This is a re-post from a few years ago. As I hope that we can all be a little like “kids at Christmas” no matter our age, I wish you a magical season filled with the wonder of undiscovered joys through family, friends, and those you have yet to meet.

Christmas 1966 at the home of my Uncle Bob and Aunt Norma [Becker] MacArthur. Uncle Bob was actually my great uncle, my grandfather’s brother. My grandfather died before my brother and I were born, but we were fortunate to have two great uncles who were  “stand in” grandfathers in our young lives.

Uncle Bob was Dr. Robert A. MacArthur, a well-known urologist in Detroit until his death in 1967. He and Aunt Norma did not have any children of there own, and my father made sure to visit them often. I think Uncle Bob became a “stand in” father to my dad after my Grandfather passed.

This is one of my favorite pictures with Aunt Norma. She was just such a lovely person and I absolutely adored her.

Holidays always bring a certain nostalgia and a time to reflect on those who have passed and to embrace those who are here.