Advent Calendar Dec 6--Santa Claus

In December 1927, when Mom was six, she wrote a letter to Santa asking for a "porssicat" and a football. Thank you Grandma Stark aka Teek for saving the letter and dating it with Mom's age.


And Santa granted Mom's wish with a little black kitten, which he asked Mom to name "Thunder."

Mom with Thunder the "Porssicat."
Mom had a lifelong love of animals and in particular cats. Perhaps it began with this letter to Santa and his gift to her.

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Advent Calendar Dec 5--Outdoor Decorations

     Frankly I don't remember many of outdoor decorations while I was growing up Hughes. I have gone through all the scanned photographs from the 50's and 60's and came up with NADA. 

     Mom always did put up a wreath with a large red ribbon on the front door. And, I seem to remember some lights on the shrubs in front of the house on Bramble Lane. Maybe they were there on Washington Drive, too. 

     The two photos I did find were scanned from slides that my Aunt Faith gave me years back. The lady with the lights in front of their brand spankin' new retirement house in St. Petersburg, Florida, is my paternal grandmother, Sarah Margaret VanGilder Hughes aka Grams.

     And I can't help myself.....Grams and Pop Pop in their second home in St. Pete.....a condo and if you look closely....you will see that they have a Christmas tree outside in their Florida room. I know I have shared this photo of Grams before. She looks pretty hot....doesn't she.....she was always a style maven! 

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© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Happy Birthday Mom

     Today would have been your 89th birthday.  

Sending wishes to you in your heavenly home Mom. 

Martha Jean Stark Hughes 

December 4, 1921-December 24, 1999

Mom at age 3 months with her motherMartha Marie Frederick Stark
Mom at age 3 months with her fatherCharles Edward Stark

 

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© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Advent Calendar Dec 4--Christmas Cards

Although there is no stamp or postmark, I know this lovely Christmas post card was sent around 1924 as Isabelle married William A. Nance about that time. The holiday greeting was sent by my husband's, paternal grandparents, Orison Henry Hiser and Eva Matilda Farschman Hiser to Orison's mother, Isabelle Smith Hiser Nance.

Isaballe was first married to Quincy LaRue Hiser and second to William A. Nance.

I have found other holiday cards sent to Isabelle from Orison and Eva and after 1921, their son's name was added. I wonder why Clarence was not included on this card?

And yes, whoever addressed this post card misspelled Isabelle's married name.

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Advent Calendar Dec 3--Christmas Tree Ornaments

Growing Up Hughes, I can vividly recall these little plastic ornaments hanging from the branches of our holiday tree. Since they were plastic, they lasted for years. When placed on a branch over a light bulb, the little, colored and twisted piece of metal would spin adding a twinkling movement to the Christmas tree.

Over the years, I have found several of these 1950's spinning ornaments at various antique shops and out on e-bay. I will note that some of them don't seem to spin since my tree lights are the smaller ones which generate less light and heat. Those that do spin, are placed front and center on the tree.

They have now become a memory for my two sons. Perhaps, in the future, these delightful holiday ornaments might they might be on a blog called, "Growing Up Hiser".

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Advent Calendar Dec 2--Holiday Food

When my mind wanders back to the holiday foods of my childhood it conjures up delicious memories. Christmas dinner was always served at our home and the grandparents were our guests for the day.

One year....in the early to mid 1950's....I remember a particular mincemeat pie. My paternal grandmother (Grams) was quite a baker. In fact, she was a fantastic cook. Nothing gourmet....just great, plain home cook'n.

Her mincemeat did have a little kick to it. Since I was a kid, I don't know just brand was added to the mincemeat; however, it was from a bottle...wink wink!

Another Growing Up Hughes story.....Grams, who was pretty much a tea-totaler, put a little splash of the liquor into her mincemeat. Later, Pop Pop came by the mincemeat mixture, tasted it and decided it needed a few more spirits. Just before the already twice spiked mincemeat went into the pie....Great Grandma Hughes wandered by, gave it a good taste and decided it needed some additional punch.

Hughes Christmas--1953
None, knew the other had added additional ingredients to the mincemeat until the pie was cut and served following the Christmas dinner. They all got an additional holiday gift that year....the best mincemeat pie ever!

Christmas 1953 Photograph
Left to right around the table:

Martha Jean Stark Hughes (My Mom)
Martha Marie Frederick Stark (My maternal Grandmother)
Faith Carol Hughes (My paternal Aunt)
George Henry Hughes (My paternal Grandfather)
Linda Lee Hughes (Me)
Kenneth George Hughes (My brother)
Sarah Margaret VanGilder Hughes (My paternal Grandmother)
John Aiden Hughes (My paternal Uncle)
Elizabeth Ferdinande Olesen Hughes (My paternal Great Grandmother)

Photographer: George VanGilder Hughes (my Dad)

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

Treasure Chest Thursday--Growing Up Hughes: The Dog House

When I was in high school, a little dog house similar to this one was prominently displayed on one kitchen wall...I think it was near the wall mounted telephones. Unfortunately, this is not the original. I found it during my e-bay procurement years.....when I was looking for items from my past

The date on this one is 1958. My guess is that Mom picked our up on one of our vacations....probably during one of our last family summer vacations in Stone Harbor, New Jersey.

I don't have a recollection of it when we lived on Washington Drive.....just on Bramble Lane. Of course each dog had a name.....Dad, Mom, Lin, Ken and Jeff. I can't remember if Mom would put one of us in the dog house when we were "bad". What I do remember is that the three of us kids would interchange our names into and out of the dog house.

It became a game. Someone would put Lin in the dog house at night....I would come down for breakfast and exchange my name for Ken and Ken would place Jeff in so he would find it when he came home from elementary school in the afternoon.


The game would go on for weeks, until we tired of it.....it would lay dormant until suddenly, one of us was back in the dog house again. And the game was on.


I wonder who is in the dog house now!

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser