The old girl kinda reminds me of Grandmama of the Addams Family.

hide many secrets: https://www.newspapers.com/image/79911246/

(And for those w/o access: it's the 19Mar13 front page coverage of the escapades of the eldest son [then ten year old] Granville, who had run away from home...to another state !)

As a semi professional (meaning I've sold a handful) photographer,
who doesn't always get it right himself, I must say this is just about the
the most poorly composed family portrait I've ever seen ... and I love it!
I do have some concern for Mrs. Dickey as well, but I'm 98 years too late.

I'm a Lionel collector, and can say that those tracks are for a non-electric train set, probably wind-up.

DO NOT SMILE !

Just to put some names and ages to our annual Dickey Christmas family, they are:

Raymond B Dickey, 45
Rose M Dickey, 43
Granville E Dickey, 20
Alice E Dickey, 17
John M Dickey, 11
Raymond R Dickey, 5

The ages may or may not be precisely exact, but accurate within a few months.

So I went back and looked at all the Dickey Christmas photos on Shorpy, and was reminded of grown-up Alice's job as publisher of Seventeen Magazine. A quick Google search produced this:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1953-press-photo-alice-thompson-3...

Nice to see a smile after all those gloomy Christmas photos.

I am struck -- make that dumbstruck -- once again by Mrs. Dickey's "hairstyle", by the size, shape, and ornamentation of that tree, and by the sleeves on that velvet dress. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Merry Christmas anyway. And if you'll forgive me the segue from Dickey to Dickens ... God bless us every one.

I don’t see much merriment here. This conclusion is encouraged by the “noir” lighting for the photography. Sad, very sad.

...without once again witnessing Rose Dickey's slow descent into madness.

Don't think I've ever seen a wallpapered ceiling before.

Having been born a Chanukah person, but linked to a Christmas person, I have celebrated Christmas for two thirds of my 60 years. My wife's family is Central European, so they gather for the main event on Christmas Eve. Over the years, their trees have run the gamut from huge misshapen Dickey trees to scraggly Charlie Brown Ion Dept. trees to the current style of "perfect" suburban mall-lot trees. My idea of a gentle Christmas is good company and family, a glass of eggnog and rum, fading afternoon light, with Bing Crosby or Burl Ives playing softly in the background. I wish the very best of the holiday season to my fellow Shorpsters, with special thanks to Dave and tterrace for creating and maintaining this marvellous photographic treasure house and community.

carries on the Dickey Christmas tree tradition today.

Smiles were not invented until 1933.

Why do I feel like I'm looking at the same one in all these pictures?

ETA: I wrote this comment in 2014 and it's still true in 2021.

If nothing else it shows those two boys are definitely brothers. The younger boy in 1923 looks just like his brother did in 1915!

The fellow with his arm around the young woman is obviously her husband.. Note wedding ring. Also she appears to be with child.

[Nope. He's her brother. - Dave]

Has anyone noticed that the middle child (oldest son) is not the same kid in both pictures? Rather odd, I thought.

[The oldest boy is standing on the right in this photo. Still confused? - Dave]

My family owns ornaments exactly identical to about a third of the ones on the tree. My mother always said they were old, but I didn't think they could be that old!

Just noticed what appears to be a model train track on the floor to the right. Wonder if a wee little Christmas choo-choo was part of the decorations, or a gift done opened and set up. Remember a very simple Lionel train set my brother and I got for one Christmas. No idea where it ended up.

Poor Mom. It sure looks like the photog positioned her just a little too up close and snuggly with that tree. Her expression does not reflect a comfort zone with it. More like fending it off.

Every member of this family wears the exact same expression. From my own middle class perspective it seems to be a pleasant tolerance of all things beneath them . . . which are many and include the photographer and all of us some 85 years later.

When viewed full size, there was just so much to take in...the crazy tree, the intricate sleeves on Sister's dress, the odd pose of poor Mother--practically stuck into the boughs (not to mention her too-tight shoes!), a hint of model railroad track, the wallpaper & border--just SO much!

But the number one thing I could not stop thinking...why are everyone's eyes so sad? Don't they know it's Christmas? (Maybe this the custom of the day, to look somber in a holiday photo? Whatever the reason, their melancholy expressions are in contrast to the joyful occasion.)

The mother looks so different from the previous photo. Poor gal.

I find in very interesting that people who live in older homes today panic about even the smallest scratch in their hardwood floors when its very obvious that this middle-class Washington family clearly had no such worry.

Also, is anyone able to identify the toy train track in the background? It looks like wind-up track, perhaps O-scale?

At first glance, it made me think of a huge spider web. Strangely, most of the ornaments don't look much different from what we might have on our trees today. I notice the lack of lights, though.