MERRY CHRISTMAS TO CHRISTOPHERS AND OLSENS EVERYWHERE!

HERE IS A COPY OF AN OLD CHRISTMAS CARD POSTCARD FROM CHRIST OLSON IN PEQUOT MINNESOTA TO HIS DAUGHTER LYDIA OLSEN AND HUSBAND CARL CHRISTOPHER ON 12/22/1919

IN MEDINA NORTH DAKOTA.

I THOUGHT YOU ALL MIGHT WANT TO SEE HIS HANDWRITING IN NORWEGIAN .

HIS NAME WAS OLE KRISTIAN OLSEN, BUT HE OFTEN SIGNED HIS NAME C.OLSON AND WENT BY CHRIST OLSON IN PEQUOT, MINNESOTA

.CAN ANYONE TRANSLATE??

THIS PRECIOUS ONE IS TO RUTH  IN MEDINA FROM HER OLSEN GRANDPARENTS IN  PEQUOT ON 12/18/1921

THIS ONE IS TO DON FROM HIS COUSIN BILLY  no date

THIS ONE IS FOR BOB FROM ROSE

THIS ONE IS TO LYDIA FROM HER SISTER CLARA 12/23/1927

I HOPE YOU ENJOY AN OLD FASHIONED FAMILY CHRISTMAS THROUGH THESE CARDS...AREN'T WE GLAD THEY WERE SAVED THROUGH ALL THESE YEARS!!!

If you have stories to tell about any of the 11 Christopher siblings, children of Carl and Inga, send them in the next two weeks if you want to include them on this blog.

 Next blog post will begin mini biographies of each of them and their families.  

Thanksgiving Post

I am grateful this year go have extended family who we can now better communicate with due to email, facebook, blogs,etc.  We live so far away from most of my relatives, that I feel the need to grow closer.

There are several loved ones in the Christopher family we have lost these last few years that I want to honor and give thanks for their contribution to our extended family.  They all mean a great deal to me, as everyone in our family does, and I am thankful that there are more extended family members that I haven't met in person that are now able to communicate through email and blogging.  As we plan our reunion for 2012, let us also plan to reunite with these loved ones in the great hereafter.

"Gene" Harry Eugene Christopher, b. Nov. 30, 1943, Richmond CA   d. Oct 21, 2011, Hermiston, OR,

Son of Robert and Beulah (Winner) Christopher, stepson of Juanita Christopher; sisters Jill Spieker and Brenda Beers;married to Beverly (for more than 50 years) Sons: Robert and Terry Christopher; grandchildren:. Michael, Cody, Jamie, Shanico, Amber, Levi.  Great Grandchildren; Austin, Jayden

Marjorie Lee Christopher Sparks, b. May 1, 1946  d. August 14, 2009. Daughter of Ken and Ruby Christopher; married to Weldon Sparks, mother of Judy Hudek, Richard Frey and Heather Stiles.  Grandmother of: Charlotte Hudek, Allie Smith, Talon Smith

Ken Christopher, b Sept 7, 1916 - d April 7, 2009 Son of Carl and Inga Christopher, husband  to Ruby Fleming  and Millie Olsen Christopher;  and father to Gloria Blake and Marjorie Sparks.

Gloria Jean Christopher Blake, b Oct 25, 1942  - d Sept 21, 2006   Daughter of Ken and Ruby Christopher, mother of  Kenneth Blake, Kimberly Hudse,

Grandmother of Julia Hudse, Dylan Hudse

In Pequot Minnesota

Bob was just a little kid in Minnesota and one day Ma gave Bob a dollar.  "That dollar looked to me to be the size of a wash tub.  We were out looking for work I guess.  We stopped in Minneapolis to get a sleep and a meal.  I crawled up on the bunk and put my dollar on my pillow.  During the night I turned over and that dollar fell out on the floor.  Ting-a-ling..away it went rolling, with me chasing right after it all over the place.  The guys like to cracked up laughing.  I thought they were going to get my dollar.  They got the biggest kick out of that, but I got my dollar back, but now I can't recall how I spent it."

Pequot Lakes, Minnesota -Jan. 21, 1934

Here is a copy of the letter Grandpa Carl sent back to the Medina Citizen Newspaper after he moved the family from Medina, ND back to Pequot Lakes, Minnesota where 32 years earlier he married Inga.  They had many trips back to the area before moving there to visit relatives and so Inga could get medical help for her leg at the Mayo Clinic.  The doctor bill for her surgery caused them to sell all of their furniture and farm machinery and move onto the Olsen Family Homestead around 1933. At that time Bob was a teen ager and went to Pequot Lakes High School with his Evan's cousins. (Inga's sister Clara's children) Doris and Don the youngsters were there in Pequot Lakes, but the rest of the Christopher Camp were on their own..most of them settling in Arlee, Montana.

"Well, here we are among the jack pine, savages, retired lumberjacks, river pigs and retired farmers (who are working for the CWA) cutting some wood and incidentally helping the missus with her chores.  Conditions here are not so good either, although there is no one in this township who has asked for or received any government salt pork. Weather conditions here have been mild since New Years, but at that time it was down to 52 below. We have quite a little snow--up to--well it is pretty deep  Our neighbor, Seven Sleeps, the Indian, predicts a wet summer by examination of the onion, and Mary, the assistant chamber maid at the
VJ-LU summer resort, agrees with him, and says onions will be big; she always does.  At the present time the people here are busy putting up ice and cutting up a supply of wood for the summer, and believe me they have some big wood piles.  Almost all the farmers here put up ice, as they sell milk to the tourists and have to cool the milk.  They depend on the tourist trade for a lot of their income in the summer.  This is right in the heart of the Land o'Lakes.  There is on this farm a hill or nearby mountain from which 20 lakes are visible to the naked eye and with field glasses one can see for nearly 50 miles. It is truly a vacation land of rest--long, lazy days, if you wish, quiet, restful places, with a program of the pines, breezy beaches, cool nights, and sleep such as you have never known before--days are sunny, with long evenings, and beautiful, with gorgeous sunsets and sky colored waters.  Hope this finds you all O.K., as we are. The Carl Christopher Family"