Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Wistful Wednesday: Christmas Card 1951

Sometimes you find old photo Christmas Cards where you don’t know all the people.  I am sure my Mother knows all the women on this old photo Christmas Card.  I wasn’t born yet when the photo was taken..but I was born (September) before Christmas ..as were my twin Aunt and Uncle (November).

My Mother and Grandmother are in this photo taken sometime in the late spring/summer of 1951. They are both pregnant..but it is hard to tell.

Christmas Card 1951 Mom and Grandma

My Mom has a sweater on and my Grandma is the tallest lady next to my Mom.  Two of the women are wearing slacks..which was quite scandalous for 1951.  They must be dress slacks.  I am not sure if people call trousers or pants slacks anymore.  Growing up I rarely saw my Grandmother in pants..and if she did wear them she was headed to the barn to do chores or to go fishing or it was winter and really cold outside.  In later years Grandma wore pants everywhere..but in the 1950’s and early 1960’s many women still wore dresses everyday.  

These ladies were all neighbors of my Grandma, I should recall some of their names..I think the gal next to my Mom is Shirley. The lady on the end has a cute little black purse on her arm.

No one looks real thrilled to be in this photo..line them up looking into the sun and take a photograph.  After all flash bulbs were expensive..so if they could take photos outside they did:)

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19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found an old photo of my mom when she was pregnant with me and you could barely tell. Like this picture, so many of ours all the folks are squinting into the sun!

linda m said...

Cool picture. I never saw either of my grandmothers wear slacks. My mother started to in the 50's but only around the house, never outside.

Primitive Stars said...

Morning, what a great old Christmas photo.......so neat to find them even though you don't know all the people........love your posts.....very enjoyable.......Blessings Francine.

DJan said...

I remember when I was growing up, I always wore a dress or skirt to school, never pants. I didn't notice when it began to change, but I rarely see anybody wearing a dress or skirt any more! Great memories! :-)

MTWaggin said...

Makes one wonder why anyone would make a Christmas card from a photo of such unhappy faces! LOL My Mom's generation and before definitely use the term slacks and I heard it all the time growing up.

Nancy said...

My mother always wore dresses in the 50s - even on the farm. I don't recall her ever using the term "purse." It was always a "pocketbook," and none of them had shoulder straps that I recall.

Beth said...

I love old photos. This was a marvelous find for you.

RURAL said...

When you talk about lining up into the sun, my eyes water in reflex, too many years of facing into the sun...lol.

Lovely to have those photos, so many of them are lost over the years.

Jen

Karen said...

My mother-in-law called them slacks, and my mother called them trousers (British). That picture was obviously taken in the summer or early Fall. Who was the card actually from?
In elementary school I remember being allowed to wear pants to school under my dress, but then having to take the pants off when I got there. Thankfully that changed very quickly after that, by the time I was in high school.

LindaG said...

I never saw my Granny wear slacks. We lived in Michigan.
Great photo!

Far Side of Fifty said...

No Idea who the card was from..all the women in the photo as far as I can tell:)

Jenn Jilks said...

This is delightful! I flipped over from Red's blog.
Cheers from Cottage Country!

Country Gal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Country Gal said...

My Nana used to wear trousers as she lived in England on a farm for some time . My mum also some times wore trousers (British) and here she was on a farm the farm I grew up on. Yes I call them what ever comes to mind at the time , trousers , slacks or pants But I call jeans , jeans lol ! Wonderful photo ! Have a good day !

Red said...

Interesting how when you look at photos like this there's a story. You certainly nailed the style of clothing that was worn at this time. You could come up with standard's for mens' clothing as well.

Rita said...

We always called them slacks or dress pants. Both my grandmother wore house-dresses. The one grandma finally took to wearing slacks occasionally when she must have been in her 60s or 70s. And--yes!! They hauled people outside in the sun to save money on flash bulbs! LOL! The good old days. Remember when they came out with flash cubes--whoohoo! And do you remember the film camera with the huge lights that blinded you? Those were the days. :)

Pamela said...

Your commentary is as fun as the photo!

The Colonel said...

It was and still is quite unusual for a Christmas card photograph to contain people who were/are not all related. This photograph of a grouping of neighbor ladies is particularly out of the ordinary for use on a Christmas card. And the eagle and stars design at the bottom of that 1951 card suggests to me that there may have been a connection of some sort between the ladies pictured and someone [perhaps several] then serving in the U.S. Armed Forces during that Korean War-era. Hmmm.

Sam I Am...... said...

My Mother wore them....leftovers from the Army but she also lived in Chicago so it was probably a little more liberal when it came to slacks. But your Mom and her Mom pregnant at the same time....now that would be embarassing! LOL!