On Christmas Eve in 1974, I celebrated downtown with my co-workers. I lived in Berwyn and took the train from Union Station to get home at the Ridgeland Avenue stop.
In a happy, contented mood, I missed my stop and woke up three stops later in Riverside. I walked to my home in Berwyn, where my wife and six kids were waiting for me to go to dinner at my parents’ house. I walked in and passed out in my bed. My wife took the family to my parents’ home for dinner.
I woke up two hours later and since we had only one car, I walked to my parents’ house in Cicero.
Naturally dinner was over, but my father and brother had taken a picture with their arms around no one (the missing me).
They kidded me endlessly and I was really disappointed in what had happened.
However, the photo made the rounds annually until my dad died. And everyone, including me, always had a great laugh.
It was the worst and the best holiday.
— Jim Zak, North Riverside
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