A Sense of Doubt blog post #3964 - Letter to Dad #16 - Christmas Day 2025 - Writing about 1972-1973

1972

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3964 - Letter to Dad #16 - Christmas Day 2025 - Writing about 1972-1973

Hi Dad, It's Christmas Day; the second without you. 483 days since I held your hand as you drew your last breaths and 3828 days since I wanted to do that with Mom but wasn't there.

Of course, I feel both of you with me all the time, but even more strongly at the holidays.

You and Mom gave me and Lori the best life. I am so grateful for what you both provided for our family. I cannot even express how much gratitude I have. These words are insufficient.

At the very least, I try to pay it all forward and spread love into the world as you two showed me was the best way to shine our light.

Unlike usual weekly letters, I have collected some photos from Christmases (and obviously one birthday because you didn't take care with the sorting of photos, Big Guy) and will caption them all with my observations. Not much news in the last week anyway. Just wrapping, cooking, a little homework, taking care of the puppies.

Starting with the top picture, (and there's a companion below), I am not sure if we visited Santa the same day as a Cub Scouts meeting or I chose to wear my uniform out of pride. I think I am in the second tier of Webelos at this point judging by the kerchief. I am ten years old but almost 11.

1972

Opening presents Christmas morning was always a major operation. Lori and I usually woke up in the middle of the night but couldn't wake you and Mom until what? 5 a.m.? 6 a.m.? I forget.

As I have explained previously, I always got to open the box of comics on Christmas Eve so as to have something to do when I woke in the middle of the night. Once Lori woke, we would hang out together until it was time to get you two up. This time is where many of the stories involving the stuffed animals were born and a character from another dimension known as "Red" because it appeared under a red blanket.

Present opening was a free for all. I don't believe we took turns. I think we opened simultaneously though with some pauses for other pictures that must be somewhere.

Some will chide me for wearing New York Jets pajamas, but let's remember that this is the era of Joe Namath, so I should be forgiven. Plus, other pictures show me in my Detroit Lions hat.

I want to get the films transferred. Every year we had to wait as you set up with the camera and flood lights before we could charge in to see what Santa brought and go through stockings and then wrapped presents. Santa's things were not wrapped.

We never crept into the living room in the middle of the night to peek nor did we unwrap and re-wrap gifts. We were such good kids.

I loved to shake gifts and try to figure out what was in them. At least, one year, I kept a list to track my guesses. Mom had to make the gifts shake proof, allowing them to be shaken without anything getting broken or damaged inside as I was known to shake vigorously. I believe I taught Lori to also shake with vigor.

This was an important Christmas as I will describe with the gift photos below.

The Bronson Park decorations were an annual tradition, and here we are with the manger scene and the baby Jesus that is lit up with holy light, which is pretty cool.

Here's the companion photo of us with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus at Gilmore's downtown Kalamazoo in the toy shop that they ran for many years. I remember that these people were very good at their roles.

Another picture from the annual tour of Bronson Park. I do not know if they still put out this giant snow man.

Can't really parse much in this photo but Lori is excited about opening her gift and I am not opening at the time. Is that her Baby Dreams doll?

See how Mom is collecting all the ribbons, bows, and tags?

Also, see the stand up lamp you made next to Mom that I used for many years (through to 2009 for sure). I don't think that's still in my storage facility. Did you get rid of it Dad? I wish I had it here!!

Every year we posed with all of our gifts some time after Christmas, often, if I recall, a week or more later.

This Christmas was significant. See the gun in the back corner. That may be a pop gun and not a BB gun. I am pretty sure that's right. I was getting into music, so I got that little amplifier and microphone.

This is the year I got the GI Joe headquarters seen just to Lori's right. There's also the colorful and very cool car park with elevator at my left foot. There's the geology set next to that. The Battleboard game and several things I cannot parse very easily. Of course, lots of comics. There's a Batman puppet in the lower right of the picture. Also, to the left of Batman's head (not his left, our left) I see the Partridge Family Crossword album and probably some others that I cannot discern. I see Detroit Lions clothes or pajamas. So very blessed.

This was the year Lori got Baby Dreams, her all time favorite doll, who become a leader in the Protectors Five series of stories that were born in those early Christmas mornings. Those were some of my first stories. This is also the year, you built the crib and diaper changing table for Lori seen in the lower right of the photo (our right). I cannot discern everything (I wish you had taken close ups, Dad!) but some things are clear, like that Flintstones thing which is either an album or a game. More doll stuff. And our aquarium is very clearly seen. This Christmas is before you built the thing on the other side of the room to house the rock collection, the stereo, and the aquarium.

1973

Here we are at the Delbridge home receiving quilts made by Grandma Hazel, also something I used until it literally fell apart sometime between 2003-2009.

This picture is my birthday 1973 even though you put it in the Christmas folder, Dad. The lamp I wrote about above is very clearly seen here, though I don't remember it being next to the door to the porch, unless that's not the door to the porch behind me but I am pretty positive it is.

What's on the wall? Are those drawings? Mine? Lori's?

Lots of comics. The ventriloquist doll at the dawn of my magic and performance work. Marie Osmond's solo album Paper Roses. The MEGO Tarzan and Captain America as well as a doll of a boxer: Muhammed Ali?? Some cool diorama on the far right of the picture (our right), and next to that the gifts Lori received as you and Mom were so good to give us one or two gifts on the other's birthday so we did not feel left out. I wonder if any other families or how many families did such things.

I think I see the round orange pillow that I also used for decades until it literally fell apart.

That's a theme: using things until they fall apart.

I wrote about this picture recently with the Annual Christmas Tree "Slaughter" post. There's that Detroit Lions hat!! Obviously, it was cold but where's the snow?? Mom would never wear a stocking cap because of her hair.

This picture is from Christmas 1973 because if compared to the 1972 pictures above there are differences. Even though the Santa wall hanging with moveable arms, legs, and head is in the same spot, the plant by the door to the porch is different, and ornaments on the tree are not in the same places.

But in your folder for 1973, Dad, there were no pictures of us unwrapping or posing by photos.

I just brought in the boxes of photos I had shipped here last year that I have been meaning to go through. I noticed lots of slides and wish you had kept your digitizer for slides and left it for me. Why didn't you think of that? I see a lot of slides sent to you in Schoolcraft as you had to, apparently, send away to have them developed.

So many great memories of our family time together. I wish I had more pictures of you at those times. Mom should have switched off and taken some photos.

I love you, Dad.

I love our family.

Merry Christmas.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2512.25 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3828 days ago & DAD = 483 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.