Back in Time

Melodie's father sent me the first batch of pictures that he had taken when we were together. Kit (pronounced Keet, as in short for Chiquito) is a professional photographer now. Then he was an amateur but very, very good.  Most of his pictures were on slides which is why I did not have them and why it has taken 30 years to get them from him.

Thank heaven for scanners and Dropbox!

There were pictures of Melodie right after she was born. Pictures of his stints at the Air Bases in Thailand and Guam. There were pictures of me that I had never seen.

 And then there was this one.

Dan, Gael, Bill, Barbara Gael, and Giz - Chrismas, 1972

 

 

 

 

The Gisvold family at Christmas in 1972. Mom was so excited. Dan was home from Germany and out of the Air Force. Bill was out of the Army. The only one still in harm's way at that time was my husband, Manuel (better known as Kit) He was in Thailand and its environs flying around in B-52s. (You might have guessed that he didn't take these pics!)

But everyone had gotten together that Christmas.

Add Melodie, and Bill's family-wife, Bernie, Jill (on Giz's lap), and Heather

These were our usual Christmas poses.

I remember that Dan would regularly have to find the outside just to get away from the group and the crowd. With us that winter were Kit's parents, and Bernie's family. It was a BIG DEAL.

That is why a huge backyard was a good thing. It was possible (and Dan often did this) to walk all the way out to the edge of the orange grove and no one could see you. You could stand there and look at the stars and hear the sounds from the house and still feel free. We both did that a lot.

These pictures are the reason that I used to celebrate Christmas by decorating every inch of any house I lived in. I hoped to recreate that Christmas.

The closest I came was 2009. Dan was stretched out on my couch, the kids were here and Mel and I made something very simple for dinner. We were happy. We were all very happy.