Dear Stephen

   Glad you got your tree up o.k. and I know the children enjoy it.  I remember back in about 1934 we strung popcorn and hung it on the tree.  When the tree was taken down and the birds were looking for food in the snow and cold, we would put the tree outside for the birds to sit in and stay warm and eat the popcorn.  The tree would be full of birds singing and eating their Christmas dinner.

   We also saved foil; sucker wrappers and sometimes tiny dolls; cars and cut outs from the year before Christmas cards to put in our tree. 

   We could order nothing for Christmas and went to bed expecting nothing.   If we woke up to one item that always fit in a stocking that we hung up the night before, we would be thrilled.  It might have been a doll or dish, or cut-out or color book or small car or rattle box.

   I remember about 1934 when I was about 15, income had been scarce.  We had prepared nothing other than a tree and dad had hunted rabbits for our Christmas Dinner the next day.  Our tree was an old limb mom had cut and I think perhaps was maple without leaves, but it decorated up to satisfy children.

   Well, like I say, it was the day before Christmas in the afternoon when mom and dad decided to scrape up every penny they could find and send me (the old miser) to do Christmas shopping.  They found, as I recall, $1.97.  
I made three trips to town.  First I was to get all 9 of us a gift for the sock.   I came back with all .05 and .06 cent items - no sales tax at that time.

   Dad's was a sack of bull durham tobacco as he always rolled his own.
Mom's was a package of hair pins.   Carl and Buzz got flashlights with batteries;  Elva and mine were eversharp pencils with lead.  Of course the batteries would soon run down and the lead would soon run out.
Earl and Dan got little tiny cars to push on the floor and your mom [Rebecca], being the baby about age 3, got a little wind-up crawl doll.    I had spent something around One Dollar, so Mom sent me back to town with .50cents to get candy.   I picked hard candy -- orange slices -- sugar cremes -- hay stack chocolates -- all kinds of mixes so a .03 to .05 cents per pound, I returned with 2 shopping bags full and it was about all I could carry.  Probably 15 to 20 pounds.

   Well, I was tired, but out I go again and spend final .50 cents on fruit and nuts.  I had mixed nuts -- apples -- oranges -- tangerines (but no bananas as I recall they weigh heavy and was a penny per pound).

   We didn't take a newspaper.  We had no radio or TV.  We never knew what was going on but as I came home from town at 9th and Ohio at that big Church, there was a very big tree and I heard people say it was a community tree for poor kids.  I hurried home and told mom and dad. (I was always nosy and missed nothing).  I said, "we were poor.  I can take the younger kids and get them something."   Mom said all of you are under 16, so all of you go.  When we got there, Carl was ashamed and wouldn't go in so he sat on the church steps.  Elva wasn't as responsible as me to take care of kids, so Mom said you take care of three of the little ones. 

     There was a mob and I was carrying Dan and Becky and holding a space on a wall to shelter Earl from being mashed.  I spotted a table.  What a relief!   We sure go the loot though and could hardly manage.  All got a toy or book -- all got an apple; orange and candy cane -- a sack of mixed candy and nuts.  

     We wrestled all this back to step where Carl was waiting.  I told the kids you saver all this for tomorrow 'cuase Santa said so and you all sit right here on the step 'till I get back.

     I wormed my way back through the crowd and said my brother had to sit on step and watch the little kids and can I have some stuff for him -- and I got it.

     I think that all ended one of our biggest Christmas' ever.

Submitted by FLOOR60271@aol.com