Merry Christmas!

Christmas 1966

Here's wishing all of you a most meaningful and Merry Christmas!

Above you see a photo of my younger brother and I visiting Santa Claus from Christmas 1966. Midway Mall had just opened a few months earlier, so I kind of think that's where it was taken. (I seem to be missing a few teeth, so I guess I gummed Christmas dinner that year.)

I have a few more photos from the Brady archives, but first I'd better post the obligatory full-page sponsor ad from the Journal. This one is from 1963 and ran on Christmas Eve that year.

As usual, successor banks and cemeteries seem to be the only businesses that are still around. 

Here's another charming full page ad from the same 1963 edition of the Journal, this time for Lorain Telephone.

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But now on to some more photos from Brady Christmases of the past.

My sister was the only Brady kid in the house in this photo from Christmas 1957. Note that she's wearing an authentic Annie Oakley cowgirl getup.

I don't know what color scheme her outfit was, but it was one of these two, most likely.

A year later, my older brother Ken (the first baby in Lorain of 1958, which I wrote about here and here) celebrated Christmas 1958 with his sister.

And by the time Christmas 1959 rolled around, I was on the scene.

My siblings look pretty happy to get matching hoodies. Note the sack of something to the left of Ken. What is it? Why, a Sifo's Mailbag of Blocks!

Ken did get at least one cool toy that Christmas: a Mirro Satellite Explorer Space Helmet.

I did pretty well that Christmas too. Here I am with my holiday haul.

Note to my right is a Charlie Brown Hungerford figure. Highly collectible today! I wrote about it back on this post, which also features some other photos from Christmas 1959. The Koo Zoo seems to have been a rather bizarre toy, sort of like a menagerie encased in amber.

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As usual, I'll be taking my annual break from blogging for the next few days so that I can enjoy the holidays. (I'm sorry, Don – but maybe you can crank out another tome to keep busy.) But I'll be back just before New Year's Eve (most likely with the usual gruesome 'don't drink and drive' public service type ads). See you then!