Memory of Christmas Past

Today I found a picture from Christmas 1950 when I was just one year old.  Back then I don't remember us having a Christmas tree.  My mother would decorate the chimney area in the kitchen to get it ready to receive our presents from the Baby Jesus.  Yes, we were brought up with the idea that our gifts came from "Menino Jesus". There was no tradition of Santa Claus in the Azores.  From the looks of it, my brother and I had a very good Christmas with lots of toys.  

Today is my mother's birthday

My mother would be 101 years old today.  Her life involved many journeys and also many losses.  But her courage, strength, and determination kept her going forward.  I admire and respect her for the way she lived her life. She is my role model. Thank you for all you did for me.

I have written her story in the Page: Parents.

Brother's contributions to the blog

I have included my brother's comments into my entries on the page Life in America as they fill in details that I had forgotten.  I am amazed at how he can still remember some of the details of our journey to the states 52 years ago..  I guess because he was older and more observant than I was at the time.

Family members discovered

Click on Discovering New Family Members above to find out whom I have discovered.

Theme for a new page

I have been having difficulty with copying a photo I needed to add to a page in my blog so I took advantage of my daughter and son-in-law's visit to get some tech support. With the problem quickly resolved,   I showed them the new format of of pages which I added to the blog and opened the page, "Life in America" which tells about my family's  arrival, our new home, and my school experience.

It was at this moment that my daughter commented, "you talk about your arrival and your life there but you don't say why you went."  Then she asked, "why did you go mom?"  I was surprised by the question.  I thought she knew! Guess that will be the theme for another page.

My son-in-law thinks I should turn this into a book.  My daughter suggested I use a "speech recognition" program so I can dictate my notes.  I like the idea of the book but the speech recognition thing... I'm not so sure.  But I will at least check into it.

Finding new family members

Since starting this Family Tree project, the most fun part of it has been finding new family members, mostly cousins of various degrees whom I didn't know existed. Some, I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to meet in person, others, I have gotten to know about them through emails, phone calls and let's not forget Facebook.  I have to say that it was through a friend on Facebook that I got to connect with the side of my mother's family from the island of Faial.
I have started a page dedicated to my "new" cousins whom I have gotten to know.  The page is called "Discovery of new family members".

February 3, 2012....52 years

Another anniversary of our arrival in Boston... it is now 52 years.I try to imagine what my life would have been like if we had stayed in São Miguel.  I am sure that I would have been fortunate enough to finish my education at till then end of liceu (high school of that time) at Colégio São Francisco Xavier in Ponta Delgada.  The school director, Mère Paula agreed to let me stay tuition-free after my father died provided I maintained good grades.  I was a good student making the Honor most of the time.  I would have finished the liceu in 1964 at 15 years of age.
And what next? What would I have done? Mostly likely I would have gone to work.  But doing what? Probably work in a shop like my mother had done before she got married.  There weren't many jobs for women at that time.

University would have been out of the question since there was no university in São Miguel or anywhere in the Azores.  The only universities were on the mainland. Too far and too costly.

January 2,1949: Birth

I was born 63 years ago today, the second child of Flávia Faria Machado de Oliveira Soares and Carlos de Oliveira Soares, both 37 years old. My older brother, Carlos, was 3 years old.  I was given the same name as my mother since my older brother had already been given the same name as our father.  I guess so that my mother would not feel bad but I think she would rather I had another name.
As was the custom of the time, I was born at home at nº 41 Rua do Saco, Ponta Delgada, São Miguel (Açores) at 6pm with the assistance of a midwife.  Besides assisting with the birth, the midwife also came around to check on baby and mother, and help the new mother care for the baby.  There are several pictures of me and the midwife including one where she is giving me my first bath.  According to a note written by my mother on the back of one of the pictures, the midwife´s name was Isabel and she lived around the corner from us on Rua de São Miguel. 
I can't say what kind of baby I was because I don't recall my mother ever talking about me as baby... did I sleep well? did I cry? I have no idea but I must have been a good baby!
It has been a long journey since that day many years ago with many twists and turns along the way. It is a journey still in progress...
My father loved taking photographs and left us a collection of photos which record events in our lives.  Here are some photos from my first days.

With my mother

Midwife Isabel giving me my first bath as my brother watches

Me, midwife and my brother