Even on our morning drive down to the village we pass by stands of beautiful balsam fir trees ready to be sold and adorn someone’s home with their Christmas tree.
This week we bought our beautiful balsam Christmas wreath, decorated with a big ribbon and pine cones and hung it on the shop door. The churches are all starting to have their Christmas bazaars and their Christmas concerts. We both love to go to St. Andrews when they have a concert of Yuletide folk music.
This year the folk concert is called “Hey Ho the Holly.” One of our highlights is the Christmas Eve service at 4 p.m. with Holy Eucharist Rite II with the Children’s Christmas Pageant.
Well, all of our Christmas cards have been written and sent across the country. We have already a number of Christmas cards from all our friends with wonderful notes in them.
This past week, during all the rain one evening we were sitting in the den, I was reading a great book on the history of old tools and my wife was knitting. We looked over at each other and put down our work and both asked each other what we could still remember about the old time Christmases we used to have as children.
Well, we both came up with many old memories and how we each laughed about it. We both agreed that wages were small back in those days, for our parents. We also agreed that our parents made up for the lack of money by making sure we were always warm, had plenty of food, and a good evening meal.
They always showed plenty of love and affection for all of us. They always took an interest in most everything we did at home and in school.
The Christmas spirit was deeply rooted in both sides of our parents’ families. On both sides of our family, our mothers would make beautiful homemade gifts to be given at Christmas time as gifts.
We both recall that our mothers received beautiful dining room tablecloths, with hand embroidered ornamental needlework scenes, with a very fine crocheted border. We both agreed that our mothers only used these tablecloths on special occasions and they were enjoyed by the whole family on these occasions.
We also remember our cousins and aunts made crocheted bedspreads and all types and sizes of crocheted scarves to cover the tops of stands and bureaus in different family homes.
My wife remembers her mother, as well as her aunts, made all types of doll dresses and gave them as Christmas gifts so they could dress up their dolls and keep them warm during the cold winter. She also remembers her father building her a dollhouse and it even had a four door cupboard with counter tops as well as a table and four chairs. She still has them today.
These were all items made by the hands of loving parents who truly wanted to give their children a happy Christmas.
She also has her first two dolls that were given her when she was two and three years old and Santa got these dolls at E.M. Senters department store on Main Street, Damariscotta in 1932. I also remember my first set of building blocks that Santa brought me, which I played with for hours on hours.
I also recall the first sled Santa gave me and what fun I had using it, and the warm mittens and heavy wool sweater my aunt made for me as a Christmas present. These wool items kept me warm when I used to go sliding on those cold January and February days so many years ago.
Then on Christmas, Santa gave me my first pair of ice skates and I must have been real good because he also gave me a hockey stick and hockey puck to go with them. What fun we used to have skating across the road from our home on a small area with all the local area children.
The fresh cold air would turn our cheeks rosy and red. I kept my ears warm and cozy with the help of a nice handmade wool hat I used to pull down over my ears.
I also kept my neck warm with the wool scarf my aunt made me for another Christmas present. All these items were made for us children by the hands of loving people who wanted to make sure we were warm.
These wool scarves, hats, mittens, and sweaters also kept me very warm when most of us children walked the one mile to school each day during the cold winter days. Back in the early 1940s, the Route One highway was ice covered and no salt was used, just sand and the snow was plowed high on both sides of the highway.
You could see the chain marks in the frozen ice on the highway. Those days most people used chains on their cars and trucks. I recall you could hear them coming a quarter of a mile away. No sidewalks were shoveled and we had to walk in the roadway.
I also recall we wore rubber boots with heavy wool socks inside them. We took the rubber boots off at school and kept an extra pair of shoes at school.
My father and his brothers loved to go snowshoeing in the wintertime. They always wore chopper mittens which were cow hide leather mittens and you could wear a pair of wool mittens inside the leather mittens and this would keep your hands and fingers cozy and warm all day.
So Santa always brought dad a pair of these mittens each Christmas as well as three pairs of heavy wool socks as well as wool shirts.
I also recall my uncle George would tell my parents all he wanted was a pair of buckle up rubber boots and a heavy plaid wool shirt. My mother would always tell dad that her brother was always easy to buy for.
As far back as I recall, my sister and I always left a cup of hot cocoa and some cookies on a stand by the Christmas tree each Christmas Eve for Santa. These are truly wonderful memories of bygone days which linger in the minds of our older generations. We both have often said that wonderful memories of the events when we were young are never forgotten and stay fresh in our minds.
Merry Christmas to all and good health to all for the New Year.
