Ghosts of Xmas Past - 1962

This is the house we lived in when these pictures were taken. This is how it looked in 2003 -- it has had extra rooms added on since we lived there. In 1962 the center section was the entire house. By today's standards it would be considered a "tiny house". It was at the intersection of two county roads, near Van Auken Lake, several miles out in the country between Bangor and Hartford. We had a Hartford phone number, but were in Bangor school district. We lived in this house for one year, and it was a bad winter with lots and lots of snow. This is where we lived when my Uncle Morris got stuck in a snowbank one night on the way to our house. He ended up spending the night in his car and walking to the nearest farm house in the morning to use the phone to call us. There's a lot more to that story -- something about a road sign coming up through the floorboard of his car as it sunk into the snowdrift... and nearly being hit by a snowplow... 

The table is in the kitchen, and that's the living room behind us. Grandpa and Grandma Thomas apparently came for Xmas Day dinner. (Usually we spent Xmas Eve with Dad's family, so I don't know what was different about this year. Maybe we did both.) 

This was looking from the living room toward the bathroom and bedrooms -- the bathroom door is the one with the mirror, directly behind me. There was a bedroom to the right (Rick's and mine) and another bedroom to the left (Mom and Dad's). In this picture we're showing off our Xmas presents -- Rick got a guitar, I got a baby doll and a gun belt. I also got some books and my first diary. The dog's name was Missy -- I think she was a beagle, or beagle mix. 

Ricky and Missy. He's sitting on the living room floor, and that's the kitchen behind him. 

Me, Missy, Mom, and Ricky