Jim Styro's CO-MAS-19 Update, 2020-12-24 (The Photos of Christmas Past, Part 3)

 Welcome to this special Christmas Eve edition of The Photos of Christmas Past.

In our little hopscotch through time, we jump now to 1996 and an apartment in Wheaton, Illinois - where we find some of our usual suspects below...

Here's the scorecard.

Front row, seated (left to right) -

• Sister #1 (age 29, married to the dude standing behind her - but let's not rush that introduction...)
• The Girl (age 7 and unwilling to be parted from her Beanie Baby puppy for the photo shoot)
• My Mom (age 52, mouth open to offer words of encouragement, instruction and whatever else comes up.  Hey - I am descended for a long line of loud people.)
• Sister #2 (age 26 and all growed up from yesterday's photo.  She and my Mom were living together in the Wheaton apartment at this time.)
• My Bride (age 33 - so I'm not using the Middle-Aged Woman moniker)
• The Boy (age 5; that boy knows how to smile for the camera)

Back row (left to right) -

• Sister #1's Husband #1 (age - unknown to me; my recollection is - he liked to cook and he wasn't around that long)
• My Brother (age 32; moving to Chicago with my parents in the summer of 1982 was one of the best things that ever happened to my brother.  It got him away from all the ne'er-do-wells in Detroit that he had been hanging around.)
• My Brother's Bride (age 27, she's one of the other best things to happen to my brother)

I have to admit that I don't have any vivid memories of this particular Christmas visit.  During this period, we were adhering pretty strictly to our Thanksgiving/Christmas travel rotation in order to split holiday time between My Bride's family and mine.  That is:  one year we would spend Thanksgiving visiting my family in Illinois - and Christmas at home.  The next year we would flip and spend Thanksgiving at home and Christmas in Illinois.  

My Bride's recollection from this particular visit was that Sister #2's boyfriend at the time decided to pick Christmas as the time to break up with her (His loss - the fool!  You can never trust a guy named Jim...)

Anyway, I know what you're thinking - Where are YOU, O Narrator?  I was taking the picture, I expect.  But just so you don't feel cheated, I will include a second, non-Christmas photo that includes Yours Truly.

Why this particular picture you ask?  Well...

#1 - It was taken in relatively close proximity to the Christmas photo (within about two months) on the occasion of the kid's birthdays - so you can just mentally paste me into that other picture.  This one was taken at our home in Redford (about a mile from the home of my Bride's Mom and Dad) where we lived for 21 years.

#2 - Along with The Boy and The Girl, this photo features Hank, my Bride's Father (age 71 in this photo).

#3 - You can begin to piece together the relentless progress of my hair loss by comparing the photo from earlier this week and today.

I think I've run out of interesting stuff for today.  

Jesus is coming again tonight, so get ready!  You don't want to miss it.  And Santa, too.  I hope they don't run into each other in the chimney.  And that they're wearing their masks. 

Take care and stay safe.