Advent Stories: Memories of Childhood Christmas

I had five brothers and a sister. We grew up in North Dakota during the depression and were lucky to have a shrub in the house. We had real candles on the tree. We couldn't leave the room if the candles were lit or it would set everything on fire. All we knew to do was hang a sock. When I went to check mine, there was an orange on top and that made me happy. There were a few other things in there, and a can of Dutch Cleanser in the bottom. My brother had done that. Everybody thought it was really funny, but I ignored it.

We always went ice skating and that was COLD. I got a doll once from a neighbor. I played with it till all that was left was the head. But I wrapped that up in a blanket and carried it around.

Signe Reasor

2011

It doesn't sound like much now, but when I was a little boy I knew it was getting close to Christmas when Dad would bring home a big box of oranges, apples, and nuts. My family today makes fun of me because I still have to have oranges, apples, and nuts at Christmas. It sure is funny how something so simple made such a memory. I guess sometimes trying to make something perfect we forget the small things that make it what it's meant to be.

Thanks, Dad, till we meet again.

Jerry Messer

2011

The main difference between Christmas when I was a child and now is that we appreciated things. Even little things; that was about all we had. We looked forward to Christmas to get an apple and an orange and a little bag of candy. Kids now days don't appreciate these things.

There were six boys and two girls in my family. My Daddy died when I was five. I can't remember anything about him. We were so poor that we would eat dried apples or peaches for breakfast and drink water for lunch and swell up by supper time. My mother always pretended she liked chicken wings, but she was really leaving the rest of the chicken for us.

Kids had to learn to improvise. We couldn't buy toys. We had to make them. On the Fourth of July we never had fireworks. We would make a nail hole in the bottom of a Clabber Girl baking powder can. We would put some carbide in the can and pour in a little water. Then we would stick a match in the hole in the bottom of the can and it would blow off the lid with a loud noise.

Baker Reasor

2011