Christmas During the Hyrum Years

Tom Smith became and annual visitor as Santa Claus

We first moved to Hyrum in 1964.  We never decorated the outside of our house, but always put the tree in the front window and left the curtains open a bit to high light the tree.  Some years we added the decals you stuck to the tree, hoping they would stay up for the season.  Our first three years in Hyrum my dad was attending school, so Christmas was austere.  Christmas 1966, my dad was away at school in Denver.  Charlie wrote a story about this year.  http://whilhelmsthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-christmas-story-by-charlie-wardle.html
Christmases 1967 and 1968 we lived in Carbondale, Illimpos, returning to Hyrum for 1969, when I was in the seventh grade.
We had one tradition of being allowed to open on gift from under the tree on Christmas Eve.  It was terrible when you chose clothing or something Christmas Eve.  We were looking for toys or games.  Santa left most of our toys out unwrapped, so we could see what he had brought early in the morning before our parents had gotten up.  

1964

1965

1965 Sara holding FiFi the cat.

1968 Carbondale

1970

1972

1977 (when I was on my mission)

Photos courtesy of Charlie scanning and putting on Ileen Wardle Family group.