Bringing out the inner child
As Christmas approaches, young children are writing letters to Santa, helping decorate their homes and learning about their family Christmas traditions.
Also at this time of year, seniors citizens often reminisce about past holidays. Here is what some of them recall.
Like a child explaining her first snowfall, Ellie May, 92, of Butler described her home at Christmas during her childhood."My dad would decorate the parlor, put a big Santa Claus by the mantle, and all of us kids would try to peek in and see it," she said. "My dad also would put real candles on the trees, and then we would blow them out."Alice Tilton, 83, of Zelienople remembered having all of her father's family over for Christmas dinner and having to wait until after the adults were done playing with the train before she and her brother were allowed to play with it.Tilton also remembered going with her mother to see the department store holiday displays at stores such as Horne's, Kaufmann's and Gimbel's."We would go by street car to look at the store window displays and then we would go for lunch," Tilton said. "It was an all-day event."While Christmas is usually a time of year most children look forward to, Mildred Patterson of Zelienople said Christmas was even more special because her birthday is just a few days prior to Christmas.Patterson, 86, said because her birthday is Dec. 23, most of her Christmas memories are entwined with memories of her birthday, with her family often celebrating both at the same time."We always had joint celebrations and a lot of people over at the house," she said.Betty Gee, 81, of Zelienople said one of her most vivid Christmas memories was never having the Christmas tree up until Christmas Day."I always wondered how my dad got that tree up in one night," Gee said. "He must have spent all night (doing it)."
Though money was often tight for many families during the Great Depression in the 1930s, senior citizens said their families were able to find one way or another to have a big holiday meal.From spiral ham, turkey, goose, mashed potatoes, fresh baked rolls, cranberry relish, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie, the size and quality of the Christmas meal has remained similar over the years.Ann Hoyn, 87, of Butler remembered being 3 years old and seeing a goose hanging outside on the porch.James Moren, 78, of Butler said he remembers his family's large traditional meal, regardless of their finances."Somehow my mom still managed to have a big meal, and if someone knocked on our door, they could eat too," Moren said.Tilton said Christmas was always the "splurge time.""You don't make a meal like that all the time," she said.
The Great Depression and lack of money also affected the gifts children received during the holiday, and what they asked for."Times were not that great, so you knew you couldn't ask for too many things," Tilton said.Favorite gifts as children included a "really neat" tricycle for Gee when she was 5 years old, a Mickey Mouse watch for Patterson when she was 12 years old and "a big doll" and doll bed for Hoyn.Dick Parker, 83, of Butler said he and his three siblings, a sister and two brothers, often got one big Christmas present to share."We didn't really get much," he said. "One big gift, maybe a bag of candy and some small items."Still, like many children, Parker remembers one gift above the rest."One year, my brother and I got a shotgun to go hunting when we were 12 and 14 years old," he said with a smile. "It was a .410-gauge single barrel, and I still have it."
As adults, some Christmas traditions have changed, but for many, the holiday spirit has lived on in different ways.Parker said every year, he has a Christmas party for the family, usually on the second Saturday of December."It's a big tradition that I started when my kids were growing up, and I have continued to do it ever since," he said.Patterson said a Christmas that sticks out in her mind was in 1956, the first time her sister was back home for the holidays after being in Japan and Germany for 11 years."We had nearly 100 gag gifts wrapped under the tree," she said with a smile.While some of the senior citizens hosted Christmas at their homes as they got older, a number of them now go to their children's homes for the holidays.Though a majority will stay around Butler County for Christmas, Gee and Tilton each will spend their Christmas out of town visiting their children this year.Gee plans to visit her other daughter in Raleigh, N.C., for Christmas, while Tilton will be going to New Orleans to visit her daughter."I'm really looking forward to seeing my family," Tilton said. "It's been almost a year."
Though the world has changed a great deal from when these seniors were children, a number of these seniors citizens seemed most disappointed at how the holiday has begun to change meaning for so many people."Christmas used to be so simple," Hoyn said. "It wasn't based on gifts and what you got; it was based on family. Now it is much more commercialized and there is no simplicity left in Christmas."Gee agreed Christmas has become more commercialized over the years. She said many parents go overboard now."I think today you want to give your children more than you had, so kids have everything today," she said.But many seniors still believe there are children who aren't just looking for piles of gifts."When playing Santa one year, I had a little girl ask me to give her uncle a transplant because he was sick," Moren said. "And only if there was room, to have a doll, too."
