Great Christmas Memories

Paul Douglass

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I was just remembering some of the seasonal traditions our family had that are now long gone. One of them that I remember as a kid was waiting for the arrival of the Sears and Roebuck Christmas Catalog. Once it arrived, my brothers and I spent hours going through the catalog, putting our initial by all the items we wanted. By the time Christmas came the catalog was pretty well worn out. My kids use to do it also when they were little. Just one of the silly little things that is now history.

And I will always remember this Christmas:

We use to draw names for who we bought a present for with our Aunts and Uncles that came for Christmas . One of my Uncles drew my name. About a week before Christmas he came over with my present all wrapped up only he had cut a small hole in the top of the package. He also brought along a small bag of cracked corn and told me I had to put a little in each day to feed whatever it was. Also, do not shake or move the package around or I might hurt it. I fed it each day and protected the package for a week until Christmas. When I got to open the package,,, it was a basket ball hoop!
 
Being in the car with the heater on full, cold snow outside. Touring the neighborhoods looking at the light displays.

Boy, nothing warms me up like a car heater.

Where I'm at now, it might as well be the South Pacific.
 
Great story Paul. It made me smile.

I've been told that I'm overly sentimental. Memories are worth a million bucks to me.
I've got so many great memories from when I was a kid and when my kids were little that they would fill volumes.
 
Like you Paul...Christmas memories bring us a lot of joy, and some sadness. Having no kids to pass traditions on to, we pass them to others during this season. Clam chowder (chowda in some circles...forgive my west coast-ness), Stocking madness, decorations of a fashion and giving to many others. My grandpa had a Matchbox Yellow Cab that would drive Santa to our house on Christmas. This time of year has always been filled with so much magic and fun for us...thanks for the reminder!!
As for your tale...uncles rock!!!
 
Thanks for the reminder Paul, Yes the Sears, and also the Montgomery Ward catalogs were a big hit with us 5 boys when we were growing up. By the time Christmas arrived they were pretty worn for sure.
 
Great stories and memories, Paul. :thumb: I love the well-fed basketball hoop story!

My sister and I used to wear out the Sears Toy Catalog. The Big Book also got a lot of views, but the Toy Catalog was the stuff dreams were made of. We'd sit together on the couch, flipping through the catalog page by page, and on each page we'd individually declare which of the toys was ours.

I also remember the anticipation of trying to figure out what was in the packages under the tree. One year I couldn't take it anymore, and I very carefully opened one end of the package enough to see that the box contained a pair of walkie-talkies. I was stoked! I still don't know the story behind it, but about a week later on Christmas morning I was surprised to discover a different box, and it contained a cassette tape player. (Turns out I got a lot more use out of that tape player than I would have a pair of walkie talkies.) ;)
 
Ah yes, the catalogs! We were allowed to pick only one thing. That added a bunch of spice to the looking and trying to decide and we quickly learned there was a maximum price point. Over that and it was a no go. Christmas was also the time for new underwear and maybe new pajamas. Not so much fun. Unfortunately I don't have many good memories of Christmas. For me it was another time when favoritism of the siblings came out. Only two of the four of us were wanted children. That did not include me or my middle brother. To this day we are an estranged family. Sad, but it is what it is. Efforts to rectify that now that the parents are gone have been rejected. A lifetime of negativity is not easy to change. But keep the stories coming of good memories. These days I make my own memories and it is great to have models by way of your experiences.
 
Carol, words I cannot use___ it! Your story is so tremendously sad.

My parents did not show love in words or extra touching. However, there was never any question that my sister or I were loved. Our parents were always doing things for and with us. However, Christmas was an especially exciting time with special things baked and cooked. (That thought is enough to make a gluten intolerant person die.)

Ah Yes---Memories!

Enjoy,
JimB
 
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Great story Paul. It made me smile.

I've been told that I'm overly sentimental. Memories are worth a million bucks to me.
I've got so many great memories from when I was a kid and when my kids were little that they would fill volumes.

I echo Bobs words, also been told i am overly sentimental but hey i dont mind, things dont mean much to me but enjoying events and people do.

My Dad put a lot of effort into making Xmas special for me when i was a toddler. He organized two what we called "Xmas Trees". The term was given to the name of the function rather than the item of a tree. One was at his Union hall where the union put on a "Xmas Tree for all the workers kids. We got tuck boxes, lucky dip boxes and a "big present" when father Xmas arrived. In the union hall my Dad would go to major effort each year to create props to have father Xmas arrive in different ways. I remember one where he literally came out of the fireplace under the mantle in a fake house wall. Another was a made up wishing well equipped with all the trimmings of a well. The tree was always real pine and huge at least 25 ft.

Then another was held by the company social club which again my Dad organised. This particular one was held each year at a local man made lake from mining days. We got the same tuck box , lucky dip box and a big present from Santa and the ladies used to make some South African treats called "Koeksisters" a platted doe fried and dipped in syrup.
Santa arrived in a small plane one year, have no idea how my Dad managed to get someone to land a small plane in the area but he did. I remember running after the plane when i saw Santa in it. Pity cameras were a luxury then dont have family pics of that.

I carried on this traddition at work back in SA. Have many pleasant memories of those times.


Interesting...The wife and I did that just last night. Still fun!

Yeah Jim you right we still do that here. We never had the light thing back in SA so for us its still a novelty. Makes a difference when there is snow on the ground.
 
The story of old Sam.

When I was a small boy old Sam was in his late 70's. He came from a generation that did not complain, and instead just did. I only met him twice before he died. But he was a good man.

Now it was winter and old Sam was married to one of my Grandmothers cousins. Married their whole life as people in those days tended to be.

Sam was a woodworker. In his heyday he had specialized in building staircases in the most grand of houses. But now he was according to his wife--too old for that. So to keep up with Medical bills for his wife he worked in an old fashioned filling station, snoozing out front in a chair most of the time.

They lived in a house that he had built himself. In fact he had built 4 houses side by side and rented the other three out. His house was not the Taj Mahal, it was in fact rather small, but had the touches you would expect of a man who had spent his life building fine homes. Much finer than his own.

Now Sam was an easy going sort and the first time I met him he promised to show me his woodworking shop but never did. So the second time I was taken to his house I waited outside the shop, which was in his backyard, for him to come home.

After what seemed forever in the cold snow, there he was, walking down the old alley towards the shop dressed in workman's clothing of the era. As soon as I saw him I reminded him about showing me the wood shop, but he said no, go back in the house. Which being a decent youngster I did as I was told, but about halfway there I turned around and decided to go back and plead my case again in hopes he would change his mind.

As I rounded the corner of the shop I could see the rear door was open, so I walked in. There sat old Sam in an old fashioned wooden chair drinking from a half pint of bottle of whiskey and sadly crying. All I said was Hello, not ever having seen an adult cry before.

Sam immediately lit up with enthusiasm, and said "don't tell my wife I've been drinking--she doesn't know." I agreed and asked him why he was crying. He replied "my wife is sick and is going to die, I can pay the bills for the doctor but there is nothing he can do". I replied as any child would, "will you please show me your woodshop"? Which brought a smile to his face.

He pulled out an old pocket watch, looked at it, and said sure.

As he explained the milling, sanding, and turning equipment my eyes fell to the collection of hand planes which he said were for shooting mouldings, and he admonished me (a small boy) to not touch them.

He showed me a stall where once he had kept a horse in there, and the old pot belly stove. I asked him why he chose to work at the filling station now instead of building staircases. He simply replied "son, people are not building houses like that anymore. No one will pay for it. Times change." With that he admonished me to run along , and get back into the house. He'd be in directly as soon as he finished the whiskey, and don't tell his wife about the whiskey because that's mans business.

As soon as I came inside I said Sam will be in shortly. To which his wife replied, "he stands out there behind that shop everyday drinking before he comes in--I'll never understand why".

Even as a child I understood why, and when Sam came in he said I had cheered his Christmas up by getting him back into the shop he hadn't been inside for years, and he handed me a Silver Dollar as a Christmas present.

Just after New Years I was told old Sam had passed away unexpectedly, and then right after that Mrs. Sam had passed away from her ailment.

When spring came that year I went back to old Sam's house and found a grouchy mean mustachioed man living there. I asked him if he owned the other three houses too, all he said was go home I have no time for children. Times change, tastes change but people remain the same. Everyone is different.

So Merry Christmas to old Sam looking down on all of us from above, in our nice modern shops. And Merry Christmas to all!

images
 
Yes, great story, Scott.

I got to post another childhood memory I just thought about today. Shortly after Thanksgiving, our local radio station started broadcasting episodes of "The Cinnamon Bear". Every afternoon at, I believe 4:30 all kids sat by the radio to hear the next episode of it. If I remember correctly, It was a story of the Cinnamon Bear a stuffed teddy bear and the children that owned him searching for the lost star that went on the top of their Christmas tree. I have a set of little tapes of it someone gave me many years ago of it. I don't think I have anything that plays those tapes anymore.

Please tell me someone remembers "The Cinnamon Bear" on the radio!
 
Ah yes, the catalogs! We were allowed to pick only one thing. That added a bunch of spice to the looking and trying to decide and we quickly learned there was a maximum price point. Over that and it was a no go. Christmas was also the time for new underwear and maybe new pajamas. Not so much fun. Unfortunately I don't have many good memories of Christmas. For me it was another time when favoritism of the siblings came out. Only two of the four of us were wanted children. That did not include me or my middle brother. To this day we are an estranged family. Sad, but it is what it is. Efforts to rectify that now that the parents are gone have been rejected. A lifetime of negativity is not easy to change. But keep the stories coming of good memories. These days I make my own memories and it is great to have models by way of your experiences.

Excellent time to remove yourself from those times and celebrate...in fact, Brent and Sharon will be here and we have an extra bed, tons of food and gifts everywhere!!! Good time to hang with you bro and friends, sis!
 
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