Tales Of Christmas Past

Remembering Christmas!

By Grandma Rita

     

   

My first Christmas that I remember, I must have been 3 1/2,  Joan 2 1/2 and Eileen 1 1/2.  We lived on the farm.   There was a knock on the door.  I was scared so I hid behind the door as Santa came in.  He had a straw beard and I asked Mother why he had a straw beard.  He wheeled two doll carriages with dolls, for me and Joan. Eileen was a baby and was on the table in a playpen type thing.  This was a very special Christmas for us.

Another Christmas, I must have been about 5 when Elvera was born at my Grandpa Spader's house on January 10th.  We kids were at Grandma Neises' house.  There was Christmas candy and I remember the smell of real little candles burning on the Christmas tree at the bottom of the stairs.  We slept upstairs.  There was apparently no thought given to how dangerous this was, but the tree smelled so good.  I don't remember gifts until we went to the Spader home after Elvera's birth.  The whole dining room there seemed to be full of toys, baby dolls, little jewelry sets etc.  Joan and I would play under the table with our new dish sets.  I loved my grandparents so much.

A doormat into a Newberry's store. Newberry's was
a popular five-and-dime store across the Midwest, similar to Woolworth's.

When I was 7, we lived on 12th St. in Mitchell.  We had a happy St. Nicholas day, December 6, when St Nick threw candy and nuts in the door after knocking wildly!  Mother said Santa was delayed that Christmas (the gifts hadn't arrived from Sears Roebuck yet). When I was 10, Mother was still in the hospital after delivering Gene.  Daddy did his best.  There were only a few gifts, wrapped in white tissue paper and with writing that looked like Daddy's.  We always got oranges and nuts for the holiday and it was a real treat for us.

Dimes back then had an image of the god Mercury on them.
It wasn't until many years later that Franklin D. Roosevelt became President
and worked his way onto the front of the dime, where he's been ever since.
Dimes then were actually made of sterling silver, not an alloy, like today.
In 2016 terms, 10 cents in 1929 during the Depression was worth $1.41 today.

I remember another Christmas when we lived on North Main Street and I was around 13 years old.  My sisters and I had been out selling crepe paper butterflies.  Mother made them one winter to make money.  They were a novelty, made of crepe paper, and miniature clothespins painted with gold gilt.  People would pin them on drapes or whatever.  At first, I was terrified of going up to a stranger's house.  I would knock on the door and say, "Would you like to buy some butterflies? 10 cents each, or three for a quarter?"  We'd  sold a dozen or so, maybe more, that night.  Then, we ran all the way to Newberry's 10 cent store on Main Street.  We bought one gift for each person in the family.  Ten cents for a hankie, 10 cents for little jewelry sets, etc.  Then we rushed home and stood in a line and Mother and Daddy came in and we sang Christmas songs.

This is a 1935 dollar bill.
In 2016 money, it was worth $17.62.
If Great-Grandpa Neises worked 8 hours a day, in today's money he earned $2.20 an hour.

During the Depression, some years were very hard.  Daddy was making one dollar a day and riding to work on a bike. One year, Mother made us flannel pajamas and doll clothes for Christmas.  I'm sure she felt bad that we didn't have more.  The next day, the Lions Club, a charity organization, brought us a big bag of nice toys for each of us.  Daddy seemed embarrassed to accept charity and I'm sure we picked up on that.  We never made a big fuss about those toys and always appreciated the things Mother made for us.

I also remember some Christmas parties at the American Legion.  We got to go because Daddy was a World War I veteran, even though he had not gone overseas before the Armistice.  There was singing of Christmas songs and each child got a bag of nuts, oranges, and other goodies.  If any of our siblings couldn't come due to illness,  they would always give us extra to take home.  No matter what gifts we got, no matter how few, I know we appreciated them.

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From Wikipedia:
Saint Nicholas' Day, observed on December 6 (in Western Christian countries) and 19 December (in Eastern Christian countries), is the feast day of Saint Nicholas.^[2] It is celebrated as a Christian festival with particular regard to his reputation as a bringer of gifts, as well as through the attendance of Mass or worship services.^[3][4] In Europe, especially in "Germany and Poland, boys would dress as bishops begging alms for the poor."^[5]  In the United States, one custom associated with Saint Nicholas Day is children leaving their shoes in the foyer on Saint Nicholas Eve in hope that Saint Nicholas will place some coins on the soles, for them to awake to.^{[2]  --}