Christmastime!

The top picture was taken at Granny & Papaw's house in Thayer... probably 1966 or '67. That's my sister Donna at left, with our cousin Angela in her lap, and her brother David, below. I'm next over, then my sister Diane and big brother, Dan.
The bottom picture is Me and Smokey at our house in West Plains... sometime in the late 1960s. I always thought that this picture was taken on Christmas morning, but my big sister thinks it is from Christmas Eve. And she's probably right (of course... who would debate the wisdom of their older siblings?) So anyway, the reasoning being; normally on Christmas morning we didn't get to see the tree or presents until it was time to open them. We four kids were confined to our bedrooms and a long hallway leading to the living room. Mom & Dad would hang a sheet or something across the hallway, so we couldn't see the tree or the gifts that Santa had left us. It was torture, but we loved it... it just built the excitement. They would intentionally take their time... drink a cup of coffee and maybe have a little something to eat, and all the time we were back there giggling and running back & forth from our bedrooms to the end of the hallway. No peeking! Finally they would say "alright... you can come on in!" and it was controlled crazy time in the house for the next half hour. Dad would sit on the floor, and we would all pick our spot and wait for him to slide our presents across the floor to us. In a matter of minutes, the entire living room was occupied with piles of colorful, shredded wrapping paper. And Smokey loved Christmas almost as much a we did, because she got to play in the paper. What good memories.