spindles, etc.
Are those crayons all over the floor?
in the second photo- Is that a robot sitting in the bulldozer? In the movie "Forbidden Planet" Robbie the Robot rode around in a sled/hovercraft thingy that looked sort of like the bulldozer, without the blade in front. Maybe this is an 'homage' to that. Or maybe little Peter placed the robot in the bulldozer.
There's an odd sort of dark pattern on the floor, made up of rectangles mostly. Kind of artsy. At first I thought it was a hardwood floor but now I think it's linoleum. (Edit: Nanook mentions it as well.)
In the colorized photo- It's sort of hit and miss. The program's A.I. must be able to recognize faces and other body parts and color them appropriately. Or maybe you have to tell the program "this is a face"?
Get better DrGoat, and the same for Mrs. DrG. Thanks for the photos and the memories. Thanks Major for letting us see these photos and for providing the narration.
- Just Bones (the boney hand of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come pointing down at Scrooge's grave. Even though this Spirit is sometimes depicted as skeletal, the original story never describes it that way)
Awwwww.....a young DrGoat! These pics are wonderful!
I also love that pattern on the floor. I thought it was carpeting, but now I see that there is one area which seems to be reflecting light.
That Combat Jeep may be out of the box already. We can see what looks like a jeep with a large gun or cannon on the back of it. It shows up better in the colorized pic (to the right of the TV, and against the wall).
Thank you for sharing your personal family photos with us, Peter. I do hope you and your wife are continuing to get better!
- Tokyo Merry!
Now THIS is what Christmas morning is supposed to look like!
I like the Nash on top of the Combat Jeep box!
The robot dozer was indeed released that way. At first I thought it was A KO, but the grille shows it to be a Linemar (Japanese Marx). It was called a Robotrac.
Thanks, DrGoat!
And Major!
These photos capture the spirit of childhood Christmases perfectly. When the world is magical through a child's eyes.
I love these photos! Thanks for sharing your pics and personal memories, Dr. Goat.
Wow, thanks for sharing DrGoat! I can't believe we're looking at a Christmas morning on the 34th St. I'm guessing you lived within walking distance of Macy's? Sending continued prayers for you and your wife
Hi Guys, I’m waiting for my mom to get ready, so I have time to respond to comments this morning!
Nnook, both of these are so great, but I especially love that first one. Everyone looks so happy!
JB, my mom didn’t like to put tape on the walls, so she would just leave the cards in a pile in the dining room for anyone to look at. My grandma would leave hers upright and open (kind of like books) on the mantle. That sure looks like crayons on the floor! There is a robot sitting in the bulldozer, but I couldn’t tell if he was part of the toy, or if Peter’s mom or dad just had fun putting the robot in the driver’s seat. I’ve had pretty bad results from that colorization app, with faces left half gray, skies that are left uncolored, etc. I’ll be curious to see if they manage to improve this consumer-level app as the years go by.
TokyoMagic!, yes, I’m pretty sure that the floor is a patterned linoleum, you see ads for that sort of thing in old magazines. What kid wouldn’t love that Combat Jeep? You can run over all of your sister’s Barbies.
Stu29573, Peter really got some quality toys! I remember when friends would stop by on Christmas morning, and I was actually ashamed at how many presents we got. We were very lucky. Thanks for the info on the robot bulldozer, such a fun idea.
K. Martinez, I knew you would like these!
Andrew, hey, I didn’t even think of that! Maybe Natalie Wood was walking down the street right outdoors.
All right, everyone, I have to run, but HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!
Thank you for enjoying these moments when life was all toys, TV shows and yes, that linoleum I remember well. I have some better pics of it I can send the Major. There were about 4 or 5 variations of that abstract geometric, what we used to call a horse. I've looked online and have found similar but not exactly that one. It was a bit brighter than the free colorizer depicts.
Stu, that robot dozer was called 'Marvelous Mike'. Believe it or not, I still have that robot driver, the only survivor. He sits in a place of prominence on my shelf. I remember the Combat Jeep being cool also.
Andrew, I have vague memories of going to see the Christmas windows at Macy's. My parents were really into those windows. My Mom worked at Macy's for a short time before moving out to Tucson soon after that second photo was taken.
A very Merry Christmas to all. Thank you for being here brightening my day every day. You are all the best.
Great family photos, thanks for sharing. Try to stay dry down there in Tucson. Have a great Holiday.
Oh, Dr. Goat, thank you for sharing these precious pictures!
I love that you still have the toy robot. I still have a toy harvester tractor, about 3 inches long. So old I can’t remember not having it.
The linoleum floor is great, ours was a “Jackson pollack” splatter pattern.
After a while with that drum, did your Dad give you a knife and ask if you had looked inside the drum for a prize? It took me a long time to get that joke.
And all the back info on the toys, I love the GDB Junior Gorillas.
Merry Christmas everyone! Major, drive safe, the roads had some flooding last night!
JG
These photos are priceless. The first one had to be posed by Norman Rockwell, and beautifully captures the love and happiness shared between a mother and her children - especially her little boy. Those expressions say it all!
The second photo sure shows a handsome young man who is enjoying his Christmas morning. Fun toys - and even cowboy boots, too. Were those a Christmas present, Peter?
Thank you for sharing these, Peter. We're so glad you're doing better and hoping Peggy is, too. Continued love and prayers being sent your way.
Thank you, too, Major. Drive safe and enjoy.
Merry Christmas Eve!
Thank you Dr. Goat for the pictures. A reminder for me back to those days. Each Christmas, I spend time thinking of the anticipation, Christmas Eve night when I couldn't sleep and swear I heard the reindeer on the roof, followed by excitement as I entered into the living room early Christmas morning while Mom and Dad were watching me quickly open presents like this. Dad would set up lights on tripods so he could capture it all on 8mm film. It was like being on stage. Being an only child I was so spoiled with toys like yours. It is now all digitized for me to relive without them now. Wonderful memories.
Merry Christmas to all. Ken (KS)
Ken S., I think we (we, as in Major) need to figure out an easy way to share some of everyone's home movies here on GDB.
Just when you thought GDB couldn't get any better!
Great pictures for Christmas Eve, Major. Everyone is so happy! I spy a toy iron to the right in the first photo. It's funny how the colorized photo has bits of blue in the background in places; the program must have detected a tree and put in a blue sky, since trees are always outside :). Hope you're doing well, DrGoat, and thanks for the pictures and background info.
This is so familiar on so many levels. It captures the anticipation, the happiness, the togetherness that made up the best Christmas mornings
My grandmother had that same linoleum pattern in her kitchen as well as the kitchen in the mother-in-law’s apartment over the garage. It was replaced in her kitchen around 1968 (it was gone by the time we moved in with her in 1969 when my dad was in Vietnam) with a white textured linoleum, but the upstairs kitchen wasn’t replaced and was still there when I lived in the apartment 1992-93. It’s still there, under whatever my sister redid the kitchen with. Durable stuff.
Thanks again for showing us pictures of an all-too-familiar Christmas morning, DrGoat. May you and your beautiful bride continue getting better. Our prayers for you both continue.
May you all enjoy the anticipation of Christmas Eve!
DrGoat & Major- Thanks for the great pictures today. They bring back a lot of family memories from the past.
Merry Christmas to all!
-DW
DrGoat I know from your previous posts that you’re a fellow Tucsonan like me! I was curious if any of these were from Tucson but reading your comment above I see you moved shortly after. These are still great! Thank you for sharing the Christmas cheer!
Celeste
So beautiful. I'm looking at these in a very dusty room. These last twentysometing months of relative isolation have made me very nostalgic. Happy travels, Major, and thank all of you so very much.
Major, "You can run over all of your sister’s Barbies. You say that like someone who knows of which he speaks. ;-) Have a safe trip and a nice get-together.
DrGoat, Aha! Straight from the Goat's mouth, the floor WAS 'loleum' after all. Take care, DrGoat; don't try to do too much too soon.
JG, knife, drum, prize... haha.
Kathy!, Your theory on the "bits of blue" around the tree sounds likely. I noticed the blue too, but couldn't think of an explanation.
I put up an all-Disney tree again this year; if anyone's interested I've shared some pictures at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-tF7pHg3DX12bwPp_RYqMmoTav4q45A8?usp=sharing
Melissa, thank you for sharing the pics of your "Disney tree" with us! I like all of your ornaments, especially the "Alice" figure. It looks like she might have "lifelike" hair?
Just so you know, you are not alone! I have also spent the last 21 months in "relative isolation." I'm thinking of you, and the Major, and all of the Junior Gorillas, this Christmas Eve...and wishing you all a very safe and happy holiday!
Yes, Alice's lifelike hair was in very bad shape when she came home from the thrift shop! Boiling water and a fine-tooth comb tamed it.
Melissa, I love the Disney tree! I especially like the ornaments with you and your sister on them, your “fireplace,” and Orange Bird. Chip ‘n’ Dale of course make me think of Pluto’s Christmas Tree, and then there’s dear, sweet Alice. Thank you for rescuing her and taming her golden tresses.
Thanks for sharing!
Wow!! DrGoat these look like stills from The Donna Reed Show!!
Hopes for improved health to you and your wife!!
A FOLLOW UP TO A POST THE OTHER DAY:
After some dl research : 2007 was the LAST year a live Christmas tree was used at Disneyland. I’m surprised it was even that late in time. I have been unable to find a definitive answer to when Walt Disney World discontinued the live tree in Florida but it appears to have been even earlier than Disneyland.
Happy holidays & merry Christmas and a “Great Big Beautiful New Year!” everyone!!
Melissa, thank you for pics of your tree and fireplace. Best wishes to you!
JG
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