Remembering Christmas in the 1940′s
Christmas was one of the powerful experiences of my childhood. These joyous times surely must have been just a few years about the time I was ten. But in memory the years are numerous. Waiting for that special season kept me and my brothers counting days and hours through December.
Of course, in school the decorations going up, the singing of Christmas carols, and the drawing of names for exchanging gifts among classmates added to the excitement of the season and whetted my appetite for the big day when I could open my gifts from Santa Claus. Beginning about the middle of December, Dad would bring home treats like oranges and nuts. On Christmas eve we usually went with family to services at Saint Enoch Church and sometimes participated in the pageant.
When I got to bed on Christmas eve, sleep came suddenly even as I was thinking I would never fall asleep. And the next thing I knew, one of my brothers would be whispering that it was time to get up. Or I would hear someone already stirring in the front room below where we always set up our tree. Mom would urge us not to get up until a wood fire was burning in the heater.
We came blurry-eyed and half-dressed down the stairs, but soon we were wide awake. Then we were unable to heed any call except that of the brown paper bags arrayed on the floor around the tree. These had been filled and placed there mysteriously during the night. We were cold but could not find time to put on warm clothes; we needed to go to the bathroom but procrastinated until we danced about the room with our legs crossed, examining the toys and snacking on candy. Then before it was fully daylight, we were outside, testing our new cap-busters or BB-guns.
Ray Outen, Kearney Smith, Kenneth Smith,
and Danny Smith with Cerberus
Tags: 1940's, agrarian society, biographical notes, Christmas, remembrances, rural life, yuletide celebrations
