Christmas

In the 40's and 50's Christmas meant a whole lot more than it does now. We usually didn't have enough dollars for a lot of presents, but we enjoyed the season anyway. We were farmers, so in the years when harvest was good, we got presents, otherwise, we didn't. We very seldom had a Christmas Tree. Our parents felt that spending money for "decorations" wasn't as important as buying food. One year, we got to take the Christmas tree from school " home for the holidays".

I remember one Christmas when Mamma took in ironing so she could buy doll buggies for us. Another year (I think I was 5 or 6 years old) I had a present that sat on top of the piano for awhile. It was a pair of clamp-on roller skates, and I still remember the paper they were wrapped in--red and green stripes on a white background.

The Christmas I remember the best was in 1951. My baby sister, Eunice was born on December 14, and that was the best Christmas present anyone could have. It must have been a good harvest year, because Daddy bought a record player, and I can still hear those old songs, and see what that record player looked like.

That same Christmas, my little sister Sherri (she was 6 years old) got very ill with a ruptured appendix, and was near death for most of the winter. She spent a lot of time in the hospital, and in the Spring, had surgery to remove her appendix. Her doctor was Dr. Walz from St. Francis, KS, and he and his wife got very attached to Sherri during that winter. They gave her a lot of little gifts--among them a "Mother Goose" book.

Sherri recovered very nicely, and is now the editor of this blog!

-- Submitted by Leone Carlson