I was thinking about past Christmas' over coffee this morning and looking at my tree that has so many gifts under it it almost covers half the dining room, (have lots of grands and great grands) and this suddenly came to mind. My two sisters and I were raised by my Grandma Edwards. I was 5 yrs. old when we came to her house. She was elderly at the time and we did not have transportation to go anywhere on our own, but had good friends that took her to places she needed to go. Every Christmas we always had a fresh cut cedar and it was delivered to us by Merle Moore. (He was Tim's father). He not only cut it but he delivered it to us. We trimmed it with cut-outs from Christmas cards, strung popcorn, made "shiny" ornaments with tin-foil saved throughout the year and always had a big cardboard star covered with tinfoil on the top. No lights, no fancy glass balls, just decorated with love. After Lewis and I were married and had our three daughters, a sunday afternoon close to Christmas was a family outing to select and cut the Christmas tree. We would always call Merle (no call was really necessary) and off we'd go to his farm to get the perfect tree. The perfect tree was usually a little barren on one side, but no problem. That side was put towards the wall and looked just fine. Merle Moore and his wife Wilda were wonderful people. True christian people. Might add that there were never great amounts of huge gifts under our tree when I was a child. Most were things that were needed like maybe a new blouse made from a pretty flowered flour sack and most likely socks and underwear but hey, we were excited and a lot of toys and unecessary things weren't asked for or expected. We were taught to appreciate every gift we got....... more later . . . .
Please do give us more later. Lovely memories!
Yes, please do.......I love to see how others spent Christmas.
Are we not blessed to be able to appriecate that we all
are different and have different and good stories to tell.
Hugs and God bless us all
aoyp
Flo, we had a very simillar Christmas when I was small. We did not have electricity until I was 10 years old. We would go as a family and get a Christmas tree. We would trim it with some of the paper ornaments that Mother had when she was teaching school, we strung popcorn and cranberries and made paper "chains" from construction paper. We would hang our stockings on Christmas Eve (back then, I wore long cotton stockings) and sing carols before going to bed. Christmas morning, we would get Mom and Dad up early to see what Santa had brought. It was usually, pajamas, overboots, socks, etc. One year, I remember I got a new coat--it was a beautiful green and had fur trim around the hood and also fur "balls" that covered over the buttons! Boy, was I excited! We then hurried and helped with chores, preparation of food, every family contributed to the dinner, etc. as we went to Grandmother Green's in Longton for Christmas dinner. We were joined there by Mother's sisters, brother and their families. Grandmother always made our Christmas gifts, Aunt Nina always got us a special gift. We always had a wonderful prune cake (Grandma's was the best). It was frosted with white boiled frosting and she cut up gumdrops and made a poinsettia with a candle in the middle of it. It was a birthday cake for Jesus. She made Rice krispie treats and we all thought they were a wonderful treat! After dinner, we would gather around the piano and Aunt Nina would play, and we sang carols! After a wonderful day together, we would start home and sometimes Dad would take us to a movied at the Plaza Theatre in Howard to finish out a wonderful day.
Myrna
Oh I love these stories... :)
Me too! More, more!
Our Christmas was like everyone else's in those days. We had a cedar tree and it was strung with paper cut outs and popcorn and tin foil saved from chewing gum and any thing else that had tin foil on it. We did not hang stockings, but we put pretty things on the library table in the living room and wrote our names on a piece of paper and put them on the table and that was where our Santa gifts were laid. My Grandma Workman lived with us for 13 years and she always knitted each of us, Jack, Helen and I a pair of mittens for Christmas. They were always a dark purple color, and I know now that the reason was ~ She unraveled the ones from the previous year and added yarn and made the new ones. Mama had two sisters and one brother that didn't have any children, and we always got a box from them at Christmas and there were gifts for each of us. One year Helen and I each received a birthstone ring and Jack got a new pocket knife from Aunt Gladys. I still have the mounting of mine, but the stone is missing. Uncle Forest was a school teacher and one year he gave each of us an eversharp pencil and fountain pen. We were teenagers by that time and I thought I was TRULY RICH .. to this day I love eversharp pencils. I loved the Christmas programs that we had at school, and the songs that we sang and there was a sack of candy, and an orange for each child in the school. Santa started ringing his bells and HO HO HOING OUT IN THE SCHOOL YARD, THEN CAME BURSTING THROUGH THE DOOR -- the big tree in the corner of the school had gifts on it - the teacher usually had one gift for each child - a pencil or a tablet. What a magicial time of the year for wide eyed children.
My "Christmas Past: memories are much like the others already posted. I do remember that Mother would make doll clothes for the doll we might get. By today's standards, we received "practically nothing," but we didn't realize it, as we were so thrilled with what gifts we did receive. Our Christmas tree decorating was much the same as Jo's, and the others posted. Daddy had two sisters, and they always gave each of the four children in our family a gift. With so very little money, I now know that those were truly "gifts of love." We usually went to Elk City and spent Christmas Day with Daddy's parents and his two sisters and their husbands and sons. (Each had one son.) My Grandma Truitt would always have some gift for each of us, and the meals were always so good. Of all of those mentioned above, I guess my sister, Patsy, and I, and one cousin, Russell Davidson, are the only ones of us who are still alive! So, it is a wonderful thing to have such sweet, pleasant memories, of a family who truly did love us! I need to mention our Christmas programs at school. Mother always made my sisters and I new dresses for the Christmas Programs. We would "have a part" in the Christmas program, each would say a poem, and I especially remember the song "Up on the Housetop!" Then, sure enough! Old Santa would come to the school house, in the same way that he came to Jo's school house. Each child would get those knit bags with sticky ribbon candy and an apple or orange in it. That candy was so wonderful! (Or, so we thought!) About everything we ever ate was "homemade," and the candy was "store bought!" "Those were the days!"
We always had a tree of some sort. Not the store boughten ones, and not a whole cedar tree because trees were scarce and you didn't cut a whole tree just for Christmas. But Mother would cut some branches and arrange them to look like a tree. The first Christmas I can remember, Santa Claus mailed us our presents as he might be too busy to stop on Christmas Eve. I was a pre-schooler and the mail came while my older brother and sister were still at school, so I went to the mail box with Mother to get the package the mailman had left. I must have been pesky because Mother decided that Santa Claus probably wouldn't care if we just peeked at my present. It was a set of toy tin dishes. Daddy made a little cupboard for them (which I still have). At least one of the saucers and maybe a plate was lost down the cracks in the living room floor as my little brother became a toddler. I have never forgiven him for that. That was 75 years ago.
My first Christmas was with my maternal grandparents with a real tree and real lighted candles. I can't remember it but my sister has told me about it. It seems that we were on our way to the grandparents some time in the evening and our vehicle broke down. One of Mother's brothers came to get us and we all rode back with him. It must have been quite a sight as we came down the long lane to the grandparents big house with the lighted tree. Wish I could remember it.
more to the stories - one year, I was probably 8 or 9, I was given a small amount of money to do some shopping. (most likely just a quarter which was a lot then) I bought some Hershey's Kisses, went home and divided them among all the adults that would be at our house Christmas day, wrapped them in a bit of tissue paper, tied them with twine string and hung them on the tree, quite proud of myself for having a present for all my aunts and uncles. :-[ the day before Christmas we got word that another aunt and uncle would be there and wo-is-me cause they don't have any candy on the tree. so . . . . . . I took them all down, untied them, redivided them, wrapped them all up again, hung them on the tree, and again was pleased I had a gift for every adult. Think in the second division there were a couple left over for me :) :-\ Don't know why I didn't give some to cousins unless it was there were too many of them.
My Christmas memories were wonderful too. I didn't have any family here except my parents and sister. We were here and everyone else was in Kansas and Oklahoma. We always had a big white pine that went up the week before Christmas and we took it down on New Years Day. Later on we would have the Mummers Parade on T.V. and do the mummer's strut around the living room as we took the garlands off the tree. It's a wonder the ornaments survived!
We had stockings on the fireplace that we could raid before breakfast, but the living room door was closed and off limits until after breakfast was cleaned up. Then Daddy would go in and turn the tree lights on, and we would be welcomed into the living room. It always smelled so good...pine, vanilla and Scotch Tape. To this day, the odor of Scotch Magic Tape makes me think of Christmas. We got wonderful gifts, some very practical, (clothes) some creative, (Tinker Toys) some arty, (modeling clay, watercolors and drawing paper.) Mom would sometimes make doll clothes, sewn or crocheted and there were boxes from the relatives. Grandpa Boyd always sent a big box of pecans, as well as personal gifts. One of my favorite gifts was a box with holes in it that was under the tree when I was 5. It held a Banty rooster and a little hen, who were named...what else, Cocky Doodle and Henny Penny. She lived to around age 10, and he lived to a ripe old 13, and died on Christmas Day. The Christmas schedule changed as we got older, but we always managed to have Christmas Dinner at ''home."
"was pleased I had a gift for every adult."
Flo, to this day, I find much more pleasure in giving than receiving! You learned that at an early age.
And, Wilma, I've heard of having the "real" candles on Christmas trees, and I always wondered how in the world they could do that, and the tree not go up in flames? Apparently the tree was just freshly cut, and still had a lot of "sap" (moisture?) in it. What a beautiful sight that would have been!
And, Diane, your Christmas's would remind me more of the way it was when we were raising our children, as those years between our ages does almost create a "generation!" There was a "huge" difference in the Christmas's from when I was a child, and the Christmas's that our children would remember in our home as they were growing up. But, in both generations, we always believed in Santa Claus, and we still do!
I've been told that back when there were real candles lit on trees, as you said, the trees were very fresh. The candles would be in little tin holders that clipped to the branches and were lit for only a short time when the gifts were being given out. There was a container of water and a sponge on a stick to dab any needles that did begin to smolder. Unfortunately, there were some serious fires then, as now.
I don't know how often my grandparents had the real candles. It might have been the only time as they didn't from the time I can remember. And their house didn't burn down. They lost it in a tornado 3 years later and I do remember that.
One Christmas I remember was I came down the stairs early to see if Santa had been there! At the bottom of the stairs was the front door (with a glass window in it) and it looked across the pasture to the neighbors a mile north. Well, when I looked out the door as I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw a small red light off in the distance. I remember running up the stairs again as fast as I could go waking everyone saying Santa had just been there and I saw Rudolph. Several years later, my parents told me that what I saw was actually our neighbor's tail light and he was feeding the cattle early so they could celebrate Christmas. What imaginations we have as children!
Myrna
We would always go to Grandma Hancock's farm and get a tree. A real tree. To this day, real cedar is still the best smell. Grandma would help us pick it out and when she did, we always got a big one. When mother and daddy picked it out, it was a small one that would go on the table. One of my best gifts I got from Mother and Daddy was a guitar. I learned to play that and played at school, home and church. My fingers can remember the fingering, but my callouses are gone, so it would hurt to play now. I still have two guitars stowed under the bed that probably couldn't hold a tune now if they tried. We always had homemade directions, especially stringing the popcorn. Sometimes more popcorn was eaten then got strung for the tree. We always kept the tree up until at least past my birthday.
Oh yes, the cardboard star wrapped in foil. Not only did we string popcorn on the tree but some years we got to string cranberries also. There were two men in Latham that always went and got our tree for us. Mother allways told them to get a small one and we girls told them to get us a big one. Every year when they got to the house with it they would have to cut it off so it would fit in the living room.
Christmas was more of an event than going to the closet and getting out the artificial tree. You knew you would get a new pair of fannel pajamas for Christmas. We always got one new toy until we were older then it was a new board game for all three of us.
I think one of the most fun Christmas's I remember was the year Dad dumped a cigar box of pennies on the floor and what you got was all the pennies you could scoop up. My middle sister got the most and that was 53 cents.
I can't imagine any child getting to excited over a handful of pennies or new PJ's in this day and age. After all how much thought and love is put into gift cards?
It is such fun to read of everyones Christmas's past. Merry Christmas!
Out of all my Mother's pictures, this is one that I really like. This is my Grandmother Hancock, Mother's mother. Grandma was always one to make fun out of everything. She was always a kid at heart up until she died. Her last words that I remember her saying were when my husband, Jim, played Santa Claus out at Twilight Manor and he got Grandma to raise her head and answer "Santa Claus" when Santa asked her who he was. Always a kid at heart. Now, I was too young to remember this picture being taken, but it is my favorite.