A Trip Down Memory Lane

My sister Diane tagged me in a few pictures on Facebook (in an album she named 'The Good Old Days'), and it was a wonderful trip down memory lane:  (I'm sorry but I have so many of these photos out of order!)

(My older brothers Tommy and John at our old house in Bayside.  I remember that old wooden fence across the driveway, and I remember that little stroller/cart thing that my brother John is in.  I guess my Mom still had it and used it for me.)

(This was taken around my First Birthday, I'm the baldy head sitting on Dad's lap, my sister Marybeth is on Mom's lap, brothers John & Tommy kneeling.  I don't know if I actually remember that little rag doll I'm holding or if I just think I remember it from stories my Mom told me about how I would drag it around everywhere.  I do seem to remember it's yellow hair and that it had a hard face, not a soft rag doll face, it was more like plastic.
And I remember that wallpaper, and I guess my Mom liked ivy patterns because we also had ivy wallpaper in the kitchen.)

(Christmas ~ my older brothers John & Tommy, my cousin Jimmy, my older sister Marybeth, myself, and my younger sister Diane.  I don't remember the dolls that my sister Diane and I are holding, but I'm pretty sure that the doll my sister Marybeth is holding was called Cream Puff, and I remember that a few years later my little brother Joey loved it when he was a baby asking for his 'Ceempu'.)

(My oldest brother Tommy, my older sister Marybeth, my younger sister Diane, my brother John, and myself.  And the ivy wallpaper.  And look at our short bangs!)

(My brother John's First Holy Communion Day, he's standing with my Dad in front of our old house in Bayside, and my brother Tommy is looking out the door.)

(A visit from Grandma & Grandpa ~ my Dad's parents lived in Minnesota and my Mom said that twice a year they would come to us for a visit, they would fly in for Christmas, and in the summer they would drive to New York and spend a few weeks with us, I don't remember them visiting at Christmas time, I guess I was too little.  After a few years they only did the car trip once a year in the summer and that's what I remember.)

(Cousins Peggy, Mary, and MaryAnn in back row ~ brothers Tommy & John and cousin Kathy ~ my cousin Jimmy standing next to my sister Marybeth ~ Diane & myself standing in front.  I definitely remember lots of family gatherings at our house and at my Aunt Florence & Uncle Tom's house ~ they lived in the house that was semi-attached to ours.  I also remember that wallpaper, I guess my Mom finally decided to switch from the ivy theme.  And there are those short-short bangs again!)

(Tommy, John, Marybeth, myself and Diane ~ and I still have that Angel tree topper, although she's looking mighty poorly now.)

(My sister Marybeth, my sister Diane & myself, older brothers John & Tommy with younger brother Frankie in between them.)

(This was the Brickner Christmas card one year, Tom & John with Marybeth standing between them, Diane & Eileen with Frankie standing between us, and the baby of the family Joey.)

Diane also posted some more photos of Ray & myself and our kids when they were little.  I'll use them in a future blog post.