So many of my favorite Uncle Bob memories involve Christmas. As a little one, I got to come down to Ames from Iowa Falls early on Christmas Eve Day to help with gift wrapping and other preparations for our family's Christmas Eve chili and oyster stew dinner. To say I loved this would be an understatement.
This is a gift I received on one of my first of many Christmas Eves on Pearson Avenue, probably 1986 or so. It is also one of my earliest very clear Christmas memories. Looking at the pictures I can hear the adults in the room - Aunt Ann and Grandma Ruth in particular - laughing and loudly asking "Where's Jill?" when I crawled under the table into a miniature version of my own house and then feigning surprise when I popped out again.
It's essentially a tablecloth tailored to the dimensions of a card table, expertly decorated to look exactly like the house my family was living in on Foster Boulevard at the time. Through one window, my dad can be seen reading the newspaper. Through another, Mom is watering plants. My big brother, Drew, is playing basketball behind the house and I am waving from my bedroom window. For reference, here the real house:
I recently came across this gem stuffed in a box in my dad's basement in Ames. It's faded now, but still recognizable and still brings me a smile, though now the smile is accompanied by that pang of missing Uncle Bob that is always more acute around the holidays.
My recent foster kitty, Yoshi, agrees this is truly a treasure.
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