DAY 7 – ADVENT 2023

 

VANCE AND DOROTHY DOBSON

You do think of the nicest things! I suppose that is what is called ‘having an imagination.’ – Ina Dobson to Vance, 1936

I always dedicate this date to my parents. On December 7, 1947, my widowed mother, Dorothy Portfors Walrath, married Ina’s son, Vance Dobson.

Mother wrote: “Just before Christmas in 1947, Vance and I were married. He began decorating outside, and that grew. Vance made shapes, wreaths, and cut different pictures out of plywood. Once there was a horse and sleigh, once a Madonna and child. [Over the years] many different star shapes were used. The wreaths changed through the years, and the lights that he put up were never in the same pattern. I still did all inside decorating with lights in the windows and two trees.”

A sample of my dad's decorations, 1959

And that’s the way I remember it. Daddy worked on the porch, while Mother worked inside. They both worked in the kitchen. Daddy made fudge, pralines, and caramel corn. Mother made fruitcake, spritz, shortbread, and Swedish tea rings.

I remember one year when Mother made pixies – half a dozen or so, each 2-3 feet tall. Wire coat hangers provided the framework and the head was a Styrofoam ball. She sewed their shirts, pants, and hats in a variety of colors. Daddy then incorporated the pixies into the wreaths on the front porch.

Vance, Dorothy, and Kathy Dobson, 1959

It’s a pity that they didn’t take pictures. It was difficult to take decent pictures at night, but at this point I would appreciate even daytime pictures of this work.

Well, it was a lot of work. I couldn’t keep up with it then, and I can’t do it now. They were special. KW