The four sisters

Last Saturday Petra and I sat down to do something we've been meaning to do for quite a while: go through the giant boxes filled with my Mom's photos. Took us five hours...

The main reason was to find all the baby pics of my brother :) Once those were earthed up we came to the conclusion that little Julia does indeed have her daddy's ears and nose.
But that's a nother matter.

So, if you don't mind, for the rest of the week, I'll take you down memory lane.

I'll start with the four sisters.
There were also two brothers but I never knew them. One died in WW2 and the other when I was just 2.
We'll stick with the sisters.
My grandmother and her sisters.

This is my grandma Elvi as a wee little one. Niina looked just like her as a baby.
The girl standing is Elsa, the oldest, and the one with those lovely curls is Maire.
The boy is either Olavi or Niilo... I'm thinking Olavi...
Dates to 1919.


My great grandparents with my grandma.


This is one of my favorite photos because it has has all four girls.
Taken sometime in the 1930's.
Maire, Elsa, Elvi and the youngest Irja.


This one's from the 60's.
Elvi, Elsa and Maire.


And then we get to the sweet 70's. Looking at these photos I think people had to be colorblind...
The sad thing is that wallpaper like this is all the rage now.
That's our livingroom... very ummm... brown.
My grandma looks quite snazzy.

Elsa is holding the cigarette, I only now remembered that she smoked.


Elsa and Irja.
Elsa died in 1979, and this is how I remember her.
Whenever we'd go visit her she'd have anise candy for the kids.
I can't stand anise these days...


This is how I remember Irja, Maire and Elvi.
They were all very close and visited often.
Sitting in our garden, possibly for Elvi's nameday.
Shoes neatly in a row :)

Christmas Eve mornings I remember best. We'd pack ourselves in the car with bundles of presents and holiday flowers. My great aunts all lived in the same town a 40 minute drive away. We'd stop at all three, have coffee and goodies. Most years we'd stop at a few of their childrens' houses too.. It took hours, but was my favorite part of Christmas Eve.

Irja died in 1995, we were expecting her for Saara's christening that day. Bittersweet day that one.
My grandma died in 2001 when Niina was just a baby.
And Maire died 2003 or 2004.
Both Elvi and Maire suffered from Alzheimers disease in their last years.

I'll leave you with one of the funniest photos I found.
So we can end with a smile.
My grandma sitting in the garden swing in her quilted housecoat, stripy socks and sandals.

I quite like the lace ruffles, hehe..