Before I talk about my family’s trip to Virginia in 1967, I couldn’t resist showing pictures of me and my son Ryan when we were both at about the same age.
In this picture below, notice that Ryan had a totally cool football birthday cake in front of him. The cake was baked and frosted by one of my wife’s sisters. Ryan looks happy and relaxed.
Whereas in my picture below, I’m with a creepy Santa. (I don’t remember if his breath smelled funny…ewww!!) My smile seems a little forced.
See the white stuff on the Christmas Tree ? That is called “flocking”. It was a really big thing then for that snowy look. You could buy Christmas trees heavily pre-flocked like that. it doesn’t seem to be as popular these days even though you can buy your own cans of flock spray if you want.
When we brought our kids to see Santa, my son was not thrilled at all about it, and my daughter was terrified of him. I didn’t blame them at all. The fact that I managed any kind of smile at all when I was with Santa speaks to my incredible bravery in the face of adversity.
But Ryan and I both had that high forehead. I didn’t start becoming follicle-y challenged until my late 20s. Ryan, being the competitive person that he is, starting that when he was 19.
So…which one of us was cuter ??