When I was a kid, Christmas was a very special time. Not only because the food, presents, and cartoons that were coming along with the holiday, but because of the things we, as a family, only got to see once a year and the new things that would be added to our tradition.
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| Raymond Larson circa. 1980. If you look closely, you can see a couple of the miniature houses he built under the tree |
I had spoken in a previous entry about my Dad, Raymond Larson, and how creative he was. Christmas time was when that creativity seemed to shine the brightest. He had produced special decorations that were exclusive to us. From paintings to ornaments to miniatures, we were surrounded by things that could not be found anywhere else:
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| This painting was done when he was still a student at American Academy Of Art in 1948. |
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| This was created in 1973 out of Styrofoam and illustration board. |
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Poppy also used to create miniature houses and buildings from scratch. Though around all year, they usually became part of the old railroad train set that came out at Christmas time. |
In addition to the decorations, Poppy also made his own Christmas cards. He was doing them all by hand ( unlike the ones I make and digitally print out- this was before computers) so only made a couple each year.
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| Because not many cards were produced, I have no examples. However, here are his plans for one of the yearly cards.
Lastly, and most special to us kids were the toys that he created. Ray Larson took time and built toys for his children and grandchildren. Sometimes he did it because there was something that one of us wanted that wasn't available. Other times, he did it because he saw what the toy companies were producing and felt that he could do a better job. The end result of this was that we received unique, one-of-a-kind toys that were literally made only for us. This made these toys a million times more special than anything that ever could have been bought in a store.
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| These are the plans for one of his earliest creations - a puppet theater for the kids |
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| My brother Erik, Me, and my nephew Joey doing a puppet play ( circa. 1975) |
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In the 1980's, G.I. Joe action figures had various forts and vehicles. My nephew Joey had a collection of the figures and wanted a fort ( shown here from an advertisement). His Grandpa ( my Dad) saw the toy in the store and decided that he could make one himself... |
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| He created the fort out of illustration board, dowel rods, and styrofoam. The end result was a more durable and realistic toy than was mass produced by the toy company. |
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This Star Wars snow fort was put together by someone at Women's Day magazine, which Grandma Larson had lying around the house. Poppy saw it and decided that the kids would really like one. He ended up building two of them - one for Joey than another for my brother Erik and I. |
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| 30 years later and this creation is still mind blowing to me... |
The effort that was put into these creations was amazing. The result of all of this is that Ray Larson gave us all something special. It wasn't just the unique gifts, but the memories that we will always carry with us. There is no better Christmas present than that.
