Christmas in the "olden days"

Poststructural Pub
1

Finally, after years of reminding/goading/pestering, my brother and his wife got all (well, almost all) our old family slides put on a CD and sent it to me. There are some of a Christmas when I was about 4 (maybe 1956). Our tree was undoubtedly cut off a hillside near town somewhere and decorated with a few shiny baubles and tinsel. Although you can’t see it in the pictures, the “tree skirt” would have been a white sheet wrapped around the base of the tree (which was not in water–just nailed to a wooden stand).

The three of us kids (my older brother would have been about 7 and my younger brother about 3) are shown in a few slides clasping our new toys and grinning from ear to ear. I have a new doll, a tiny stove (aluminum?) and a set of small plastic dishes. My older brother is dressed in a Davy Crockett outfit and holds a Davy Crockett “rifle.” My little brother plays with an aluminum barn (animals included). Somebody got a small Radio Flyer wagon and there are a couple of other items I can’t identify. There are still unwrapped gifts under the tree–undoubtedly the puzzle and socks from grandparents and the annual “church book” from my other grandpa. That’s it.

The lights on the tree don’t flash wildly like a Las Vegas Christmas (although we did at some time have bubble lights). There’s no fancy tree skirt and no means for keeping the tree fresh. There are no electronic games, computers, digital cameras, cell phones, DVD players… The entire gift portion of Christmas for five people takes up about five square feet.

Flash forward to a Christmas about 27 years later. I was a poor single mom and my three-year-old daughter’s Santa Claus consisted of a stuffed owl, a couple of stocking-stuffer toys, one or two little books, a clothes outfit, and I think a wagon. It took up a corner of a love seat. We spent Christmas that year with my brother and his wife and their two little boys. Their Santa Claus looked like somebody had robbed Toys-R-Us. It covered the entire seating area of the sofa, the back of the sofa (across the top), and about three feet out onto the floor in front of the sofa. When my brother stood back and surveyed the room, he came and apologized to me! Yes, my daughter noticed.

I don’t know what point I’m trying to make (if any). I was just so struck by the simplicity of our early Christmas and the money frenzy it seems to have become for so many people over the years.

Susan

2

As you know, I am not at liberty to discuss Christmas. But I hear you, and I’m with you.

3

You’re under a gag order?

Susan

4

Well, not exactly, but… Oh, come on, you remember that episode with the one-armed Chinaman, the Christmas tree, the jar of mayonaise, and the motor cycle.

5

Oh my heck–How could I have forgotten that??? But I think you have–it was a jar of catsup/ketchup, not mayo.

Susan

6

A one-armed Chinamen coming at me on a Harley is not my idea of a sleeping dog I’d want to disturb.

We have never been given to ridiculous excess, but my goal for the last several years has been to packpedal the gifting in general. It really cuts down on the stress wear and tear and, it seems to me, everyone feels good about it.

7

The adults in my family have pretty much gone away from the gifts thing now, which is a relief to all of us.

I’ll be spending Christmas day at my brother’s. It’s gonna be “nothing special, just laid back” (his wife’s words). Thing is, they’re lavish hosts by nature. Abundance and taking pains is the norm for them. “Laid back”? I don’t think they’re at all capable of it. I’m mainly going there just to see for myself what their idea of “laid back” could possibly be. :slight_smile:

8

gifting? :really: How about words in the “olden days,” like giving. :slight_smile:

9

[peevishness] American Heritage on using gift as a verb, and by extension, as a gerund –

Gift > has a long history of use as a verb meaning “to furnish with a gift; endow” as in “The world must love and fear him Whom I gift with heart and hand” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning). This sense provides a useful distinction from > give> , for > give > can sometimes be confusing because it means both “to transfer physical possession” and “to transfer ownership.” Unfortunately, the use of > gift > as a verb in Modern English is tainted by its association with the language of advertising and publicity (as in “Gift her with this copper warming plate”). A large majority of the Usage Panel rejected the usage in an earlier survey. When you want clarity, use a substitute such as > give as a gift> , > bestow> , or > donate> .

And so I feel compelled to add my voice to Bloomfield’s and that of the Usage Panel. Thank the marketing wonks for robbing us of this otherwise perfectly good verb.[/peevishness]

10

Thanks for recollection, Susan. I have some 8mm movies from the 50s which evoke similar feelings…

Like many, I get very reflective this time of year. The good part is that to me, the season is what you make it. Even though I know darn well Jesus wasn’t born Dec. 25, I use the season, including the time off work, to think and read more about Him. The older I get, the more Handel’s Messiah actually speaks to me about faith and I actually look forward to hearing it.

I have a pile of post-Da Vinci Code new books that I got out from the library which discuss various non-NT gospels (apocryphal) and such.. I do the shopping I need to do, wishing a bit I could get out from the carousel, but I always feel like whatever I do give is not thoughtless.

We balked at a full-size tree this year and for the first time in my entire life, the “tree” is a potted dinky thing with one strand of lights. My kids are actually a bit upset about it, but I just have had enough with the $45, the cutting off the bottom, struggling to get the thing inside, and shoving aside furniture. I will likely return to the custom next year, but it’s kind of a relief.

And, being on a diet, we are not doing the huge baking this year. I may relent and do just my one classic recipe but I think it’s all okay this year.

I sense many people feel a bit differently this year, based on the stores, which are not as crowded. So much turmoil, suffering, wars and “rumors” of war.

A different holiday season, this. I wonder if I am alone on this.

11

I’m with you also, Susan.
There was a time, or it seems to me, when there was more thought put into a single gift. And now people don’t have the time or patience for thought so maybe they try to make up for quality with quantity. The great American misconception: more is better.
And since this is what today’s children are learning by example (particularly if they watch a fair amount of TV), it will be perpetuated.

The more humans have, the less they appreciate.

12

There is certainly that. We face a new reality, albeit all too belatedly. I can safely say that this is informing my family’s sense of the holidays.

13

Ahh, Christmas at the Claptons…must be rockin’. :smiley:

14

Claptons, Shmaptons. A sweet little old cailleach recently told me I look like Michael J. Fox. I’m a shapeshifter.

As for rockin’, I just pray to high heaven that Paul and Sue don’t put on any show tunes, bless their hearts. I am so over Broadway.

But I’ve prepared a little surprise for them. I’m bringing my pipes, and they don’t know it. And, being family, they won’t be able to hightail it. :smiley:

15

When I first read Tyler’s post, I thought it said “Christmas at the Clampetts”.

16

Nano? :smiley:

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18

I admit it. I sleep in a little pail.

19

The Usage Panel can soak their heads. If it’s good enough for EBB, it’s good enough for me. They have one in Spanish–“regalar”–to give as a gift. Madison Avenue can soak its head too. We need that verb.

20

Oh my. I had no idea that was a real title. :astonished: