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♦ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2007
MEMORIES From page iA
to me that year in that I not only received a Mickey Mouse
wrist watch but the Flexible Flyer. He also left me a couple
good books to read.
Dad shoots the Red Ryder BB Gun
By Larry Thomson
I remember Christmas as a time my mother always read
the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas Eve. My
father told us that as long as we believed in Santa Claus
he would always come. We never told our father that Santa
wasn’t real so until the day he passed he (Santa) always
came to see us.
I have four siblings. We never saw Santa except as the
last float in the Macon Christmas parade. That was one of
my favorite memories as a small child waiting for Santa to
bring up the caboose of the Christmas parade. We grew up
on a small family farm and there wasn’t an abundance of
money but dad would set some aside for Christmas and he
always played it to the hilt.
Once when I got a Red Ryder BB Gun dad took it outside
on Christmas eve and shot it by my window after I went
to bed just to charge me up for Christmas morning. He did
all my brothers and sisters the same so Christmas Eve was
really a fun-charged evening. We made him pay though
because I set my Hopalong Cassidy clock for 5 a.m. and we
all rushed mom’s and dad’s bedroom and said,” Santa has
come! Get up!”
We always had family over for Christmas Eve -
Grandmother, Papa and all. It really was a time that we
thought of Peace on Earth and the reason we celebrate
Christmas to honor the birth of Christ.
I remember once with our two boys trying to find a
laser tag. It was the rage that year. Chris and I busted our
chops trying to find tw. We finally did the boys put them on
Christmas morning played with them for about thirty min
utes and never picked them up again. Chris and I tried to
never get caught up in that hype again. I think we lived up
to that. We have two fine young men. Larry Jr. has spent
most of this year in Italy Quailty assurance for Boeing on
the new 787 Dreamliner. He’s coming home for 10 days
during Christmas, haven’t seen him for a year. What a
Christmas present ! Jacob lives here and what a blessing
he is to have him with us.
God has been good to us Peace on earth for this special
season of honoring the birth of Jesus Christ.
Hearing Santa on the radio
By Billy Powell
Santa used to come on over the radio just before
Christmas. There were no TVs then. He would be talking
from the North Pole and reading letters sent to him by the
children of the world. Every year, I wrote him a letter list
ing the gifts I wanted for Christmas. Mother would mailed
them at the local post office when’it was on the north side
of Carroll Street, about where Danny’s restaurant (Leta’s)
is now. You could hear the cold wind at the North Pole
howling behind Santa. This thrilled my little heart and
gave me an eager anticipation of the visit by the jolly ol’
elf. Many Christmases I have gone to bed with visions of
sugarplums dancing in fny head. I always tried to stay up
and catch Santa, but the Sandman always sprinkled my
eyes with his magic dust that sent me slipping off to sleep
before Santa’s arrival. Wouldn’t it have be great to catch
Santa coming down the chimney, to talk with him, watch
him place the presents under the tree, then watch him fly
off the rooftop in his reindeer-driven sleigh! When staying
with my granddaughters on Christmas Eve, I always read
them the classic, “T’was the Night Before Christmas.”
That is a great story and one that all children should be
read.
The time the chocolate melted
By Nancy Braswell
I was bom and lived in a small town of Bessemer City,
N.C.,near Gastonia and Charlotte. Both my mother and
father worked in a cotton mill. There were three of us girls
and I was the middle one.
We didn’t see all the Santa Clauses all around like the
kids do now. We saw one Santa Claus in the same place
every year. The cotton mill where my parents worked gave
a Christmas party every year for the employees’ kids and
Santa Claus was always there. He gave every child a bag of
fruit, nuts, candy and a silver dollar.
We never got to ask for certain things either. We got
what we were given, such as a baby doll, teaset, crayons,
coloring book and a piece of clothing that we probably
needed. Mother always hung a stocking from the mantle
for each one of us. She put fruit, candy, and nuts in the
stockings.
One Christmas she let my father do the stockings. He
never thought about the heat from the stove in from of
the mantle, so. the chocolate candy had melted over all the
fruit, nuts and other candy in the stockings. It was a mess,
but I remember everyone laughing. Each year afterwards,
we always told mother not to let our father do the stock
ings.
We didn’t have much but we appreciated what we did
have. We didn’t have money to buy our parents a gift so we
usually made them something. You would have thought we
had given them a million dollars. Those are sweet memo
ries: memories of an old fashion Christmas. We were happy
just being together and celebrating the true meaning of
Christmas.
A magical box packed with love
By Olivia Stachorek
The most glorious event at Christmas time was the
arrival of Aunt Doll’s box. My most treasured baby doll
came out of that magical box packed with such love in
Wanette, Oklahoma, where my mother’s aunt and her hus
band owned the general store. In 1937, things were very
bleak' at our house and had been for a long time. So those
boxes filled what might have been a void in surprise gifts.
My early Christmases meant wonderful family orna
ments were brought out and placed on a freshly-cut,
Douglas fir tree. On Christmas Eve, long cotton stockings
were hung out to be filled sometime before morning. The
traditional stocking carried over for many years so my own
children also had tangerines in toes and heels and special
nuts and candies making up the foot. While my teenaged
brother and sister loved to tease me about Santa Claus,
my mother disliked telling untruths to children. She was
very much the serious-minded schoolmarm. But in those
days of nativity scenes and pageants, magical Christmas
plays and carols, both in school and at church, and Santa
Claus in department stores where toy trains and villages
delighted our imaginations, I never missed one iota of the
mystic joy of the season.
In my eighth year, I memorized every line of the town’s
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popular Christmas play staged at the Colton, California
Methodist Church, and played my leading role to the hilt.
That was 1940, and I carry a fond memory of looking out
into the audience and seeing my tall handsome brother’s
proud grin. Soon he was inducted into the Army Air
Corp, and our family was never again a unit of five at
Christmas.
A World War I Christmas memory
By Bill Harrison
During World War 11, my sister and I got Western
Flyer bicycles. I was eight and she was nine years of age.
Bicycles were almost impossible to get since all steel and
rubber materials were going for the war effort. My Dad
was working at McLendon Auto and performed an exten
sive emergency repair on an automobile of a Western
Auto sales rep traveling thru Perry. He offered a nice tip,
but my Dad simply asked if he could locate a girls and
boys bicycle for his two kids for Christmas. Somehow, he
found them, it was the best Christmas ever and we were
the envy of all the kids in Andrew Heights. So, of all the
years Santa visited our house on Charles Avenue, he did
his best work that Christmas. From that day forward, my
sister and I had the luxury of riding, rather than walking
to the Perry school on Main Street.
Christmas in the Canal Zone
By Jaloo Zelonis
One year, when I was about seven, we lived in the
Panama Canal Zone and our house was on “stilts”
with the carport underneath. When I awoke Christmas
morning, I found a note from Santa with a long string
attached. I followed the string outside, down the stairs
to the carport, where I found a playhouse (hand built
by “Santa”, just for me). It was even collapsible, so I
was able to take it with me when we moved back to the
States. It wasn’t as fancy as the store-bought ones you
get today, but I got to fix it up with curtains and my Dad
added a fold-up table.
Our stockings were usually old nylons (this was before
the days of panty hose). I remember them being filled
with fruits, nuts and some candies, as well as occasional
items such as toothbrushes or fragrant soaps. To this
day, Santa still leaves a little something in our stockings
to be found Christmas morn.
One year, when I was kindergarten age, I got a Boston
terrier puppy we named Kris. That was a thrill.
The Big Discovery
by the one who couldn't keep
a secret long
By Nelda Tawse
There was usually one Santa in one department store,
and that was it. Also we did not decorate until a day or
two before Christmas, which seemed to make Christmas
Eve all the more magical and special.
I remember the year that I discovered that what
some of the kids were telling me was true: my parents
were really Santa Claus. It was a week or two after
Thanksgiving in 1948 or ‘49, I think; I remember the
afternoon as if it were yesterday, just not sure about the
year, but I was 5 or 6. It was a chilly, crisp afternoon,
the sun just beginning to cast long shadows when I was
called in from playing outside to come for supper. (Now,
there’s something you don’t hear very often anymore!) I
was bored, hanging around the kitchen while my mother
and grandmother cooked so my mother told me to go
upstairs to my bedroom and play with my paper dolls.
Well, that big, old upstairs always held a fascination
for me, and I loved to wander around. My bachelor-uncle
lived with us, and I’d been told that his room was not
part of my playhouse. Nevertheless, I used to sneak in
there to look at his WWII photo books. Did you ever see
these pictorial history albums that chronicled the war?
Can you imagine a five-year old learning about the war
atrocities!
Well, my mother used to say that I was never a child.
Maybe she was right, but I digress.
So, back to Santa. As I furtively snuck my little head
into his room, my eye caught the glimpse some packages
behind his vanity-type bureau. Straight-away I dashed
under the bench and discovered a baby doll and a stuffed
reindeer. At that point, I knew the kids were right, and I
knew I’d better not say a word.
Now, you know me, and you know that keeping my
mouth shut is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I
was down those steps in a flash, ran into the kitchen and
shouted it out: “ I found my Santa Claus!! “ My mother
looked at me, and said, “Who said that’s for you?”
Well, that did put a tiny, little doubt in my mind, but
just until Christmas morning when I found them again
under the Christmas tree. Somehow, though, that knowl
edge never took the magic out of Christmas, and I still
listen for the pawing of little reindeer feet on my roof
come Christmas Eve.
Batman, Robin, Sonny, Cher
and that crazy 'leg lamp'
By Jillinda Falen
As a child growing up in
the late 60’s and early 70’s,
it seemed to me as if the
month of December was at
least 90 days long! Now it
seems to be about 36 hours
long! What happened? We
always had a CHRISTMAS
play at school and all the chil
dren dressed up as angels or
other figures from the bible.
Everyone was included and
no one complained about
being “offended” .
Santa would come to our
elementary school and pass
out tangerines and candy
canes. You better be doing
good at school because Santa
was watching you. Adults
could always threaten you
with the fact that Santa was
always watching you some
how from the cosmos to see
if you were behaving, espe
cially between Halloween
and Christmas eve!
We didn’t have shopping
malls near us until around
1979 so we had shop at stores
such as SS Kresge, K-mart,
Rink’s and other non chain
stores. Dad would always
give us a little money to buy
gifts for each other includ
ing mom and dad. We would
sneak through the stores
trying to purchase our gifts
without our families seeing
our special surprises.
We couldn’t wait until the
Sears or Penney’s catalogs
came in the mail so we could
wish and dream for what we
wanted Santa to bring us. I
always wanted a pony but
never got one. I don’t really
remember getting anything
that I was terribly excited
about or wanted but I’m
sure I did.
My sister who was 3.5
years younger and I often
got the same gift or worse,
gifts marked “SHARE”! My
poor sister always got the
sidekick to any partnership
since I was the oldest. I got
Batman, she got Robin, I
got Cher, she got Sonny. She
did however enjoy dressing
up Sonny in Cher’s fancy
wardrobe. Cross dressing
wasn’t as popular back then
but Sonny was ahead of his
time!
When my sister was about
5 and all she wanted was
a Herman Munster talk
ing puppet. When we were
unwrapping gifts, she opened
the box with Herman inside
and it scared her to death!
She quickly wrapped it back
up and stuck it back under
the tree. Mom and Dad said,
Lori, what did you get? She
said matter of factly, Oh, just
that Herman Munster doll I
wanted! Now she wishes she
still had him because he is
quite valuable on eßay!
When I head home to Ohio
this Christmas and drive up
the long gravel road to my
parents house I will be look
ing in the picture window
for the infamous “leg lamp”
That was probably the best
gag gift I ever gave my dad.
If you have ever seen the
Christmas Story about the
little boy named Ralphie
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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
that wanted the Red Ryder
BB gun, you will know about
the leg lamp. There is an
article in Guideposts mag
azine this month about a
man who loved that movie
so much and found out so
many others did too that he
is making a living by produc
ing the “leg lamp”.
Growing up in Ohio, we
lived in the country but my
paternal grandma lived in
the city. We would drive into
Cincinnati for Christmas
Eve to celebrate with my
grandma, uncle and aunt.
Grandma almost always
gave us socks and under
wear or clothes that were
too big. Bless her heart,
we loved her to death but
kids just don’t enjoy get
ting socks and underwear
for Christmas especially in
front of aunts and uncles!
Shoot, they got socks and
underwear too! We could
usually count our aunt to
give us some cool stuff. On
the way home we listened to
Christmas songs on the am
radio and every now and the
broadcaster would interrupt
to say that Santa had just
been spotted somewhere in
the tri-state area and we
would tell Dad to hurry and
got home before Santa got
there! We would scan the
skies and swore we saw a red
blinking light that had to be
Rudolph. When we got home
we dashed into the house
put a carrot and cookie and
milk out for Santa and the
reindeer and hurried into
pajamas and bed. Every kid
knows Santa doesn’t come
until you are asleep and if
you don’t go to sleep, no
presents for you!
As we grow older, we
sometimes grow jaded or are
turned off by the commer
cialism, hustle and bustle,
think about people no longer
with us or the expense but
just remember the Reason
for the Season and how won
derful were the simple joys
of our childhood. Remember
that the memories you are
making today with your
children and grandchildren
are going into their memory
banks to be pulled out and
enjoyed in the later years,
just as we enjoy them now.
Have a wonderful blessed
Christmas and Happy New
Year!
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