Looking back at Christmas of Old

When I was a child, we never had a Christmas tree, but we had a large nativity scene that we set up on a large table in the living room. It must have been six feet long with stable a foot tall! I realize that when we reminisce about our childhood thins seem a lot bigger than they actually were, but this really was a large scene with mountains and a creche. Sticks held up the canvas to make the mountains--I don't think my mother ever saw a mountain, but she made a good representation of them.

Setting it all up was a big deal, with stones and bushes on the mountain. Of course, the Holy Baby Jesus wasn't put in the crib until we came home from midnight Mass.

I did get to enjoy a Christmas tree elsewhere in the family, though. My cousin June was six days older than I (actually, her mother was my cousin) and since June was so close to me in age, we hung out together. She was two grades behind me, so we had other friends too. Her family always had a Christmas tree, and I used to go to her house at Christmas-time just to look at all the different ornaments. I was fascinated by it all. I remember my cousin Walter lighting the candles on the tree, but only for a short while. Candles on trees could be a dangerous thing, and we had to watch them carefully.I'm not sure how old I was when they went to electric lights, but they became popular around 1936.

We got our first family tree in 1944, during the war, and it was almost impossible to get lights and ornaments, but my niece Pat worked at an independent Five and Dime store and one day they got a shipment of lights--she called me and I went down and bought them. In those days we strung colored popcorn and paper chains. It really was a simpler time.

I am still in love with Christmas tree decorations. When I traveled, I always looked for unusual ornaments, and I have many. I still like to sit and remember where I got them. I know I can't expect others to feel as I do, but I was disappointed in the last several years that no one asked to see my tree, and sometimes it seems more of a chore than a joy to decorate, but I always do and can enjoy it all for a few weeks.