Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Happy Holidays

Wow, I can’t believe that Christmas is only 10 days away. That means that we are only 17 days away from a new YEAR! Over the next two weeks, I will not be writing any family posts until the first week of 2025. On a good day, getting everything written, posted, and scheduled on social media platforms can be tough, so I usually take this time off to relax with my family and prepare for the coming year. I will continue to post photos on the Facebook and Instagram pages through the holidays. Speaking of the Holidays, they are the perfect time to thank you for reading my family pages, supporting them, and commenting on the photos. It means a lot to me, and I wish you a very Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. I’ll see you next year. 🙂

PS – that always makes me laugh when I say it. I always work the Christmas and New Year holidays and telling the kids and their families that I’ll see them next year always puts a smile on my face and gives me a giggle. May your New Years be FULL of smiles and giggles.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Festive Days Ahead

I read A Christmas Carol this week. Every year, I read this treasured book. While I don’t NEED to read it as I can quote passages from it without the use of the book, that’s how many times I read it; my heart and soul crave it. It was on my mind when writing the family pages this week. I bring you a cousin who married a Doctor, a bright winter photo, and a fire-charred remembrance.

As I worked on this week’s page posts, I kept thinking about A CHRISTMAS CAROL, a book that was written 181 years ago, and how it’s still treasured today. The theme of helping those in need is still as strong today as it was in Dickens’s time. May we all consider our past, present, and future this holiday season as we look forward to the new year. And as Tiny Tim said, “God bless us, every one!”.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

The Holiday Season Is Upon Us

I can’t believe that today is December 1st. That means we have just 30 more short days left in this year. It’s been a great year! I’m looking forward to 2025, and everything I can’t wait to share with you. This week, we traveled to the resting place of President Abraham Lincoln, had Christmas in 1980, and saw three cute kids. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great week!

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Happy Thanksgiving 2024

As I wrote today, I looked back on Thanksgivings from my childhood. It always seemed like it took forever for the Thanksgiving school holiday to get here. And I found myself thinking that today as well. It seems like yesterday, when 2024 was starting in January, and here we are about to start the holiday season.

There are so many things I am thankful for this year, but at the very top of the list are all of you. Thank you for taking the time to engage with my blog posts on this website or social media. Your support and feedback are what inspire and motivate me to keep writing. Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday filled with the warmth and happiness of the season

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Cousin Jean, Indian Maiden

If i had to say what my favorite holiday was, I’d choose Thanksgiving. As a kid, it always seemed to take FOREVER for Thanksgiving to arrive and the holiday from school to occur. Thanksgiving is all about giving without expecting anything in return. In 1621, the Native American Wampanoag tribe helped the colonists with agriculture and hunting, celebrating with a harvest feast. They dined on wild turkeys, ducks, geese, fish, corn, green vegetables, and dried fruits.

Here we have a beautiful Indian Maiden, Cousin Jean Bourscheidt. I wondered why she might have dressed up, so I did my favorite thing and started some research. I believe she belonged to a drama and dance group that performed tableau’s. A tableau is a “living picture” or a static scene. Actors are usually silent, dressed in costume with props or scenery. Tableau’s began in the medieval period and was revived in the 19th century. This art form was very suitable for photography and later movies. Many groups would dance into a scene, hold a pose and then dance into another scene and holded pose until the performance was completed. It’s the perfect combination of theater and visual arts.

Cousin Jean did not date these photos, so I am unsure when they were taken. But I would estimate them to have been taken during the 1920s based on where the images were in her scrapbook. And how she looks in the photos.

There are so many things I am thankful for this year, but at the very top of the list are all of you. Thank you for taking the time to engage with my blog posts on this website or social media. Your support and feedback are what inspire and motivate me to keep writing. Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday filled with the warmth and happiness of the season.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Haute Couture Hazel

There are times when I feel that I was born too late. I would have LOVED to have been able to accessorize like they did in the early part of the 20th Century. From gloves to hats, shoes to purses, it would all match. And what’s more stylish than black? I’m unsure where or when this photo was taken, but Hazel is undoubtedly fashionable.

I don’t think I could pull off wearing a hat like that. But Hazel does so with a superior look, saying of course you can! It appears as if there is a brooch or a pin there on the coat. Matching the flower in her hat, Hazel has paired white gloves and a patent leather purse. She’s all ready to go just waiting on her ride. I find myself wishing I could see the rest of her outfit, but this will have to do.

Coco Channel said it best. Haute Couture is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure. I believe that Hazel lives up to this quote and gives us all an example to try to achieve.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Eunice & Car

For some reason, I am enamored of every photo I discover with Eunice in a dress. So to find her next to a car, just makes me love it even more. The date on this photo is April 1938, but that’s when the photos were printed, so I would imagine that this was late 1937 to early 1938. Eunice and Kermit were not married until June of 1939, so this would have been taken before their union.

In the 1930s, the average price of a new car was between $400 and $600 brand new. However, car ownership was still limited, with only about one in five and a half Americans owning a car at the start of the decade. 

Here are some other things to consider about cars in the 1930’s. As always, in addition to the cost of the car itself, owners also had to pay for license plates, oil, repairs, and gasoline. At the time, gasoline cost around 19 cents per gallon, and cars typically got around 15 miles per gallon.  And used cars could be just as expensive as brand-new cars.

I don’t know who’s car this might have been or where it was taken, but Eunice sure seems happy to be next to it. I love the simplicity of her outfit. It appears to be made of warm fabric like wool, with a simple long-sleeved blouse and skirt. With stockings and simple shoes completing her outfit, Eunice is ready for a brisk fall, winter, or spring day.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

With Pop

I find myself wishing I knew then what I know now. This photo was taken in 1972 so I would have been six, Mark would have been five, and Pop (Frank Burd) would have been 81 years old. It was taken at his house in Peoria. I liked to visit him at his home. It was a neat house, and Pop was always doing things. He always had mints for us and would give us quarters or fifty-cent pieces. Those coins always went into my piggy bank, and I am treasuring them today.

This brings me back to what I wish I knew then and now. I would tell myself to talk to him. I would ask Frank about his childhood and his Uncle, the doctor. About his choice to move to Chicago and the issues he faced being of German heritage. About him and Anna. About his faith. About baseball. About dealing cards and why he smoked a cigar. And probably many more questions.

This month Pop would have celebrated his 133rd birthday! WOW! We were so lucky and blessed to have had him for as long as we did. I hope that I can share my memories of him with my children and great-grandchildren so our future generations will always remember our Pop.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Looking Good

Today I have three great photos for you to read about. It’s hard to choose which one is my favorite. If I had to choose, I’d probably choose the one with Eunice, as I’m a sucker for car photos. I can’t believe that we are already halfway through November and that 2024 is almost over! If you have any photos you’d like me to share in 2025, please send them to me, and I’d be happy to work them into my schedule. Hoping you have a great week.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

November – are we ready for you?

Well ready or not here comes November. I was looking at the calendar this week while it was still October and thinking about what I have planned for November and December. I’m going to try to end the year with a bang and hope you will enjoy the upcoming content. May we all have a warm place to be this fall as temperatures turn cold, unless you’re in the South in which case, I wish I was there with you. But there’s nothing like the changing seasons and fall is one of my favorite. It reminds me that I have a LOT to be thankful for indeed. May you have a great week and if you aren’t yet subscribed to the page you can do so if you choose so you don’t miss any of the upcoming posts.

PS I hope you all remembered to turn your clocks back last night 🙂