Christmas 1966 - At Grandpa Lou and Grandma Alice's

Christmas in Two Harbors. Grandma Alice and Grandpa Louie hadn't moved into their house on 6th Avenue yet. When these photos were taken they were living in an apartment above their bakery.

Top photo: Aunt Alice Mae photographs me along with the cousins.

Middle photo: Uncle Dale is on the far left.

Bottom photo: Grandma gets a shot too.

Christmas 1967 - Joe with Grandma Jean in Two Harbors

Christmas 1970 - Grandma Jean's Tree

Grandma Jean's tree in Two Harbors. Most likely it was from the land her and Grandpa Les' cabin was on.

Christmas 1971 - Joe with the Cousins

Joe with Aunt Alice Mae, Uncle Jack and cousins Debbie, Diane and Danny at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Two Harbors.

Christmas 1971 - Grandpa Lou and Grandma Alice

Grandpa Lou and Grandma Alice at their house for Christmas 1971 in Two Harbors. Grandpa is drinking Grain Belt beer and smoking Pall Malls. Their chiguagua Tiny is on Grandpa's lap.

Christmas 1979 - Joe's Tree

I'm sure this tree was obtained from Grandpa Les and Grandma Jean's cabin outside Two Harbors. As part of our Thanksgiving visit we would usually cut down a big tree for our living room and one or two smaller trees for our bedrooms before we journeyed home. This tree displays many of the ornaments I got in my shoe on St. Nicholas Day. I like the goofy look on my face in the top picture. You can tell I'm trying to be precise about how that ornament is going to hang. I still do that now!

Christmas 1983 - Grandma Jean's Tree

Here's another photo, this one from 1983, of one of Grandma Jean's trees. The photo was taken at the house of Grandma Jean and Grandpa Les in Two Harbors.

Christmas 1985 - Grandma Jean's Tree

I've looked high. I've looked low. I can only find one photo related to Christmas 1985. Every year Grandma Jean put up a Christmas tree and took a picture. She always put up a fresh tree that she got on the land that she and Grandpa Les owned just outside of Two Harbors. The trees got smaller over the years I'm sure because it was just easier that way. I found this Polaroid instant photo among some of Mom's photographs. The writing at the bottom is Grandma Jean's.

Christmas 1996 - Grandpa Louie

Grandpa Louie died in early 1997 so the Christmas of 1996 was his last. I have fond memories of holidays with both him and Grandma Alice in Two Harbors and spending time in the bakery they owned together.

Christmas 1999 - Grandma Alice

Sadly, Christmas 1999 was Grandma Alice's last. I have many fond memories of her including those early Christmases I spent with her and Grandpa Louie up in Two Harbors.

Christmas 2000 - Dad and Uncle Dale

Uncle Dale, my dad's brother, spent Christmas Eve with us between the years 2000 and 2006. I spent my first five or six Christmases with him at Grandpa Louie and Grandma Alice's house in Two Harbors. He continued to spend Christmas with them until Grandma Alice died in early 2000. Dad died in early 2007. He always brought interesting gifts like commemorative plates, Reader's Digest condensed books and sometimes even lottery tickets.

Gifts - Colorful Pots and Pans

My earliest Christmases (late 1960's/early 1970's) were spent at my grandparent's houses in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Grandma Alice and Grandpa Louie owned a bakery there which they operated from the mid-1950's to 1981. Grandpa Les worked for the railroad but retired around this time and Grandma Jean stayed at home. Jean and Les also owned a cabin on 40 acres of land about eleven miles just outside of town. I loved going to two Harbors and visiting all of them at their houses but also loved spending time at the bakery and cabin.

It was about 1971 and Mom, Dad, Sam and I were up in Two Harbors for Thanksgiving. I remember sitting on a big unopened bucket of lard in the storage room by the back entrance of the bakery. My brother Sam and I were paging through Grandma Alice's Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog and looking at Christmas toys. What I decided I wanted most was something the catalog called Colorful Pots and Pans. They were big colorful plastic toys modeled after kitchen items but with faces on them. There was a skillet, coffee pot, saucepan, etc. I never got them and I don't remember feeling too disappointed. Once we got back to Minneapolis I'm sure I came up with something I wanted even more.

This past weekend my friend Noel and I were putzing around a Minneapolis antique store and I stumbled upon what is pictured here. If this isn't the actual product I saw in that Montgomery Ward catalog then it's eerily close!