By Carol Fisher-Linn
This article will be quite subjective because most of these memories are mine. But I hope you can relate; after all Christmas traditions are part of every family’s DNA.
One of the earliest memories I have of the Christmas season is mom sitting with Christmas cards at the off-white speckled Formica table (you know, the ones edged with stainless fluted steel rims), carefully addressing them with a fountain pen. I remember she could only send a limited number because of the small number of stamps she could afford with our post-WWII budget. (The war ended September 2, 1945 – I was three and had just met my dad who finally came home from the South Pacific). Postage was .03 for a card in 1948, gasoline .24 a gallon, dozen eggs .72, white bread .14, half gallon milk .44.
My husband, a farm kid, remembers the anticipation he felt waiting for his dad to come in from the barn and clean up so they could finally open their gifts. His favorite gift was when he was 16. His parents gave him a Brownie A-5 shotgun, a thing that every farm kid in the country coveted in those days. Mine was when I was 11, newly out of the hospital from a 5-6 month stay and receiving a Saucy Walker doll who would “walk” when I held her arms and twisted her body so her rubber shoes would grip and “move” one foot after the other. Can you remember what your favorite gift was as a child?
I remember visiting Santa at Sattler’s across the Broadway Market in Buffalo. We’d ride the streetcar, then years later, the bus to get there, and stand in line with the other restless, anxious kids, just like in A Christmas Story. Any one of us could have been the prototype for Ralphie Parker, except none of us asked for a Red Ryder BB Gun – we were city kids. What intrigued me the most about our Santa (besides him having a real beard) was that he smelled like pipe smoke and pine. His aromas made sense to me because in the story of Santa he smoked a pipe and Christmas is all about Christmas trees, which in our home were always freshly cut. In my mind, the smell of pipe smoke and pine always reminds me of Santa Claus. What are your favorite nostalgic Christmas smells?
We always had fresh trees. When dad first came home from the war, he insisted on three regular sized trees. What amazed me was that the trees were not even in sight on Christmas Eve when we went to bed. Somehow, they appeared out of nowhere (or from the corner Christmas Tree seller) on two 4×8 plywood sheets., taking up more than half of the room. When we woke, we found three decorated trees loaded with mesmerizing bubble lights (in later years) and tinsel (hung one strand at a time – the only way according to dad) annnnd, a complete Christmas village beneath, with ground cork roads and green dyed sawdust grass. There was a winter village, a summer village, a city, a farm, a zlubek (Polish for hand-made wooden barn and manger – yes, he made it and carved the floor and walls to look like stone) with Mary, Joseph, shepherds, the kings, and various animals. I still have those precious pieces from 1934. Jesus was placed in his crib in the morning before we left for church. And, oh, yes, next to the fence, which was thumbtacked down, 5” piece by 5” piece around the outer perimeter of the wooden boards under the fake sheet snow, was, of course, a train. Everything but the train tracks and summer village was sprinkled with a sparkling dusting of loose fake mica snow. Anyone reading this remember? I felt so sorry for my friends whose family’s succumbed to the modern aluminum Christmas trees. No lights – just a light wheel. They were pathetically ugly in my eyes.
This narrative can go on for weeks. I love sharing memories but wonder what precious memories you would like me to share with our readers next week? Please contact me at lorac.kenap@gmail.com and tell me your favorite Christmas memory. Meanwhile, enjoy the delicious frenzy and the fantastic moments of the days and weeks leading up to Christmas. Remember the reason for the season, and if you haven’t reached back in years to pull out a favorite memory and replicate it with your loved ones, perhaps this is the year? Happy holiday season.