Advent Calendar Day 22--Christmas and Deceased Relatives

     

     

     My mother, Martha Jean Stark Hughes, died on Christmas Eve, 1999.  A day I will never forget.  Last Christmas marked the tenth year since my Mom's death. We drove to Pittsburgh, placed a poinsettia in front of her burial place and sang her favorite Christmas hymn, O Come All Ye Faithful.

     Growing up, I can remember driving to Allegheny County Memorial Park, Allison Park, Pennsylvania and placing a Christmas wreath on my maternal grandfather's (Charles Edward Stark) grave. I drove with Mom. I never knew this grandparent as he died several years before I was born.    

     In 1961, we actually moved into a house that was almost across the street from the cemetery. The tradition continued annually, after her mother (Martha Marie Frederick Stark died and even after my mother moved to Ohio. Following my Mother's death, I felt it was important to have a wreath placed on my maternal grandparents grave. Most of my family is now buried at Memorial Park. 

  

     

     Then we drove around the cemetery paying our respects to both of our grandparents, finally stopping at Dad's tombstone. My brother Jeff had something special planned for Dad instead of a wreath. Our father was a civil war buff and in 1999 his Christmas wreath was a union cap and small American flag.....very unique and festive. 

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however if they are inappropriate, they will not be published.  

PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Tombstone Tuesday--Voodoo

When visiting New Orleans a week or so ago, you know I had to visit St. Louis #1, located on Basin Street. This is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans and the resting place of at least three persons who practiced the art of Voodoo.

Marie Laveau, the Queen of Voodoo is reputed to be buried here. The name and dates of the Marie Laveau listed first in the family vault appears to match Marie's daughter, who happens to have the same name.



Wandering around, I found two more grave sites of Voodoo practitioners. They are easily identified by the numerous "XXX" written all over the vault. Noodling around the net, I found that when someone writes the "XXX" on the tombstone, the deceased will grant a wish. There are no names or dates on these sites; however, current day believers seem to know that these belong to Voodoo folks.



You will also note some of the items left for the deceased....there were wine bottles, a half glass of wine, fans, chachkies of every shape and size.

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Advent Calendar Day 21--Christmas Music

There were two Christmas albums that were constantly played by Mom when we were Growing Up Hughes. Last year Flipside featured Now Is The Caroling Season. Even now the three of us Hughes kids can't get enough of this LP....now in CD form. Certain songs bring back rich memories and a tear to my eye.

Second on my list of old family music albums is The Wonderful Songs of Christmas by the Harry Simone Chorale. This one was a little more difficult to identify and find. Back in the 1970's, I taped the two albums and used that tape throughout the years. As mentioned in last year's Christmas music blog, even my two boys grew up hearing the two "Hughes" albums.

Over the years, portions of the tapes wore out and memory of the actual names of the albums became non-existent.

I wanted those two LP's....in CD form, if possible and took a spin around Ebay. Finding the Now is the Caroling Season album was easy.....the Harry Simone Chorale was a little more difficult. First off, I couldn't remember who the album was by.....my brother, Jeff, was able to supply that. One of my favorite songs on the album was Pat A Pan....not one of Jeff's...lol Again, out to Ebay, I spent much time looking at the songs on each and every Harry Simone album until I found the one! It has not been reissued in CD; however, with all the techno-freaks in my family.....that was not a problem.

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Advent Calendar Day 20--Religious Services

Gotta love the "indifference to schooland Bible School (didn't like) comments...LOL
     God Bless my Mom for saving little bits and bobs of our childhood and beyond. We each had, what she called, "Baby Boxes," which then turned into elementary school boxes....teenage boxes....and even some adult items were collected and saved.

     Growing up Hughes, religion played a big part in our holiday celebration. In fact, religion played a BIG part in our lives. We were members of Hiland Presbyterian Church in Perrysville, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. A short walk from our home on Washington Drive and right across the street from Dad's first medical office. 

  

     Frankly, church was our social life. Mom was an active participant in the theatre group, The Hiland Players; Dad was first a Deacon and then and Elder in the church government; and the three Hughes Kids did it all--Sunday School, Summer Bible School, Choir and every weekend a church activity that was offered. My first summer camp experience was at church camp, Camp Crestview, located north of Pittsburgh.

     No surprise that I was involved in the religious services of Hiland....as a member of the Carol Choir. I can remember walking up to church for weekly rehearsals and the fun we all had. No surprise that many of the members of the choir were also my school friends and neighbors. 

    I can remember the little choir robes we wore--cream colored with a purple neck piece that had to be latched with a snap at the back of the neck, which was somewhat hard to manipulate as a kid. We loved to play with those neckpieces.....attached to the neckline was a long, thin, straight piece that would rest over our chests ending about the waistline....sort of resembled a cross when you looked at the neck piece and the long straight piece...you get the picture...lol To drive the choir director nuts, we would push the interior of the bottom of the cross up into itself---the neckpiece had a front and back---just before we were to enter the sanctuary.

Red stars mark the two "secret" doorsEntrance for the ministers and choir
     Entering the sanctuary was kind of cool. The choirs entered the service through double doors beside the altar....I always thought it was a "secret" entrance...adding the the intrigue of being in the choir. 

     The children's choir would line up on the steps, in front of everyone and I could always count on Mom and Dad sitting up near the front with smiles on their faces. I can't remember how long I sang in the choir....probably just through elementary school....frankly, I really don't have a "true" choir singing voice. Undoubtedly, I realized this by the time I was in junior high aka middle school. Good memories! 

Other Hiland Presbyterian Church Blogs on Flipside

-HILAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH--Ken's Memories

-HILAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH--Memories from the 1950's

-HILAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH--Twelfth Night

Updated October 2022

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published.    PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Advent Calendar Day 19--Christmas Shopping

Walter sneaking behind the presents in 2005
What I seem to remember, as a kid: I was ALWAYS strapped for money when it came to Christmas shopping. Granted, most of my shopping was done at the local 5 & 10 in Perrysville....still, there never seemed to be the necessary coin in my wallet.

My entrepreneur spirit kicked in while I was still in elementary school and we were living on Washington Drive. This is one of those....which came first, the chicken or the egg.....memories. I began the Hughes Family Wrapping venture in my bedroom. Not a "fly by night" operation....I would cut little swatches of the various wrapping papers and ribbons and attach them to a large piece of cardboard along with the different colored bows, plus the assortment of name tags. All were assigned a number.

Maybe those are ones I wrapped
During the last few weeks leading up to Christmas, family members would drop by my room with their gifts and choose how they wanted me to wrap the present. The cost was minimal per package.....somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 or 10 cents.....however, it added up and gave me the additional money to purchase my own family gifts. Thinking back....isn't it amazing what a few bucks would buy back in the 50's!

This tradition continued into the 60's when I was in high school. Truth be told, I DO enjoying wrapping......but did that come from necessity back in the mid 50's or was I just a natural...LOL

I suppose that during the Christmas holiday, Miss Snap Happy can also be called Miss WRAP Happy.

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Advent Calendar Day 18--Christmas Stockings

Back in the day, I was a fairly crafty person....no, not sly....crafty! A good friend and I were babysitters....home daycare providers, if you will. During naptime, every afternoon, we would bring out our latest craft project.....sit, sew and watch daytime soaps, while the kids slept.


Sometime before 1984, I handcrafted Christmas stockings for my boys. I guess we must have been into Snoopy and Charlie Brown back then.

These same two stockings have hung on the mantel ever since....although now that they are adults, they are purely decorative.

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Advent Calendar 17--I'm dreaming of a PINK Christmas

Last year on Flipside I featured my grandmother's, Sarah Margaret VanGilder Hughes, Christmas ceramics.


This year I am adding a couple of additional ones that are part of my collection. As I mentioned last year, my Aunt Faith gave me three pieces several years back. It was apparent that the originals had been repainted, so I took it upon myself to clean the newer paint off.

Grams signed the candle: Sal HughesPop Pop called her Sal or Sally
What I found were three PINK holiday ceramics. Long story short....I LOVE pink...and PINK they stayed....lol

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser