Christmases Past -- Part 1

Sunday School Christmas programs . . . each child had a line to memorize and recite, as well as Christmas carols to memorize!

Coming out of the German Congregational Church in the “North Bottoms” (Germans from Russia area), after watching my cousins in their Christmas program, to snowflakes the size of silver dollars! It was sooooo beautiful that surely there had been silver dollar sized snowflakes the night Jesus was born! Each child received a brown bag filled with lots of peanuts, lots of candy, a box of raisins, an orange, and an apple. And let me tell you, this was not a little, brown lunch bag like we use today! (I was infant baptized in this church and attended Sunday School there until I was 5 years old.)

Christmas Eve candlelight services at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. A small candle and paper collar was given to each of us as we entered the service. The service ended with the singing of Silent Night . . . the sanctuary lit only by the small candles. To this day, I get emotional singing Silent Night. (I attended this church for 25 years, age 5 to age 30.)

Christmas caroling . . . the youth group and choir going by car to the “old” people and shut ins of this Lutheran congregation. Our singing was rewarded with cookies or candy at each home . . . or were they bribing us to stop singing? The last home we caroled was always at Grannie Christiansen’s. She was one of the founding members of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. Loved that woman. Grannie lived on a farm at the top of a hill on 57th or 58th & Prescott . . . 56th Street was a gravel, country road back then. Her home still stands today. Grannie always had lots of cookies and punch and eggnog for us!

Going to the University of Nebraska coliseum for the Elks annual, children’s Christmas party. The coliseum was packed with kids and parents! And we got a big bag of peanuts and candy as we left! I remember getting up early to go to this . . . sitting on the couch to wake up, with only the Christmas tree lights on. One year, our tree had only blue lights . . . the large bulbs back then! Sitting there in the blue light of the tree with Christmas music playing is very vivid to me still.

There were no malls “back in the old days,” so we did our Christmas shopping downtown! And there was always lots of snow. Gold’s Department Store and Miller & Paine had animated Christmas displays in each of their storefront windows . . . sometimes a live Santa sat in a rocking chair in one of the windows, smiling and waving. Other stores decorated their windows, too, but Gold’s & Millers were the best!

To be continued . . .