Fun with Granny and Grandpa: Chester "Check" Paul Aden and Norma "Lucille" Holland Aden (originally published 2019)

My dad was an only child, so my only cousins are on my mom's side of the family. They all descend from my grandparents, Norma "Lucille" Holland Aden and Chester "Check" Paul Aden. There were ten of us and, whether born into the family or joined later, we were all cousins.

Although we see each other only rarely, I have been able to keep up with most of my cousins thanks to FaceBook. Our lives have certainly taken different paths, but memories of the fun times we shared keep them close in my heart.

I remember three of Granny and Grandpa's houses. They had a house on Dallas Drive in St. Louis County for awhile. I remember Grandpa got a motorcycle when they lived there, and he 

took us all for rides. 

Most of my early cousin memories are from when Granny and Grandpa lived in a two-family flat on South Broadway. I remember practicing Thanksgiving plays in the basement and then performing for the adults. We probably did this at both of their St. Louis homes. My cousin Chris recently said that the "girls" (meaning me and my sisters), made the boys participate, but I don't remember any of the boys arguing about it. We had the usual: turkey, mashed potatoes, and other things I can't quite remember. I remember pie, though. My mom made the best chocolate and lemon pies.

On Christmas there were presents, of course. Our Christmas dinner was sandwiches and chips, a tradition that has carried on in my family (although we usually get BBQ). We also watched television to track Santa as he made his way to St. Louis. Uncle Tom was always doing silly things, and my grandpa opened all of his presents with a pocket knife.

When Grandpa retired, they bought a new house in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. We still had the same holiday celebrations, but they required a bit of a drive. They had I think three acres of land for us to wander.

Granny did a lot of ceramics and made things for all of her grandkids, all of us cousins. Unfortunately she lost most of them when a tornado hit the storage attached to their carport. 

For a short time, Granny and Grandpa owned a lot at a place called Goose Creek. I have no idea where Goose Creek was, but we had some fun times there.

There were plenty of other cousin visits. My Uncle Tom and Aunt Opal's family moved around a bit. I remember visiting them in St. Louis (maybe Hazelwood), in Cuba, Missouri, and in Cape Girardeau, where they finally settled down. Byron and Bruce would always play Barbies with us. We thought this was pretty great - boys playing Barbies with us! At least once they brought their GI Joe "action figures" as Byron recently called them, but let's face it - they were dolls. Barbie-sized dolls. When Anita was adopted, we were all a bit old for Barbies. But it sure was nice to finally have a girl cousin! She was just a few years older than me, but when you're a kid, that seems like a lot.

We saw my Aunt Diana's family more since they lived in St. Louis. Vic and Chris would never play Barbies with us. They liked to roller skate and play outside. We had a trampoline for a short time, and that was always fun. When they got older, they would sometimes walk to our house for a visit. My mom would always make us popcorn and we'd drink Pepsi. Marcus was younger than us. My sisters and I thought he was such a cute baby! When Aunt Diana married "Big" Larry, we got a new cousin, "Little Larry." He was a bit younger than me. He always seemed shy when we got together, or maybe me and my sisters were too loud for him. It was probably the latter. 

So, Anita, Byron, Bruce, Vic, Chris, Larry, and Marcus, thanks for the great memories! I hope to spark more memories as I make my way through the pictures and home movies.

Christmas, maybe 1979