Chuck Erickson Photo: Richard Hamma, 1956December 7, 2013
Just slippin' into my toasty insulated Carharts with the leg zippers to go down to give the cows some hay to get them through the night. Brings back memories of being a little kid and those awful things they called "snowsuits." I can't remember what the heck they were made out of but I remember wallowing around all over the kitchen floor thrashing my way into that dang thing. The mom and the aunts were fed up with putting up with us kids being underfoot all day so it was ...a mandatory "get the heck out of the house and go play outside!" Our uniform of the day was a "snowsuit." I think it was invented by the guy that invented the strait jacket! It took forever to get your legs in and then wrestle your arms in; then someone had to buckle on your overshoes because you couldn't reach your feet anymore. Then the hat and the hood and out the door you went! There would be myself and a flock of cousins propped up in the snow. What's the first thing that happens when we hit the cold air? Got to pee...right now! Cold air does that to you when you're a little kid! Back to the house and a quick strip and into the bathroom. Then repeat the whole operation again. Being little back in those days was a challenge!
Thanks to Richard Hamma for sharing these photos of the winter of 1956 and kids in snowsuits! Note the dates on the photos. In the days of film cameras, pictures were only shot during an important event so the film often remained in the camera for weeks, months, or even a year before being developed. Richard's mom was the family photographer and, while the children were small, took a lot of pictures.
