Greetings Forrai's 1968

Subject: Louis and David Forrai.
Occasion: Christmas.
Date: 1968.
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Photographer: Joseph Frank Forrai.
Relationship to me: Parents, Joseph and Norma.

For the first four weeks in December, I decided to post the Christmas cards that my parents started sending in 1960. I think almost everyone is familiar with the photo holiday cards that some folks choose to send.

You may wonder where my father had these cards made? My dad had a dark room in the house where we lived. Photography was my dad's hobby since the 1940's. Each one of these cards were hand made.

How was the photograph taken? In the early years my dad used a portrait camera. There was a long cable attached to the camera. He routed it so it would not appear in the photograph. He would squeeze the button to take the photograph. In later years, he had a 35mm camera with a built in timer. My father aways used a tripod, and it would take him a good deal of time for the set up for these annual photographs.

This photograph was taken at the construction site of our new home on Scharles Avenue.  We actually moved into this house a few days before Christmas 1968. It was not quite completed, as rooms still needed to be painted and there was no carpeting or flooring on the first floor. The Luther Avenue house sold quickly, and we lived with my Uncle Leo and Aunt Elizabeth for several weeks before this house was complete. I still have the stocking cap in this photograph. The coat that I am wearing was a hand-me-down from my cousins Daniel and Richard Waswo.

You may wonder how my dad got the lettering on the corner of the photograph. He wrote it with a black marker on a clear piece of plastic and exposed it when he made each print.

It amazes me, how many of my relatives and friends of our family have hung onto these photographs. I am not the only one with a collection!

Seasons Greetings 1966

Seasons Greetings 1965

Greetings Forrai's 1964

Season's Greetings Forrai's 1963

Season's Greetings 1962

Merry Christmas 1961

Best Wishes 1960