Monday, December 31, 2007

2008 - New Year's Resolutions - Carnival of Genealogy



Dave & Diane Rogers with Mum and Na, on a sunny day in Vancouver, B.C.,
Canada, Summer 1952



A New Year’s Resolution

When you are making up that list of New Year’s resolutions why not include somewhere a resolution suggested in Edgar A. Guest’s verse which we print below?

“Take Home A Smile

Take home a smile, forget the petty cares,
The dull, grim grind of all the day’s affairs;
The day is done, come be yourself awhile;
Tonight, to those who wait, take home a smile….”

The Lethbridge Herald, Saturday, December 31, 1927, p. 8. ‘Lights and Shadows’ column by C.F.S.


Diane R’s
Personal Genealogical Resolutions for 2008


Looking back to 2006, when my personal genealogical goal was ‘organization’, I see that one 2006 resolution took me two years to fulfil. In November this year, I finally got an extra shelf in my closet for my genealogy binders and I now have all new bookshelves in my library. Hooray! (And, thanks, son and daughter!)

But I realize a whole genealogical pantry full of shelves won’t hold everything though! (What ever happened to pantries anyway? Such a good idea they were.) Organization is just something we genealogists always have to work on. Let’s accept that and keep moving (backwards).

In 2007, my goals were to look for ‘ancestral siblings’ and ‘Swedes’. I didn’t find every one, but I did keep up with this research throughout the year.

2007, though, seemed to fly by far too quickly, even if it was an interesting year, particularly with the sudden prominence of new ‘networking’ technologies and sites. Footnote, I think, is the most important so far, and certainly the most elaborate, but I’d include ‘Your Archives’ too (The National Archives of the U.K. wiki) and, of course, who can discount Facebook. The younger relatives love it – mine downloaded the ‘We’re Related’ application before I did and so far there are over 500 genealogy ‘groups’ on Facebook.

I feel that in 2008 we’ll see more mergers and consolidation among the commercial companies, but much more participation from on-line genealogists in those projects that emphasize and reward the freer exchange of information. That will include both the non-profits, big and small, and those commercial ventures, like Footnote, which are in creative partnerships with archives, libraries and genealogical societies and offer substantial free components to their members and visitors.

For 2008, I’ve set five main personal genealogical objectives. I believe these are manageable for me. Each can be separated out into ‘smaller steps’ so I can plan my time and each will result in a ‘product’ of sorts so that I can see what I’ve achieved

My 2008 objectives are to:

1. Focus on research that takes advantage of my future travel plans –to Montreal and Detroit and to Sweden. I will first draft background research plans, then plans for ‘on site’ research regarding these people I am particularly interested in:

a) Montreal – Samuel Baxter Scott (1891-1959) and Mamie Stella Harper (1892- 1970), married in Toronto, 1920. They lived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for many years where he worked for the United States Fidelity and Guarantee Co.

b) Detroit – James Scott, born 1861, Nottawa area, Ontario, Canada. Son of John Scott and Catherine McDermid. Lived in Detroit in the 1890’s.

For families of both the above SCOTTs, see my website, SCOTT family: Muiravonside, Dalmeny, Tushielaw, Galashiels, Grangemouth, in Scotland: http://www.tribalpages.com/tribes/mdianerogers

c) Sweden – the AXNER, BROSTRÖM, ERIKSSEN, JOHANNESSON (various), KARLSDOTTER, LÖFHOLM, RYDBERG and ZETTERBERG families. I’ll be working hardest on those JOHANNESSONs.

See my website, AXNER, BROSTRÖM, ERIKSSEN, JOHANSON, LOFHOLM, RYDBERG & ZETTERBERG: SWEDEN TO CANADA: http://www.tribalpages.com/tribes/swedesinbc

Updating both websites with current information will be the first part of my background research.


2. Scan and organize more family photographs, starting early this year with

a) the few photographs of my baby brother and myself (see above) and the childhood photographs of my nieces,

b) then the Newdale photographs from my mother and grandmother.

As I scan more photographs, I will continue to work on keeping myself reasonably organized and I will continue to BACK UP my data each Wednesday. (That’s my ‘anti-procrastination day.) I will also start using Mozy as one of my backup solutions.


3. Blog more! I’ve just started with the Carnival of Genealogy and I’ve had fun, so I do want to continue. And, as a bonus, my family is reading my blog, if only to see if their own photographs might appear.

It is time to upgrade this blog template. I’ll look after that and add some useful links and other information as quickly as I can.


4. Haul out one of the dusty ‘Round Tuit’ projects from my virtual closet. (Quick! Who remembers Fibber McGee’s hall closet?)

For this year, I’ve placed on my computer desk the Newdale, Manitoba, Canada genealogy website I’ve been planning for ages — time to get uploading. Watch for an announcement here soon.


5. Investigate new-to-me ways to illustrate my family history, especially any which may interest the many ‘non-gens’ in my family.

a) Recently, I was at a seminar with Legacy Family Tree’s Geoff Rasmussen and learned more about two useful sounding programmes: ‘Passage Express’ for multimedia family history CDs and ‘Map my Family Tree’. I’ve acquired this software and am eager to check these out.

Since I have already a file of photographs and information ready for my CARMICHAEL and GILCHRIST families from Islay, Scotland, I will test ‘Passage Express’ with these.

‘Map my Family Tree’ is supposed to search for 3.3 million place names from around the world – my people are mostly from North America, the U.K., Ireland and Sweden, but also from Macau. Apparently it’s easy to add places not included, and I suspect this programme will quickly point out some errors in my data. I hope it will help me correct those easily. ‘Map my Family Tree’ should also help me with a map or two for my Newdale website.

I’d like to try out some timeline software as well, but I’ll leave that till I see how my initial objectives are working out.

b) I’ll continue with scrapbooking. Currently, I plan to do more about myself and my brother – I’ll be using my ‘Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories’ posts soon in a few pages. (I may well illustrate the ‘teapot incident’, brother dear.)

c) I’ve thought of a family cookbook before. Writing out some recipes at Christmas brought this idea back to mind. I will likely mull this project over for a while yet though. I see there are lots of ideas on-line about producing family cookbooks. But, would my family really want grandma’s recipes for Christmas Pudding or Dandelion Wine? Perhaps an all-cookie recipe book instead? Mmmm…

Have a happy New Year everyone – especially my baby brother and his wife as they celebrate their wedding anniversary tonight on New Year's Eve!

Links:

The Lethbridge Herald quote was located on NewspaperARCHIVE, through the Godfrey Memorial Library. Paid subscriptions available individually or through Godfrey. See http://www.godfrey.org/ or http://www.newspaperarchive.com/

Footnote: http://www.footnote.com/

Your Archives, TNA UK:
http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/

Passage Express: http://www.passageexpress.com/

Map My Family Tree:
http://www.progenygenealogy.com/map-my-family-tree.html

Legacy Family Tree: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/

Mozy: http://mozy.com/

Just need a nudge to keep your resolutions? Try HassleMe’s free prompts: http://www.hassleme.co.uk/

Edgar August Guest (1881-1959), the 'People's Poet', Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Guest

The Unofficial Fibber McGee and Molly website: http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/agirard/fibber/review.htm

Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Babies - 1926, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Rogers family Christmas card, no date or other information.
Sent from one of the family cats to another.


Christmas Babies,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 1926

- from the Manitoba Free Press,
Monday, December 27, 1926, p. 4

Christmas Day is Observed With Traditional Feasting and Merriment in Winnipeg.

At least four Christmas babies were born in Winnipeg in 1926 –all were girls born at Grace Hospital.

First came Mr and Mrs. E. MANN of Winnipeg’s baby – born “when Christmas was but 54 minutes old”.

Later came the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. R. J. GILLESPIE of Sperling, Manitoba, and of Mr. and Mrs. A. ENGLISH and Mr. and Mrs. Hugh HUMPHREY, all of Winnipeg.

I wonder if any of these little girls were named Merry, or perhaps, Noel?

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Christmas Eve - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories


Dave and Diane, "A Childhood Memory Photograph", Xmas 1954, Woodwards Wonderful Toyland, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Photographer, Gwynne.


December 24 - Christmas Eve
How did you and your family spend Christmas Eve?


Christmas Eve was ‘family time’ when we were children. Sometimes my Na came over, but usually I think it was just my mum and dad, my brother and myself. I’m sure we children were jumping up and down part of the night, anticipating Christmas morning. Did we want to ‘be good’ and go to bed early, just in case Santa was watching? Maybe - we received a present on Christmas Eve, once we were all ready for bed, so we had an additional incentive.

Before that though, the house was a busy place. Dad had rushed out to find a tree as soon as the office closed. Sometimes he took my brother and me with him. Mum probably walked up the street to the corner store for some last minute bits and pieces for Christmas dinner. (No malls or big box stores in the olden days and no freezer at home either.)

Once at home, mum started preparing for Christmas Day – we kids had to clean off the dining room table which would be covered with Christmas wrap and supplies. Mum had already cooked a ham, (on the Day, she’d cook a turkey too) and the house was already shined up and ready, so for Christmas Eve, she made soup from the ham bones and we had ham soup and sandwiches for dinner. I would bet money that dad thought that a better meal than Christmas dinner, except for ‘no dessert’ – he wouldn’t eat turkey, didn’t want to be in the house while it was cooking and wouldn’t look at it on the table.

A few years, there was a bit of stress, for sure. My brother has reminded me of the year Dad, the Christmas-Eve-tree-shopper, couldn’t find a tree for sale anywhere, so took off in the car with my brother, found one somewhere (don’t tell where) and cut it down, chopping his leg in the process.

But most years, it was just busy for the adults - Mum in the kitchen cooking or elsewhere wrapping gifts for Na or for her best friends who often came to Christmas dinner with us, and Dad in the living room, trying not to swear, as he drilled holes in the Christmas tree to plug in extra branches to make the ‘last tree on the lot’ look better. (I am NOT kidding!)

We’d have some music on the record player or, in later years, we’d watch one of the Christmas specials on television. (We didn’t get a television till years after everybody else in the neighbourhood. Honestly, my parents!)

Once the tree was ready, Dad would put the strings of lights on, and we’d decorate it with the same old ornaments, some from my Rogers grandparents, and add any new ones we children had made that year. As far as I knew, almost every family did it like this, except for the tree business, that is. My friends’ families all had had their Christmas trees ‘up’ for ages and ages by Christmas Eve.

Since we were never away from home for Christmas as children, this Christmas Eve tradition was rarely broken. Santa never had to look hard for us, thank goodness. We were right there on Yukon Street where we were supposed to be, and yes, we had a chimney, so that wasn’t a worry either. (I remember my grandson fussing that my apartment didn’t have a ‘real’ chimney, so I hung a key on the outside door knob for Santa to use.)

One year I know the Easter Bunny had to search for the Rogers children, but found us in a California hotel room. I wondered then how Santa, the Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy managed to find all the right children. (Now I’d just want to wear a GPS transmitter.)

In a 1926 Winnipeg paper, there’s a nice story about Santa’s finding one little girl on Christmas Eve in a Canadian National sleeping car as the train clickety-clacked along the rails somewhere near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg, Canada
Monday, December 27, 1926, p. 2

“Nothing, Not Even a Train, Can Keep Santa Claus Out”

….Who would ever think that… [Santa]… could squeeze in through the transom of a sleeping car on the train, and the train speeding along through the night? He did it Christmas eve not to far out of Winnipeg.

You see, little Dorothy lives in Vancouver, and instead of being home to welcome Santa she was in a berth on the Canadian National railway on the way home. Christmas eve found her in Winnipeg, traveling from the east with her mother. She was greatly worried was little Dorothy. … She decided to pin her stocking to the green curtains and her faith to the good old saint.

Now the passengers came to hear about it, and they put their heads together…[Her mother had only a “few small things”.] So they took up a collection, and during the stop in Winnipeg sent one of their number out on a rush to shop.

That’s how it came about that the engineer was amazed to see a flock of reindeer sweeping down to the train out of the sky that night, so amazed that he didn’t think to wave back at the jolly red figure with the white beard that was driving them…. Santa stuffed Dorothy’s stocking so full that it nearly burst, stuffed the little string hammock by the window in the berth…waved his mitt, disappeared, jumped into his sleigh and out across the sky like the flash of a meteor. And in the morning when little Dorothy awoke - !


See, even Santa sometimes needs a little bit of help. I figure Dorothy’s fellow passengers must have been on Santa’s ‘nice list’ ever after.

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night", especially to my baby brother!

Links:

The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories:
http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

“Night Before Christmas” by Major Henry Livingston, Jr.:
http://iment.com/maida/familytree/henry

Saturday, December 22, 2007

December 23 - Christmas Sweetheart Memories

Well, this is a pretty personal topic!

I will say that Christmastime does not figure prominently in my romantic memories, so this post will be short and sweet. Really, I’m more likely to be thinking, or even humming, ‘Santa, Bring My Baby Back to Me’ or “Blue Christmas” or better yet, ‘I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair’. (Christmas does happen in the South Pacific, after all.)

But one song, ‘Winter Wonderland’, does always remind me of the first boy I really, really, really liked. Our school choir practiced and practiced this song one December in the gym. I can’t imagine him being in a choir – but he must have been hanging around, smiling (and combing his hair, no doubt). Sigh...

Happy Christmas, K, wherever you may be.

See Winter Wonderland’s lyrics here & don’t miss the Christmas Quiz: http://www.carols.org.uk/winter_wonderland.htm

See more Christmas Sweetheart memories:
http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Christmas Time Fun - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

Snowshoers, at Newdale, Manitoba, Canada, about 1911? Postcard, Family Collection (I bet Henson was the photographer.)

As identified by my grandmother, Amy Estella Scott (née Irwin) - Mrs. Henson, Mrs. Hodgins, Mrs. S. Young, Mrs. Blaikie, Mrs. Craik, Mrs. L. Murphy, Mrs. B. Thompson, Mrs. Onhauser (Dr. Mrs.[?]), self, Miss Hunter.

December 22 - Christmas Grab Bag

From the little my Na and mum said, I have the impression that Christmas itself was a sedate day in Newdale, Manitoba at the turn of the century and in the 1910s and that the religious significance of Christmas was uppermost in people's minds.

But this doesn't mean they didn't have fun. My Na was always a good sport, and I'm sure she and her friends, and later my mum and her friends, took every chance they could to have fun in Manitoba's very Christmassy weather. There are several photographs like this - curling was another winter sport and Newdalers, like William Lavery, were well known for their expertise.

And, I found this piece in the Winnipeg paper which suggests that many others had fun too.


From the Manitoba Daily Free Press, Winnipeg, Canada
Friday, December 25th, 1891, p. 8

CHRISTMAS DAY

What Winnipeggers May Do and Where They May Go.

They may go to witness or participate in the curling matches between the Thistles and Granites, morning and afternoon.

They may witness the hockey game at the Thistle rink this morning or enjoy a skate in the afternoon or evening.

They may go home for Christmas turkey – if not invited elsewhere or told to stay away.

They may take advantage of the opportunity to visit friends or relatives outside of the city.

They may hear the Music concerts at the Princess opera house morning and afternoon.

They may go to the Christmas cantata by Zion church Sunday school to-night.

They may attend the children’s cantata at Wesley church in the evening.

They may go to the welcome meetings given by the Salvation Army.

They may visit the Assiniboine and watch the soldier boys play hockey.

They may go to the Scandinavian Sabbath school festival this evening.

They may attend divine service at several of the city churches.

Many will go where they want to and do what they please.

They may go to the shooting match at Silver Heights.

They may go to the toboggan slide afternoon and evening.

They may enjoy a sleigh or cutter ride.
_______

Whatever your weather, enjoy the world this week.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/


Christmas Music - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

December 21 - Christmas Music

What songs did your family listen to during Christmas? Did you ever go caroling? Did you have a favorite song?

I did go Chrismas caroling in groups, but with the Guides or the Explorers, not with friends in a casual neighbourhood event, at least not that I remember. We did listen to Christmas music all the time in late December– it was on the radio and television and on records as sung by Bing Crosby, Perry Como, and Robert Goulet. We must have had some jazz or big band versions as my dad loved jazz.

I do remember singing Christmas songs and hymns a lot – at church, at school and at home and I remember tapping my feet at holiday concerts of the Vancouver ‘Beefeater Band’ – my brother played in it.

Although where I live it doesn’t snow much (except on the mountains where snow really belongs), I still like the wintery songs the best, ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and ‘White Christmas’, for example. These were among the most popular ones when I was younger, along with ‘Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer’ and ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’.

I’m listening to Elvis - ‘Why Can’t Every Day Be Like Christmas’ right now. In my teens, Elvis sang ‘Merry Christmas, Baby’ and ‘Peace in the Valley’.

I mustn’t forget another favourite of my 'youth' - ‘Jingle Bell Rock”. I don’t remember dancing to that, but I’m sure I did as we went to dances all the time.

For many more memories of Christmas music: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Christmas and Deceased Relatives - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories


ROGERS family plot, Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1954


December 20 - Christmas and Deceased Relatives

Did your family visit the cemetery at Christmas? How did your family honor deceased family members at Christmas?


I don’t remember that we ever visited the cemetery as a family at Christmas, although I do recall many visits to Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver, Canada, where most of our deceased family members were buried in B.C. My dad used to visit his parents’ graves for birthdays, and since his father’s birthday was December 20th, so close to Christmas, Dad probably counted that as a Christmas visit. I don’t remember our taking any flowers or wreaths, but Dad may have.

My grandpa, Joe Rogers, worked at Mountain View as a gardener, and as a young boy, my dad had worked with grandpa, so he was very familiar with the cemetery and used to tell us stories which I now wish I had paid much more attention to.

I’ve not made regular visits to the cemetery myself until recently. I’ve sometimes wondered why, given my interest in the past. There’s now an annual ‘A Night for All Souls’ event at Mountain View Cemetery which I’ve been attending and I’ve gone to the various graves then. Sometimes I’ve gone on Remembrance Day as well, as both my parents were in the Canadian Army.

Since there is rarely much snow here, it wouldn’t be any problem to go at Christmas or perhaps on Boxing Day. I love the idea of the grave blankets Creative Gene shows in the post on this same subject, but those may not be allowed here. Still both my parents would be happy with some holly, I expect, as our childhood house had two holly trees and we always decorated with holly - likely Grandma and her parents, my GGrandma & GGrandpa (Staines; Saggers) too -holly seems pretty ‘English’, like them.

We certainly knew about our three grandparents who’d died, and my dad’s brother, David, who died as a boy, and my great uncle ‘Bert’ who was killed in World War I. Many things in our house and my Na’s apartment came from family – not only photographs, but chairs and tables - so I think I felt they were ‘there’. (My bedside table as a child and now was Bert’s ‘smoking’ cabinet.)

I still have many things from family around me – I believe I find this comforting, and yes, still chairs and tables. The desk I’m writing on was my mum’s. The table my printer and scanner sit on was my grandpa Joe’s, my favourite reading chair was aunty grandma's. (My kids just think this is weird or maybe, cheap. Have I mentioned they’re not into the family history thing? Yet…)

There wasn’t much talk at Christmas directly about deceased family. I would guess my parents and Na wouldn’t have thought that appropriate ‘around the children’. My Na did talk often about her husband, my grandpa Scott, who died before I was born, but almost always in the context of their busy life with friends and family in Newdale. She never dwelt on sad things and I never guessed till years later about the hard times they must have had. She and my mum did ‘reminisce’, of course, sometimes. They didn’t talk much about Christmas or death, but there were many happy times associated with December too, as many people in my family were born or married then, even some married on Christmas Day, which used to be more common.



See the entire Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/



December 19 - Christmas Shopping

How did your family handle Christmas Shopping? Did anyone finish early or did anyone start on Christmas Eve?

Ah, Christmas shopping -that's just what I was doing today...

I'm not sure about my brother, but I know I used to Christmas shop early at rummage sales and bazaars when I was young- a pretty little Chinese vase for mum (I have one still), an Ellery Queen mystery for Dad, and probably a little truck for my little brother, and maybe some bath salts from Woolworth’s for Na (what ever happened to bath salts anyway?).

We made things too – at school or at Sunday School. Partly this was because I had very little money of my own. My allowance was once 25 cents every 2 weeks, but I was always paid a bit for helping in the family office, and later I had a Star Weekly paper route. (Who remembers the Star Weekly, 1910-1973?) Partly it was because I was at a lot of sales - as soon as I was big enough, I was 'volunteered', and there were lots of sales through the year with good stuff - held to raise money for the church, my brother's band, school, and my mum and Na's various ladies' groups.

My mum must have started shopping early too as she was always well organized. I know she had Christmas lists since she wrote them in shorthand, so that my brother and I couldn't get any hints!

She and my dad ran a business, so there couldn't have been much time for either to shop. (I doubt my dad did much shopping anyway - he was the Christmas-Eve-tree-shopper). The other reason I'm sure mum was an early shopper is because early on she would warn us well away from the 'attic room' where she kept her sewing fabric and the odd boxes, like those with the Christmas decorations. That's where any presents were hidden.

My dad was the Christmas Eve day shopper, I bet. I remember a few presents he got mum - some she didn't like! One year though he registered her for a 'present a month' club that someone had told him about. Every month she got something from a different country - I remember a crystal deer from Sweden and a ceramic box from Czechoslovakia. Even then I thought this was a wonderful idea. (Still do!) Another year he bought her some Charlie perfume - she did like that, and from the time I was about twelve, we nicknamed mum 'Charlie'. (Better than calling out for 'mum' in public.)

For more about Christmas shopping, see the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, December 19: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Friday, December 21, 2007

Christmas Stockings - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories


Dave and Diane with Santa in Eaton's Toyland, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. 1957?


December 18 - Christmas Stockings


Did you have one? Where did you hang it? What did you get in it?

Like all my friends, my brother and I always had Christmas stockings. In fact, I still have mine. It is very faded and worn in places, but still has my name on it written in glitter paint.

On Christmas Eve, we’d hang our stockings on nails stuck under the living room fireplace mantel and in the morning when we came downstairs we’d find them on the hearth all lumpy looking with treats stuffed in them – always a Japanese orange and a candy cane, sometimes some nuts. Along with the sweet things were a present or two wrapped in tissue, usually something useful like socks and something pretty or sparkly for me– jewellery or, for my long hair, barrettes or hairpins, and a little toy or two, ones that would fit in the stocking.

We were allowed to ‘open’ our stockings when we got up – or rather, when our parents got up - but for our other presents from Santa, we usually had to wait till after breakfast.

** I forgot to mention that we never, never got coal in our stockings. I do remember the saying though.

And, my parents and my Na didn't have Christmas stockings then (although maybe the cat did?) but much, much later, I used to do up a stocking for my mum.

Now I notice that, at many houses, everyone in the family has a Christmas stocking - when did this start, I wonder? I know that the idea of presents in stockings is 'old', but it seems to me that it was associated only with children. This is not a bad change though! My all grown daughter says stockings are the best thing about Christmas.

To read more Christmas Stocking memories, go to: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Christmas Church Services - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories


# 693 "Hope" in The Book of Praise, Authorised By The General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Canada, With Music. Toronto: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1918. Revised from the 1897 version. Music by Herbert Stephen Irons, words by Samuel Longfellow.

December 17 - Christmas Church Services


Did your family attend religious services during the Christmas season? What were the customs and traditions involved?

We did go to church as children; even my father often attended at Easter and Christmas. My Na was always there. She felt herself a lifelong Presbyterian, I think, although she was active in the United Church after the union of Canada’s Methodist, Congregational, and General Council of Union and most of the Presbyterian Churches in 1925.

Unless Christmas was on a Sunday, I don’t think there were any special services – I remember going to church Christmas Eve only as an adult. We certainly sang Christmas hymns and in Sunday School, I’m sure we must have had projects to do and I know there were Christmas plays. My memories there are pretty slim. I remember the bake sales and bazaars before Christmas better.

I wonder what my Na and later my mum and Na (her mum, my grandmother) did for Christmas when young? I don’t think they ever talked about it and I don’t see anything in my Newdale, Manitoba, Canada history book about Christmas. I’m sure my families attended the Presbyterian Newdale Church services –my ‘aunty grandma’, Maggie Drummond, née Irwin, was an organist. (Aunty grandma was my Na’s sister.) William R. Lavery, who my grandfather, Walter Scott, was in business with later, taught Sunday School at the turn of the century. My Na and W.R. Lavery were good sports in Newdale too - more later maybe on winter recreation.

I had a look in some of the hymnals passed down to me. Most of the seasonal hymns were very dour but I did find this pleasant one with Longfellow’s words in a book that belonged to my family in Newdale.

"O God! Who giv’st the winter’s cold,
As well as summer’s joyous rays,
Us warmly in Thy Love enfold,
And keep us through life’s wintry days. Amen."

Click on the December 17 ornament for more Church Service Memories, in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories : http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Christmas at School - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

Miss Henderson's class, 1958, Simon Fraser Elementary School, Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

December 16 - Christmas at School

What did you do to celebrate Christmas at school? Were you ever in a Christmas Pageant?


School Days…school days…this question drew almost a complete blank from me. Since I’ve never liked ‘performing’ in public, maybe my mind has just closed off embarrassing memories. (Hope they don’t come back in some middle-of-the-night-mare!) I do remember some school events I was in, but for school Christmases, I only remember singing carols with my elementary school classes and with the high school choir. I dimly recall Christmas concert scenes and, even better, receiving candy canes. Wonder what my brother remembers? He’s a bit more outgoing!

Organizing carol singing must have been a challenge in my elementary school, as many children were just learning English and English was then the ‘only’ language for school. Most of the teachers, though, I understood, wanted to work at that particular school. A few were definitely eccentric, but I owe those ones the most, Miss Henderson here, for example.

I was a very early reader, but I don’t think I appreciated the ‘sound’ of words till being in Miss Henderson’s class. She could recite poems and, in class, she often did. She made us do this too. I don’t recall her singing, but I’m sure she saw to it we were word perfect before Christmas. I remember she had us do eye exercises to strengthen our sight, and was she the ‘every day in every way I’m getting better and better’ teacher? I think so. (Seems she was way, way ahead of her time there! But that’s from Émile Coué’s work [1857-1926]. ) Alas, some of the bricks behind us in this photo are all that’s left of my elementary school building – it was torn down some years ago; a ‘modern’ building replaced it.

As for carols, we sang all the obvious ones – from “Jingle Bells” to “O, Holy Night”. (No idea then that hymns might be offensive to some.) I know we sang some ‘newer’ songs – like “Here Comes Santa Claus” written by Oakley Haldeman and Gene Autry (my very, very favourite movie cowboy. Jay Silverheels was next, but he didn’t sing). I had no idea till writing this that 2007 is the 60th anniversary of that song (and the Gene Autry Centennial).

Peace on Earth! It’s Winter Solstice today!

Links:

Gene Autry’s Cowboy Christmas: http://www.autry.com/clubhouse/christmas/index.html

‘Christmas lights synchronized to "Here Comes Santa Claus" by Gene Autry’, from pqholidays, on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5-OC_5rksk&feature=related

See the full Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories here: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Christmas Photographs - Lost Memories - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

December 15 – Christmas Photographs – Lost Memories




Here is a Christmas card, found in my Rogers grandparent’s photograph album, that illustrates one of my pet peeves – people who write cute messages on cards, but leave few clues to the future family researcher.

Yes, I’m sure Grandmum knew who these people were– but were they family or, as my father used to say when pressed, ‘somebody she knew from church’? Look at those flags – was this taken on the Queen’s birthday? on Dominion Day? In Vancouver? And is that “Clive’s little son” ??


What do my cousins think?

Today it’s Author’s choice, so please click on the December 15 ornament to read the variety of posts from the Advent Calendar bloggers: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Fruitcake - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

Sarah Saggers and Joe Rogers, with their two children,
George and David, at South Vancouver, B.C., abt 1920
(P.S. Happy Birthday, Grandpa!)

December 14 - Fruitcake – Friend or Foe?

First off, I need to make this clear – I love fruitcake! Can’t imagine Christmas (or weddings) without it. And, can’t understand why others, like my kids, don’t like it and even make fun of it.

So there!

The other thing I love, closely related, would be ‘The Christmas Pudding’.

When I was growing up, things English were still thought of as the norm here by many. British Columbia, Canada, had a lot of ‘born English’ residents, after all, like my grandmum, who came in 1907 to Vancouver(although I wouldn’t say English immigrants were welcomed later in the 40’s and 50’s.) But by the time I went to school, things were changing. Some of my friends had been born in other parts of Europe, and, in their homes, there were lots of good things to eat that I had never tasted before.

There are times when the comfort of ‘tradition’ is wanted though, as at Christmas. Yes, we had fruitcake, and pound cake with cherries, even cookies with a variety of dried fruit in them. We had mincemeat tarts or pies – my mother’s Beta Sigma Phi group used to make mincemeat in big batches and sell it at bazaars.

But at Christmas dinner, we always had Xmas pudding too. My mother had a special big pot for boiling/steaming it. (I think she bought the pudding 'ready made' many years, but don’t tell. She wasn’t English, that’s for sure, but a prairie girl from Manitoba.) One year, she tried to ‘flame’ it as I’ve mentioned before. One year for sure I know the pudding had favours in it – I think Canadian dimes, not charms. (Maybe this was thought of as hazardous; it certainly wasn't done every year.) We always ate the hot pudding with ‘hard sauce’ – made with butter, sugar, eggs, a bit of milk and some vanilla flavouring, (no whisky or brandy for us).

Many years ago, when my dad finally let me root through his ‘Rogers box’, which held the few papers left by my Grandma and Grandpa Rogers, I found my grandma’s recipe. Here it is, as she wrote it out.

Xmas Pudding – from Sarah Frances Rogers, née Saggers (born Bassingbourn, CAM, England, 1877; died Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1954)

½ lb beef suet
½ lb sultanas
½ lb currants
¼ lb bread crumbs
2 cups blanched almonds
1 lemon juice & grated rhind
5 eggs
½ tea spoon salt
¼ tea spoon nutmeg
½ “ “ mixed spice
½ “ “ mace
1 table spoon of molasses
½ lb rasins
¼ lb flour
½ lb brown sugar
¼ lb mixed peel
1 orange juice & rhind

(Makes) 2 medium bacins

Grandma has made a note that she omits the almonds – I’d keep them in!


Again, from Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol”

“.…the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.

Oh, a wonderful pudding!....”

Do you agree? See more Fruitcake memories at: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Christmas and the Arts - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

December 13 - Christmas and the Arts

Did your family attend any special events or performances during the holidays?

When I was young, we didn’t attend many big concerts or events, but we participated in Christmas plays at our church. I don’t really remember much but I think I was a little star once or twice. Later I sang in choir, so those are the concerts I remember. (I still can’t read music though.) The girls’ groups I was in did some caroling at Christmas too– Explorers and Guides.

For the longest time, I was very interested in ballet and my mum did take me to see the Nutcracker ballet at Christmas at least once. After I was twelve or so, we finally ! got a television set at home and from then on, I think, that provided our Christmas entertainment. There were always special shows at Christmas – not only movies, but Christmas news, like the arrival of aluminum Christmas trees from the United States in 1960 and also ‘specials’ from our favourite entertainers - remember Ed Sullivan and ‘Wayne and Shuster’? And, on Christmas Eve, we listened to the CBC radio reporting sightings of Santa as he travelled across the DEW line and on down south and then on Christmas Day we listened to CBC again – to hear a recitation of 'A Child's Christmas In Wales', Dylan Thomas' piece, still one of the best Christmas stories, I feel.

Links:

“Aluminum Christmas trees come to Canada”, Dec. 22, 1960, CBC Radio clips: http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-69-1010-5677-11/on_this_day/life_society/aluminum_trees

“Tracking Santa Claus”, (see the ‘Did You Know’ section for some history) Broadcast Dec. 24, 2001, CBC Television clips: http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-1552-10477/conflict_war/norad/clip9

For more Christmas posts, do check out the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Charitable/Volunteer Work - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

December 12 - Charitable/Volunteer Work

Did your family ever volunteer with a charity such as a soup kitchen, homeless or battered women’s shelter during the holidays? Were you able to make the holidays special for someone less fortunate?

Here’s a hard one – the short answer is ‘maybe’ or ‘I hope so’. We always put some money in the Salvation Army kettles, mind you, and my parents donated money to ‘worthy causes’ (probably around Christmas because it’s the end of the tax year -they were both thrifty and organized) and at church I know we collected food, clothes, etc. for ‘the poor’ or for missions in other countries, but that was year round, (more especially at Easter and Thanksgiving). I don’t remember a special emphasis on Christmas donations in our family until much later. The local newspapers always appealed for money around Christmas and I do know my parents supported the CKNW radio station’s year round Orphans’ Fund which has a pledge day early in December.

Now here there are Christmas food and toy bank committees at work places, as well as many other appeals around Christmas time. Christmas is a time of year when many people do think of ‘giving’. It’s really the rest of the year when help is needed more now, I think. The Food Bank here promotes mid year giving with ‘Christmas in July’, and some businesses, like SPUD (Small Potatoes Urban Delivery) where I get groceries make it easy to support charities all year, in SPUD’s case, Quest Food Exchange.

After all, didn’t Charles Dickens say it best: "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

Links:

CKNW Orphans’ Fund, helping children year round since 1945: http://www.cknw.com/orphans/index.cfm

Greater Vancouver Food Bank: http://www.foodbank.bc.ca/main

Quest Outreach Society: http://www.questoutreach.org/

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: http://www.stormfax.com/dickens.htm

And, for more posts on this theme, go to the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, December 12: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Holiday Travel - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

December 11 - Holiday Travel

Did you travel anywhere for Christmas? How did you travel and who traveled with you? Do you remember any special trips?

We didn’t have Christmas anywhere else but home when I was young, but when my own children were small, Christmas was at the grandparents’ houses. For a few years, we moved out ‘to the country’, so we four would stay in the city overnight, having one dinner Christmas Eve at my parents-in-law’s home, another Christmas Day at my mum and dad’s. The kids looked forward to this journey with glee.

My husband comes from a big family, so Christmas Eve meant a houseful of people – and lots of talking and music from the player piano. My parents’ place was very quiet compared to that, with just the six of us. The kids were still excited though, till long after we went home.

I tried to have my children’s photographs taken each year as my parents did for us. We'd then give these pictures to the grandparents for Christmas. This is a favourite from the ‘country years’. (My grandson will be interested, but I won't embarrass my kids with names and dates.)

Check out other holiday writing here: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Christmas Gifts - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories



Here's the Rogers (& Scott) family, all dressed up. No date, but I'd say about 1956? at Vancouver, B.C., Canada



December 10 - Christmas Gifts
What were your favorite gifts, both to receive and to give?

Ah, presents! For kids, isn’t that the big thing about Christmas?

Well, I’ve already complained about the 'one for two', birthday/Christmas presents, so ‘nuf said about that, but I do remember some small presents we gave each other. Even for our neighbourhood, which wasn’t that well off, these were a bit unusual.

I believe I always got a book or two. Books aren’t really unusual, but I had, and I wanted, more books than any kids I knew. I used to hide behind the couch to read so I wouldn’t have to ‘go and play outside’. The floor lamp there even had a light in the base for me to read by. Some of these books are now my treasures, for example, the English childrens’ book one of my great aunties gave me. Oh, yes, I have that floor lamp still too. The thing about the Christmas (and birthday books) was that they were new. Most of my books came from rummage sales and the like, (still do!) but a 'present' was always a brand new one.

I remember new mittens, and I think I remember new flannel nighties for Christmas. I remember a kaleidoscope one year. Beside these, many times there was a can of black olives wrapped up for me, labeled ‘Do Not Open Till December 25th”. I do still love olives!

My dad almost always got that jar of pickled walnuts – his very favourite. (Ugh!) And sometimes – close your eyes, children – we gave him a wrapped up package of cigarettes. (He quit smoking when my brother was about twelve.)

Some years my mum wrapped up a little cartwheel of cheeses too –were these for me or for dad? One year, however, that present went to Twink, the cat, who ‘opened’ the wrappings and ate most of the contents. I think that was the last year there was any cheese under the tree.

My mum got ‘hand made’ things from me – once I made her a little scrapbook of Kahlúa® ads cut from magazines, since she was always interested in pre-Columbian art and that’s what the ads showed. She saved that; I found it in her boxes many years later.

What little things did my brother get? I don’t know. I must have been too busy with my own presents, I guess, to pay attention. What do you remember, little brother?

For more Christmas Gifts stories, click on the December 10 ornament here: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Holiday Parties - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories


Christmas time, 1960, on Yukon Street, Vancouver, B.C.
Dave, Diane & Dad with Twink


December 9 - Holiday Parties



Except for Christmas day dinner, I don’t remember our having any holiday parties at home. We didn’t have many adults visiting at all, as I recall. The living room was usually ready for company though as we kids ‘lived’ in the basement rec room.

Since there were often two birthday parties at home before Christmas, perhaps my parents thought enough was enough. The little ‘cherub on the moon’ candles on the window sill in this photograph were favours for my birthday party that year.

For Christmas dinner, I know my Na (mum’s mum, Amy Estella, née Irwin) was always there and two close friends of my mum’s often came. One had been in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC) with my mum during WW II, so they had been friends forever, as far as I was concerned. We called them both 'aunty', not having any 'real' aunties of our own.

We always dressed up for Christmas – even my little brother! Since my mother loved to sew, I did have nice dresses. I can think of one favourite dress – dark green velvet with a square neckline, it was. Does anyone wear velvet anymore? It felt so soft and made me feel grownup.

I’m sure we had dinner with my dad’s parents (Sarah Frances, née Saggers and James Joseph ‘Joe' Rodgers) the first few years, but they died when I was small and my mum’s dad (James Walter Scott) had died the year before I was born. Since my grandpa Rodgers’ birthday was December 20th, I hope there was a family celebration for him too. And maybe he thought of my brother and I as his very own birthday presents, as my son and I think of my grandson?


My brother has reminded me that most years we went out to the Elks Christmas party for children though. (My dad was a member of quite a few organizations.) I do remember those Elks parties, as Santa came and his presents were really nice, even if most often specially picked to be ‘girl’ or ‘boy’ presents. And then there were treats at the party, and, a bag of candy to take home. Funny the things one does remember!

Well, time is getting on here - and I'm still catching up - but there are many more bloggers' Christmas memories at: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Christmas Cookies - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

Diane and Santa, 1952, Woodward's Wonderful Toyland. 3 photos -80¢ - wow! (I even have the envelope this was mailed in – addressed to me, November 20, 1952. (I come by my clutter honestly.)


December 8 - Christmas Cookies

My goodness! When I first looked at this topic, my mind went blank. Yes, there were cookies, but what kind? Did I help my mum or my Na (mum’s mum) much making them? Very doubtful, other than stirring and then licking the bowl. I was never much for the womanly arts, that’ s for sure. Favourites?

So I took mum’s recipe box out of the cupboard and had a look. I remember squares, bars and breads more than cookies – like blond brownies and matrimonial cake, two favourites. Recipe cards for those look ‘well used’.

And, no, not many cookie recipes in here, although there’s shortbread, of course, as English as can be, here’s vanilla drops and date kisses and here is a recipe written in my Na’s hand for “Eva’s Tarts” –could that be a recipe from cousin Eva (née Pattison) Boone, 1897-1944, daughter of Annie McNab and George Henry Pattison of Newdale, Manitoba?

Here’s a recipe for matrimonial balls (don’t remember these at all). And, look, here’s a handwritten recipe for “”mommy’s cookies” from Mrs. Burton –Nana Burton, as I called her. When I was really little, Nana Burton looked after me sometimes so mum could go out, and later, so mum could take my baby brother to the doctor as he was quite sick when young. Nana Burton wasn’t a relative at all, but a very nice older lady who lived across the street with her husband and went to our church too. Since my brother was born in December, I suspect that Nana Burton baked us cookies for his first Christmas, as would have my two grandmas. I know my mum and brother were home by Christmas that year, but mum wouldn’t have had any time for baking. My memories of Nana Burton are fond –she must have been very patient!

Mommy’s Cookies

Cream 5 Tbspoons shortening
With
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 tea vanilla
1 ½ cup flour
1 ½ tea B.P.
1 cup coconut
½ cup finely chopped dates

Make balls size of walnuts. Bake on greased pan. Press with fork dipped in hot water. Bake 400° 10 minutes. 48 cookies.

For lots more about Christmas cookies, click on the December 8th ornament at: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Christmas Candy - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories


December 7 - Christmas Candy - Christmas Grab Bag





One thing I miss sometimes about Christmas is the colourful ‘hard candy’ that used to be in a dish on every side table, especially the little candies with flower patterns inside (however do they do that?) and the ribbon candy. There are still candy canes now, even blueberry flavoured ones (why?), but candy's just not the same.

I was just at the store yesterday. There was so much candy there, but I noticed that almost everything was ‘chocolate’. I never was much for chocolate myself, although I remember both being given and giving boxes of chocolate cherries. Too sweet for me now (in the original meaning, and now I’m concerned about ‘fair trade’ too). Sometimes we had shaped marzipan – like tiny bells and other ornaments –and candied ginger, still one of my favourite sweets. We used to get that from one of my Dad’s friends, or buy it in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Now I can get candied ginger all year round at my nearest grocery store. That’s a very good change, I feel.

This card was from my ‘Aunt Mary’ on my 6th birthday. (She wasn’t my aunt – but that’s another story.) It’s a cute card –the candy cane has sparkly sprinkles on it – it says ‘This bunny brought along his “lunch” So that he could stay And wish you “Happy Birthday’. Unfortunately it illustrates one of the few things that annoyed me about Christmas as a kid. It was way too close to both my brother’s and my birthdays!

My thrifty parents, thinking to teach us money management, sometimes had us save up to go halves on more expensive presents, like the Brownie camera I got one year which was for Christmas and my birthday. Really this just ticked me off, especially as my friends got loads of presents on Christmas and for their birthdays ‘cause they had so many more relatives than we did. (My brother has just told me that he remembers “YOU always getting more presents than me” but I’m real sure that can’t have been true, little brother. )

Click on December 7 to read a variety of Christmas memories from other bloggers: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com




Saturday, December 15, 2007

Santa Claus - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories


David and Diane, 1953, with Santa at Woodward's Wonderful Toyland, in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada



December 6 - Santa Claus

There weren’t any ‘letters to Santa Claus’ among my mother’s memorabilia, but I’m sure my brother & I must have sent some. Perhaps that’s what I’m clutching in this photograph. My brother looks pretty confident here. I look wistful –wonder what I hoped for that year?

We used to ‘go see Santa’ at a downtown Vancouver department store every year when we were small & I can’t imagine we’d have missed making up a proper list for him. We went through the big Eaton’s mail order Christmas catalogue to mark all the things we wanted first, I bet. (In my day, Woodward's had smaller flyer catalogues - we must have studied those too.)

I’m sure I asked for a doll every time – I had a LOT of dolls –but one year I know I wanted a ‘grown up’ doll. No Barbie then (thank heavens!) but I did receive a doll with a very womanly shape, high heeled shoes, pearl teardrop earrings and a glamourous cocktail dress with a stiff net foil overskirt. I do remember she was a Christmas Eve present, but I no longer have her. She went, I hope, to another happy little girl. (But yes, a couple of my dolls are with me still.)

I don't think I still believe in Santa, but I do believe in spreading the Christmas spirit! And anyway, yesterday I saw a sign that said 'if you don't believe in Santa, all you get for Christmas is underwear'. That would be so sad. My brother may still believe. I do remember my mum telling me not to tell him any different. I never did, Mum!

For more memories of Santa, check out the links in the December 6th ornament at: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Outdoor Decorations - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

December 5 - Outdoor Decorations

Around Christmas, when I was young, we used to go for a family drive around the city at least once at night to ‘see the Christmas lights’. I still like to do that if I get the chance.

My Na (my mum’s mum) would come with us and probably we usually had dinner together beforehand. Few people put up more than a few strings of outdoor lights but a whole street of lit houses was still something for us to look at. Some businesses did more – I remember we always went to see the outdoor crèche at a local funeral home. My parents did the ‘Christmas light’ drive even in later years.

Downtown, the bigger stores had ‘Christmas windows’ with fanciful themes and moving characters –toy factories and North Pole villages. We’d stop when we went shopping on a Friday night and look at these. I remember the window displays as much more elaborate than today. Perhaps that’s because I was little, but now many stores don’t even have street side windows to decorate–Santa’s usually somewhere inside a mall nowadays. I don't remember many Christmas lights downtown, but then this was a city with lots of Neon signs, so there was always lots of light and sparkle.

In the parks there was usually a tree or two with lights –now there’s much more. I seem to remember going to Butchart’s Gardens on Vancouver Island a few times in December and a Christmas train has been running in Stanley Park now for twenty years. More than a million lights are involved there apparently!

I really think more people in our own neighbourhood decorated for Hallowe’en than for Christmas, but I will have to see what my brother remembers. Some people had wreaths on their doors, of course, and we had holly trees so we were already Christmassy. (I still miss not having holly for inside decoration.) One thing I think most people with kids did was to let them decorate the house windows from the inside, either with homemade paper snowflakes, or with ‘snow’ that we sprayed from a can over stencils to make snowflakes, reindeer and Santas on our windows. (I’m sure that stuff was no good for the environment or for our lungs!) These designs would be most visible to those walking by, but then, we weren't in cars as much as many people around here now.

Outdoor Christmas displays here are now sometimes very elaborate. The newspapers run articles on where to go to see the ‘best’ ones or the most decorated streets. I like these best when they are someone’s personal project and not just all blown up plastic snow people from a store, but then I’m not very handy myself, so if I had a yard I might go that route. I now live in an apartment and I must confess that I haven’t put any lights at all yet this year. I will do that tomorrow for sure. Some apartment dwellers here do have really nice displays – my best was a peace sign that I made out of coat hangers one year – not too original, but heart-felt all the same. I’d quite like to have a second tree on the balcony with lights –maybe next year?

Here’s a link to photographs of Christmas displays this year in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia. When my daughter comes home for Christmas, maybe she will take me by to see that Grinch!

Christmas Lights & Feelings - Vancouver & Area (Webshots Family, by jokipeti -Peter Jokan: http://family.webshots.com/album/234386395XdbafL

For a look at other people's ideas about this topic, click on December 5 at: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Christmas Cards-Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories






Diane R at one year old, 1949 (now you know!)



December 4 - Christmas Cards

My family did send Christmas cards – and lucky for me! My parents had a business so for years they had photographs taken of my brother and myself and used those on a card to send to family and clients. There was only one year when it was a family picture. I inherited a sampling of these. On most my mother had written the date and how old we were.

I remember some of the many Christmas cards that were sent to us too – lots of texture – velvety red suits for the Santas, sparkly snow, and once, feathers for Santa’s beard. Some cards were displayed on the mantel or on the tables in the living room. Then we saved them all for ‘next year’. A few were kept whole, if they were specially nice, but many were later cut up with pinking shears to make gift tags and decorations.

I still send cards. For New Year’s though, mine are, and not only because I am often late getting them in the mail. I try to choose ones that are meaningful to me – Canadian art perhaps, or as this year, UNICEF cards depicting children at play in the snow. We don’t get much snow here in Vancouver but even we south west coast Canadians associate snow with Canadian Christmases. And yes, a few of those old, old cards still come out of my Christmas decoration closet each year!


To read some more about Christmas cards, click on December 3 at:

Holiday Foods - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

December 3 - Holiday Foods


It seems to me that the most unusual thing about our Christmas dinner was that we always had both ham and turkey. My dad wouldn’t eat ‘fowl’, he’d even try to be out while it was cooking, but the ham was for him, with lots of mustard and apple sauce. I think my mum must have liked turkey though I couldn’t have been paying attention, but otherwise, why cook both? (I still think the best things about turkey are first, the stuffing, second, the cranberries, and third, the day after when you get to eat all the leftovers!)

One of my dad’s Christmas presents most years was a jar of pickled walnuts; until later years, we bought these on Woodward’s Food Floor in downtown Vancouver. His mother, who was born in England, used to make her own pickled walnuts. I’m afraid no one else in the family ever had the knack or the will to make these.
I always thought they looked and tasted horrible, but there they were every Christmas in a nice crystal dish.

We had fruit cake and Christmas pudding for dessert, with lots of hard sauce. One Christmas my mother tried to flame the pudding at the table using some alcohol. She had a lot of trouble getting it going. It fizzled out quickly, my grandmother, the teetotaller, at the same time breathing something like ‘serves you right’.

My children don’t like either fruitcake or pudding, alas. (Someone even gave me a mug that says “Make Love, Not Fruitcake”. Really!) While my mother was alive, we still had Christmas pudding, but now it’s only for me. I do have a friend who’s been keeping me happy with fruitcake up till now, but this year even she isn’t making any. The world is slowly changing. Now we often have pie or cheesecake with ice cream (and sherbet for my son).

Christmas Tree Ornaments - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

December 2 - Christmas Ornaments

I do remember stringing popcorn, but I think this must have been some school project or perhaps for a Girl Guide badge. We didn’t go in for natural ornaments when I was a kid, instead the more glitzy-glittery and the more breakable the better. Even our 1950’s plastic ornaments were pretty fragile, as I recall. There was always something sadly tinkling when the Christmas boxes came down from the attic space.

I still decorate with some of these ornaments –a few glass balls, birds with feather tails, shiny, sharp foil cornucopias, colourful bead strings which were my grandparents’, fuzzy candy canes, a bent tinsel star—but I also still have a Santa ball that always went on our tree, (a boy made it for me in Grade 1 -not telling his name) and a shoe that my grandmother made out of old greeting cards. (She collected shoe ornaments. Why, I wonder?)

I’ve been collecting Christmas ornaments on my own for years, so I’ve added a lot to these. On my tree, I hang my silver baby teether (that was never on my parents’ tree!) and nowadays I have ornaments with photographs of a few of the ancestors, as well as of my children and grandson. This year I want to add the photograph of my parent’s first Christmas tree in Vancouver.

For an intriguing variety of bloggers' posts on 'Christmas Ornaments', go to http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com
and click on the December 2 ornament.

The Christmas Tree - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories





A snapshot of my parents' first Christmas tree in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1946. This is inside their 'little house' on 41st Avenue.




December 1 - The Christmas Tree

I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. When I was young (yes, long ago, children), we always had a real tree – I don’t remember anyone with an artificial tree at home. Our family was different from my friends though – my dad always went out Christmas Eve, with or without my brother and I, to find a tree.
Now I don’t know if this was because it was too busy earlier (my parents owned a business) or because trees were sure to be cheap Christmas Eve. Sometimes it must have been hard to even find a tree for sale in the city at that late date. My brother has some stories, I’m sure. (I remember Christmas tree lots on street corners hosted by groups like the Boy Scouts. Nowadays, you can get a tree at the grocery store, although there are still a few people and groups selling trees in parking lots.)

At any rate, finding a tree Christmas Eve became our ‘family tradition’ as was decorating the tree on Christmas Eve and eating ham soup and sandwiches for dinner. It was always a full size tree, but not always the best looking one! We always got to open one present when we were all ready for bed Christmas Eve too – mine was almost always a doll.

I might have kept up that late tree tradition myself, but I met a fellow from a Swedish family. Their big family dinner was on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day, so there could have been a conflict there. When I ‘moved out’ of my parents’ home though, I had started celebrating the Winter Solstice as well as Christmas, so pretty quickly, we started decorating our own tree Solstice night instead of Christmas Eve. This I still do. And, I think my children might continue my take on this ‘family tradition’, as it’s always included an early present for them and lots of Christmas dinners!


For Christmas tree stories from other bloggers, go to:
and click on the December 1 ornament.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

One of my new year's resolutions will be to write more often on this blog - so to make a good start I'm going to post some Christmas memories - along with the other bloggers who are participating in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.

I'm a tad late starting, but I'll catch up by Christmas!

Check out everyone's memories here by clicking on the Christmas oranment for the date. Then see the links that Thomas MacEntee has for all the articles for that date. His blog is "Destination: Austin Family".
http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/