Published in Intermountain Farm and Ranch December 24, 2010
Christmas is so much different now than when I was young. Back then, Christmas advertising didn’t get started until close to Thanksgiving. We didn’t have TVs, so radio and newspaper were the only means of advertisements. No one had artificial trees, either the families would go out and cut their own or buy from the local gas station.
No one decorated outside of their homes, and the inside decorations were usually minimal. We had “bubble lights” on our tree. These lights had a round base, filled with colored fluid, and what looked like a birthday candle on top of it. When the fluid warmed up it would bubble into the candle.. These were fun to watch the as they bubbled.
There were no malls in
Idaho Falls, but we did have Woolworths and Newberrys. right downtown
Idaho Falls on
Park Avenue. This is where we shopped to get the presents for our brothers and sisters. They sold “Blue Waltz” perfume, the perfume all pre-teen girls wanted.
We exchanged gifts in our school classes, drawing names early in December. The most wished-for gift was the Lifesaver book, which is still available today. One year I received a handkerchief and a pencil. Not something a forth grader would look forward to receiving. I can’t remember if I was a gracious receiver, but I remember the boy who had my name, and the circumstance of his family. I believe the handkerchief was handmade by his mother, and I don’t believe I appreciated the effort it took to make it, nor the embarrassment of the boy who had nothing else to give.
Schools had Christmas programs, and as students we looked forward to the preparation for those programs. We learned songs and memorized speaking parts. Mothers made costumes out of crepe paper. And all of the parents, brothers and sisters, and a lot of grandparents showed up the night of the program. Cookies and punch were served to everyone following the program. The evening of the program started our Christmas vacation from school. We looked forward to that as much as we anticipated the program.
Our family met with grandmother, uncle, aunts, and cousins on Christmas Eve, for a special family program and gift giving. We didn’t have central heating then, and I remember returning from these parties to a cold house. Dad would have to stoke up the wood heater in the living room and we sat around it to get warm.
We hung our stockings from the mantel on Christmas Eve, and there would be a tangerine and nuts in them the next morning. Christmas morning gifts weren’t fancy, often handmade. We girls got a doll, and Mother made the wardrobe for the doll. When we were young we didn’t notice that the doll clothes were made from the same material as some of our dresses that Mother had sewn for us throughout the year. Paper dolls was a favorite gift, and a Nancy Drew book was always looked for. Our brothers got toy trucks, tractors, tools, and such. I remember the year they got the electric train set. Blocks, Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs were popular then as now. I cannot remember needing batteries for any of our gifts, most of them required hand labor and imagination.
Maybe we have become materialistic and our children want way more than they need or even deserve, but there is still beauty in this season of the year. Christmas time seems to bring out the giving spirit, people are more cheerful although more stressed. neighbors take treats to neighbors who they maybe haven’t visited with since the previous Christmas. The words of the song: “Peace on earth, good will to men,” should be something that we implement in our daily lives, not just once a year. But at least we do it once a year.