Memories of Christmas past

Each year as Christmas arrives, I think of the magic of believing in Santa when I was a child. Houlton storefronts were something to behold. Dunn Furniture Store located where Goodwin’s Optometry is now on Main Street was always the highlight of the Christmas season with both adults and children. The Dunn’s crew led by Ronnie Craigs and Chick Currie created the most unique window displays of the North Pole and other Christmas scenes. Children pressed their noses against the windows to watch the magical animated elves and trains with lots of glitter and tinsel. Western Auto was on the corner where Modern Beauty is and the windows were filled with all kinds of gift ideas. Children also looked forward to the second floor at Watson’s Hardware next door. There was a great selection of toys and an electric train on display. Every year colored Christmas lights crisscrossed the streets all through the downtown.
“Thank-you, McPartlands for continuing this tradition on Mechanic Street.”
As shoppers strolled up and down the streets of the town, Christmas music played from the corner of the Square. Children shrieked with delight or else hid behind their mother if by chance Santa met them on the street. He always had a candy cane hidden in one of his deep pockets to hand out to each little one while he listened for special gift requests.
One year his headquarters was in a little shop next to the Temple Theatre. It was quite dark inside and the walls were covered with shiny blue and silver foil streamers with lots of white snowflakes hanging throughout. There were also Christmas trees inside and it was very cool, just like the North Pole, I imagined. It was very magical and something I will never forget.
Recalling these childhood days also reminded me of the gatherings of my family. My father was second to the youngest in a family of nine. His brothers and sisters were spread throughout the United States. Our family would sometimes travel to Massachusetts or Connecticut to visit relatives for the holidays. It was not uncommon to have 40 or more for Christmas Day, and I mean day. Everyone arrived by noon to feast on turkey and a vast array of side dishes. After the noon meal, there was just time to wash the dishes and then get ready to provide the evening meal. Back in those days there were no automatic dishwashers, but many helping hands. The desserts were plentiful too, and I can remember one cousin who decided he would try a piece of every pie that was there. Needless to say, he later wished he had not made that choice.
Sometimes we went to my Aunt Ada’s in Massachusetts. She and my uncle lived in a large colonial style house and always had a huge Christmas tree in their living room. Aunt Ada decorated her tree with large glass ornaments as big as grapefruit, and covered it from top to bottom with angel hair. I always thought I would do that too, but needless to say in all the years I have been decorating my own tree I tend to use the long silver icicles like my mother did. Maybe someday I will try the angel hair if it is still available. I haven’t looked for it this year, and hadn’t really thought of it until it was brought up in a conversation and a younger co-worker asked what angel hair was. As I dug into my Christmas decorations this year, I found two small packages tucked away, so I was able to show her what it looked like.
The years we stayed at home for Christmas we either hosted all the relatives on my father’s side who lived here or went to one of my two aunts in the area. My Aunt Elva would place a white gauze cloth covered with glitter under the tree. Then she would arrange a nativity scene there with animals in the stables and fences to surround the collection. The presents had to be located around the furniture and there were often boxes of animal crackers hanging on the tree.
Those were fun times, even though the kids were always assigned to eat in the laundry room while the adults sat at a long table in the kitchen. Those were the days when children were “seen and not heard” and there was no whining and fussing. One did as they were told most of the time. After we ate, we often went out for a sleigh ride or to try out our new sleds.
I remember one year my father painted a sign and put it out on our front lawn with a spotlight shining on it. It said “No Vacancy.” Our relatives arriving from Massachusetts and New York had a good laugh when they drove into the yard late in the evening. They came by way of the old road through the Haynesville woods. Thank goodness for the Interstate now, it makes those long drives much quicker.
Since both aunts and my father have passed away the tradition of gathering for the day with relatives has also. Now my mother and I either spend the holiday with my daughter and her family or they travel from New Hampshire to Maine to spend it here. I miss those earlier times, but appreciate having had those experiences and the memories last a lifetime. It is fun now with grandchildren to create special times and traditions that they will grow to love and remember, too.
Each week as I read through the past issues of the Pioneer Times for my weekly column, “From the Files”, I read many interesting articles. Just recently as I was researching the December issues of 1936; 75 years ago, I was touched by the following front page story. I think after reading these letters from children of the ‘30s, one might take another look at all that we are very fortunate to have.
“Letters, letters and more letters have been received in the office of the Pioneer Times. Letters are addressed to Santa Claus, Sandy Claus, North Pole, Santy Claws and several other variations of spelling have brought messages of desire and need from boys and girls from three to 12 years of age.
Thus far, the letters, many of which contain earnest pleas are from Patten to Blaine.
These notes received to date are utterly unselfish in spirit. Children have asked only for very necessary things, some of them merely urging Santa to remember brothers and sisters or for the children to have rubbers and overshoes are items included on several of the lists.”
One little girl writes: “I am a little girl in fifth grade and I walk a mile and half to school. I would like a pair of mittens and a pair of woolen anklets. And I have a brother who would like some mittens and a warm cap.”
Here’s another, “Dear Santa, I am in fourth grade. My brother is 11 and in the sixth. We have no toys to play with. We both would like a reading book.”
Another letter reads as follows: “Dear Santa, I wish you would remember us kiddies along with the rest of your children, as I don’t expect much. I would like a Shirley Temple doll awful well. Well, Good-bye Santa and a Merry Christmas.”
No matter how cold-hearted or unemotional a person may be, he cannot read many of the letters which pour in without finding a little soft spot in his heart when he considers the need and desire which prompted the pen of the writer.
Another letter reads: “My father left my mother with seven of us. She has kept us together. We are poor and wish you would bring us something good.”
The final letter from a little boy is as follows: “I am a boy and need a warm coat. Daddy is in the woods. I ride a mile and half to school.”
As the days quickly pass to the much anticipated Christmas Day, look around you. What could you do to help someone that may be less fortunate than yourself? Maybe it’s just a card to tell someone they are being thought of, or maybe one could let someone go ahead in line at the grocery store. Maybe one could drop off a few extra groceries to a family in need. Whatever it is, share a little Christmas magic. It might just make a difference in someone’s Christmas and it will truly make a difference in yours.