Christmas 1980

Considering the amount of work and stress and love that went into building this dollhouse for me, it's a shame that you can't see the thrilled expression on my face. But it was 1980 and my parents were probably too tired that Christmas morning to remember to use the flash. You can't tell, but the paint on the trims is still wet in this photo. The story is that is that my dad didn't start working on the Model Homes Victorian dollhouse kit he'd bought for me on a trip to Boston until the beginning of December. Since the only time he could work on it was after I'd gone to bed, he was very grateful when his father-in-law arrived mid-December to help him complete it. My mom's dad developed Alzheimer's not too long after this, so this dollhouse has always been very special to her as well as my dad.