Memory Monday

Ralf’s parents were here this weekend for a pre Christmas celebration.  Charlotte and I went through the bag of old photos collected from Ralf’s grandmother in Vienna.  Holy Toldeo, there are a lot of fascinating stories to be told!

I affectionately refer to these people as “the boat people”  because they look to me like they’re getting ready to board the Titanic.  This is actually a 1909 wedding photo.  Here’s the story behind it:

This has to be a wedding photo of my grand-aunt Mitzi. She was one of seven children raised in a very small town near Vienna. The family was not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, and all the daughters had to go into service with well-to-do families in Vienna. She was the prettiest of all of them, and found a rather rich, though much older husband, who, in turn, ended up helping out all the other sisters when they came to seek their luck in the big city. At least, that’s the saga I heard growing up. The husband died rather soon, leaving Mitzi with a sizable pension. Her only daughter married a lawyer and lived a comfortable life also.

Next week I’ll post a picture of some of those siblings as children.  We figured out that the picture is from about 1895.  It’s the oldest picture in the bunch.

Winter came to Idaho this weekend in the form some lazy flakes dusting the landscape.  I guess we live in the “banana belt” of the state and it snows very little.  So the kids were thrilled with what little snow we did manage to collect.

The kids had a Christmas piano concert at my fellow blogger/friend/piano teacher’s house.  Every one did a great job.  Will only had to be taken out once.  And there were even brownies afterwards.  Always a bonus.

Christmas isn’t complete without gingerbread house decorating, right?  We spent most of Saturday creating these “masterpieces”.

Notice my exquisite licorice Darth Vader guarding the front door.