Christmas, 1963! Good find from these midwest slides. I love the old pool table in the background, and the sparkling vintage tree.

I had to look these toys up, since I have never heard of them! The VISIBLE V8 was an engine motor assembly kit. Something you can build! When I say "you" I mean "not me." I hate putting things together haha. That is why I picked out a husband. Anyway, it came with a motor and 100 "moving parts" - the only thing that was not included was size C batteries. That gift, of course, was for the boy, who was no doubt expected to grow up and be an executive at Chrysler. Or at least an assembly line worker.

The youngest girl got a doll, and the older girl got a Jon Gnagy Learn to Draw Outfit. The drawing toy consisted of an Art instruction book, a drawing board, some diagrams, an eraser and a pencil. In case you've never heard of John Gnagy, he was an Artist and T.V. art instructor. His show "Learn to Draw" aired from the early 1950's into the late 1960's, and this toy coincided with his program.

I did some quick research, and found out that the drawing set is going for around $20 on ebay. When I did a search on the Visible V8, most of the items that came up were going for between $150 and $180! That's a pretty good investment.

This picture accurately represents midwest traditional values - boys build cars, girls turn into mothers or dream of drawing horses. Thanks, Santa!