Two Christmas photos from long ago. One is 1953 with the Fire Truck for yours truly. No 2 is 1954 Christmas morning.
Hey, I don't see any aluminum foil on those rabbit ears!! Great pictures, Thomas. Thanks for sharing.
One item not on the TV was that folding plastic gum drop tree. That little candy tree was my personal demon and I never learned how to take one without being caught. A white sled with reindeer and all those things were used every year that all of us were still sharing Christmas together. The TV made the trip and relocation to OKC riding in the back of my Uncle's 1950 Chevy Truck. I had to ride in the back because there were 3 people up front. I left OKC in 64 and returned to Houston for a short time before going back to OKC finally going to work in Midwest City. The TV was left with my Grandfather and 6 months into the Army he past away. I have no idea what happened to the TV, I suspect it was still working. The house we lived in belonged to my Grandfather's sister and it is well over a hundred years old today and still standing altho looking 100 years old. There is a newer photo of the house and it was painted but not very well. In 1960 there were no trees and no sloped corner for the sidewalk. The corner to the left of the photo was an empty lot and at some point a new church was built on that lot but now empty and run down. It shows how long ago 56 years really is. The house was an old farm house on a farm long before the neighborhood sprang up around it. It is within walking distance of the Oklahoma State Fair Grounds, I still often think about myself and the younger brother walking to the fair grounds to climb all over everything there. ;0)
My Grandmother bought that plastic gumdrop tree at a dime store on Jensen Drive. It saw almost as many Christmas as we kids. The gumdrop tree was my favorite decoration but at around 5 years old I discovered how great the Geritol in our icebox tasted. I think it was about at least 70 percent alcohol, kinda fruity like a good brandy. I'm glad alcoholism was not in my genes. ;0)
My grandma had one of those plastic gum drops trees. It was brought out for every holiday....gum drops at Christmas, jellybeans for Easter, black gumdrops at Halloween. My grandpa told me a great story once. He lived up in a small town in the mountains and every year some ladies from a big church in Charlottesville would come up on the train to bring presents to the children. It would usually be hard candy and practical stuff like mittens, socks, hats, mufflers. One year, they gave every child an orange. Grandpa said he and his siblings brought theirs home and sat them on the table. They weren't sure what to do with them; they had never had one. Eat it? Cook it? Finally, they ate them and Grandpa always had to have oranges and tangerines at Christmas til the day he died. He always said his best Christmas present came the year his father gave him a pet crow.
My favorite sweet for Christmas was strawberry short cake. Here where I live now I took basic training in the Army and we were all given a 7 day leave for Christmas. Our company was released at around 9am and they told us what bus to get on that was parked in a long line on the parade grounds.. The mess hall across the street from the parade grounds was opened for anyone that wanted to have lunch since the bus would pull out at around 1pm. My bus was going to Houston and I was home but most of the guys would catch a plane to go to there homes. I walked over to the mess hall and was going to eat but I saw strawberry cake at the end of the food line and that was what I ate Christmas eve lunch 1965. The mess hall was totally empty and I was the only one there, the other guys were all afraid they would miss their bus so they never ate. I was home before dark and spent a wonderful week in Houston. At the time the Army was so full of new people in training they were doing things unheard of. We all came back from Christmas leave and graduated two week later, at that time they gave us all 30 more days of leave, all because there was no place for us to report to or sleep until other training facilities had emptied the last batch of trainees. I went to Fort Ord California for Infantry Training.
I wonder where that tradition of an orange started. We always got an orange/tangerine, an apple, nuts (in-the-shell pecans/walnuts/almonds/etc) and a dime in our stockings, along with some small toys. My mother was British, and I always attributed it to her culture, but it is only an assumption.
Stores in my part of the UP of Michigan didn't generally carry oranges or tangerines when I was a kid, so about the only times I would see them would be around Christmas. It does seem like an odd Christmas tradition, particularly since I don't expect that late December was the common harvest time anywhere.
The origin of oranges at Christmas--like so many such things--is the subject of debate, according to The Box of Truth (aka, "The Web.") -Oranges are native to Southeast Asia, and the Chinese believed oranges brought joy, good luck and warded off evil. -Oranges are known as the fruit of life in Japan. -There’s a more modern religious connection. It is said that St. Nicholas, a wealthy and generous bishop, heard of a poor, widowed father of three girls who was worried his three daughters would never find husbands. Saddened by this tale, St. Nick sneaked into the widower’s house and put bags of gold in each of the girl’s stockings, which were set out to dry by the fire (it must have been laundry day). The next morning, the girls discovered the treasures and rejoiced: They could now afford to pay dowries and marry! Today’s orange offering is said to represent the gold that St. Nick shared. The Smithsonian pegs the tradition to The Great Depression when there was no money for gifts. Oranges and even walnuts were found in stockings on Christmas morning as a little gift for the special day. This explanation makes the most sense to me. Since my father and mother were raised in that era, I can see them adopting this tradition.
This one must have been about 1956. I know it was before I started 1st grade. One of the best Christmases, maybe this one, is when I looked up into the tree and saw a stocking-monkey hanging up there My gramma made it for me, and I wish I had a pic of that There are lots of photos of me because my brother had a camera, and he took lots of photos. He was 12 years older than I, and I was his shadow, idolized him
I dreamed of being a real cowgirl @Faye Fox and did get to ride once in awhile with friends that had horses My little brother and I loved going to gramma and grampa's because grandpa had a shed with lots of cool things, especially what looked like broomsticks (hmm?? nope, no real witches in the family) that made the perfect horses for us. Would you believe I had a favorite stick We also got our bb guns one Christmas in very, early 60s
LOLLLLL!! I had to stop laughing and compose myself before I could post this one of me before, or after Christmas play. It was crepe paper if I remember right, Christmas green. I keep looking @Thomas Stillhere you got me to get all those albums out, and maybe I will finally arrange the "loose" pics. Give me a good project, so thank you for the memories, and something to do on these cold days
I remember the Christmas Day afternoon (maybe 1957?) that I got shot in the forehead by the next door neighbor boy's Daisy Red Ryder bb rifle. Yep, straight out of "A Christmas Story" "You'll shoot your eye out!" It was totally my fault, totally. He was showing it off, I wanted to try it, he wouldn't let me. "Girls don't shoot rifles!" Them is fightin' words, Pardnuh! I grabbed the barrel of the rifle and jerked it toward me and BAM! (Well, bang!) I had a bb embedded under the skin half an inch over my left eyebrow.0 Home I ran squalling but barely bleeding. My dad just sighed and said, "Only you......", popped it out with a needle and administered a tetanus shot. Him being an former medic and working for a pharmaceutical company, our house was about as well-supplied as a pharmacy in antibiotics and the like. I was left with a tiny dimple above the brow that I still have to this day to remind me about gun safety......and Christmases past......