Every year we visit with residents of local assisted living homes and hear their memories of Christmas when they were a child. Here are some of the stories from their childhood for you to enjoy.
Anne grew up in a family of eight kids in a small town in Minnesota.
She recalls that times were tough and the family did not have a lot of things.
The kids would hang their every day stockings in the living room in anticipation of getting treats on Christmas Eve. She recalls one year how her brother looked out the upstairs window and said he saw sleigh tracks in the yard. They all began to get excited until her dad yelled up the stairs to get back to bed. The next morning, they came down to find a tangerine, banana, candy and nuts in the stockings.
Christmas was very simple and they usually received one present each from their parents. Usually, it was a new pair of pajamas. Her oldest brother gave her a present one year she really wanted. It was a copy of the book, Little Women. Even though she couldn’t read it by herself yet, it was a treasured gift. The family would open one present Christmas Day and then they headed off to church. She remembers playing the Virgin Mary, holding a doll in a manger scene when she was about six-years old. The noon meal was usually a goose with all the trimmings. Anne hated the stuffing, and her mom would ask her to take the bowl of dressing from the cooked goose to the table and she would cry that she didn’t want to eat any of it. Her grandma would stay with them over the Holidays and make steamed pudding. Anne didn’t like that either.
They all shared the toys they received. One year her brothers received a set of blocks which resembled buildings and they would all arrange them on the living room floor, setting up a miniature village to play with for hours at a time.
As the family grew her mother talked their dad into buying a small farm in the country so the kids would have room to play. They moved to a forty-acre place in the country and had a cow to milk, a pig to raise and chickens to take care of. The farm had a pond to skate on and a hill to toboggan down. Her dad owned a gas station and a bait shop and she remembers going to the river with him as a young child and helping to net minnows for the customers.
Carole grew up with three sisters in the city and recalls her father would get a tree to decorate a couple weeks before Christmas. They would flock the tree and decorate it with balls, lights and strings of popcorn. After Christmas he would set it outside for the birds to eat for the winter. Carole and her sisters would find the wrapped presents when the parents were not home and open them carefully to snoop at what they were getting. Then re-wrap the packages and act very surprised on Christmas morning when the parents gave them each their gifts.
The Christmas meal was oyster stew and chili. She remembers so much food it was unreal. Her favorite was the milk from the oyster soup. Another favorite was lefse with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon sugar.
One year when Carole was ten years old, she had her eye on a guitar in the Used-A-Bit store in town. She looked longingly at it every day when she walked by and was so disappointed one day to see it was gone. Much to her surprise, her parents had purchased it for her and presented it on Christmas morning.
Shirley grew up outside Claremont on a small farm with three brothers and four sisters. Her childhood was lots of fun and she had a great dad who worked very hard. He would cut blocks of ice and sell them for people with ice boxes for keeping their food cool. Folks would come to buy ice at fifteen cents a block and her dad would give the kids change to run into town to buy candy.
One Christmas Eve her dad went to town and bought lots of nuts. The family would sit around until late in the night cracking and eating nuts. Christmas morning they would open presents with often included homemade dresses from her mom. One year she received a great big life size doll. Another year the present was a tricycle she had to share with her sisters. When she was twelve, they all received a bicycle which they shared as well.
Dan was raised in a big family of three boys and four girls on the east side of St. Paul. His dad loved Christmas and always made it a big celebration. They had lots of relatives who would come to spend the day at their house. His mom would cook a turkey or a large ham and all the relatives brought side dishes, desserts, snacks and candies. Someone always brought a fruit cake and it seemed that would last until April. He looked forward to Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving was over.
His parents would hide the presents in a locked room until Christmas eve. They would send the kids down to the basement where they waited while hearing people come and go with boots thumping across the floor upstairs. Finally, they were called upstairs where presents were waiting for them. The presents were mostly toys and some clothes. The older boys got tools and one year the best gift was an electric train and tracks. He had one cheap uncle who would always give him a tie. The kids would make presents for their parents at school. He remembers his mom and dad always seemed happy to open them. The evening slipped by fast and then they were sent off to bed to await Christmas Day.
It was during the depression and WWII years and they didn’t go many places because gas was rationed. The street car was the main mode of transportation. He would ride the street car about a mile to school each day. His older sister dropped out of school and got a job as a housekeeper on the other side of town. Marty, one of his older relatives went to college and ended up playing for a pro football team in St. Louis. He was considered quite a celebrity in the family. They lived by Hillcrest Golf Club and the boys would caddy for money. He only knew one uncle who was wealthy enough to play the 18 hole golf course. His dad worked for the Pioneer Press Dispatch and they printed two papers daily, one morning issue and one evening issue. Dan was hired on as an engraver after finishing with school. In the early days they had one color picture per issue.
