Christmas Past....

Jen ask ME a few days ago how many things could I remember getting for Christmas as a Child and how many Childhood Memories did I have of Christmas. Well the number is probably about even....I have few Memories of Childhood Christmases and there are a few things do I remembering getting. There were 2 people that made sure my Christmas was always wonderful...My Mom and her Mom, my Grandma McBee. Back in the late 40's and 50's when I was a Child, Christmas at our house was new PJ's, some new Socks, Mittens, a new School Dress, a new Game, Coloring Books, a BIG Box of Crayons and maybe some new Little Golden Books. But there was always the one BIG Gift that for months you had been asking for. This is usually where Grandma stepped in. Seemed like Mom got us the practical gifts and Grandma would get us the Biggie, the Special, the Impractical Gift. We would always open up all the gifts and just when we thought we were done...we would hear a HO HO HO and the sound of Jingle Bells at our front door. We (ME, my Sis and Little Brother) would run to the door and of course by the time we got the door open all we saw was a stack of gifts. Mom would bring the presents in and we would then have the last hor-rah of Christmas Eve . That is when the very special Gift you had been hoping for all year, was opened complements of Santa (my Uncle Harold did the Ho-Ho-Ho-ing and the bell ringing and of course Grandma, who had somehow, come up with the extra money to get the Special Gifts we had ask Santa for). I have sat and tried to recall some of the Christmas Gifts I recieved as a child and these are all I have stored in my Memory Bank.





These are not my own items. I found these on the web. They are real close if not exact to what I had as a Child.



I remember having this set of these dishes. They were made of glass and made by Fire-King in Jade-ite Green.

I had this Electric Stove. It had a light bulb in it to warm the burners and oven. It really did not cook or bake anything like the EzBake Ovens we have now.

Oh my gosh, this is what every Little Girl Wanted. A Tiny Tears Doll. Well my Sis and I each got one, on Christmas one year.

Grandma bought the Dolls and Mom made us a whole Wardrobe of Clothes for our Tiny Tears. She used some of her old clothing she no longer wore to make the clothes. She made two of everything so each of our babies had their very own wardrobe. I think my Sis still has her Tiny Tears Doll.

This is another Doll my Sis and I got one Christmas. She was called Saucy Walker. This was like the one I recieved. She had dark brown hair and was probably about 24" tall. If you stood her on the floor and held her hands and moved her towards you she would take steps. Sis got the same Doll except smaller and blond haired, because she was younger then ME and had blond hair. I still do not understand that reasoning????

This is the very last Doll that was ever bought for ME. She is a Uneeda Dollikin Doll. I thought she was beautiful and I still do.

She was also called a Manneiquin Doll because she has 16 flexible joints and could be posed like a human. The one I owned was just like this Doll even right down to the Mandarin outfit.

Now this was something I wanted so very bad and my Grandma came through for ME one Christmas. This is when Transistor Radios first came out. It even had a little earphone. I can remember at night when I would go to bed, I would put the earphone in my ear and pull the covers over my head and listen to music on WLS, a radio station out of Chicago.
I just loved that Radio and loved my Grandma for getting it for ME.

I was now at the age where music was such a big thing to ME. Elvis was just getting popular and I was Crazy-Nuts over him, like all the girls my age. Frankie Avalon was a close second. I remember, I told my Grandma I just had to have a record player that played 45 records. So yes, that Christmas I got one. It looked alot like this one. A big heavy case with a handle on it for carring. It was a Gray instead of the Rust color in the picture. Every week-end my Mom and Grandma would go to town and if I went along Grandma would buy ME a 45 record. At one time I had quite a collection.

Grandma got ME this one year for Christmas. I had started staying all night with some of my Girl Friends and also going to Slumber Parties. I so wanted an Overnite Bag and sure enough I got a Samsonite Train Case. Oh my how grown up I felt to own a real piece of Luggage.

I recieved this Type Writer when I was in my Sophomore year of High School and was learning to type. It was not electric, it was manual...you had to pound the keys. It came with a hard case. I think this was a gift from my Mom. I do know my Sis used it and maybe my Brother also, when they were learning typing in High School.

Now I am a Junior and Senior in High School and clothing is a very big thing to ME. There was a dress code. The whole time I went to School I never wore slacks, jeans or shorts to school. We girls had to wear dresses or skirts. And the "in thing" was dressing to the "T". Every day I went to school looking like I was working in an office. My Christmas Gifts were now Shoes, Handbags and Clothes.

One of my favorite Brands was Butte Knitt. I had quite a few Butte Knit outfits thanks to my Mom. My Mom would do without to make sure her kids were dressed nice and we were.

Now why not sit down and try to remember some of your Christmas Gifts....tell your Kids or Grandkids about Christmas when you were a Child. Share your memories with them while you can.

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fEeD ThE biRdS.......