Old Timey Christmas Contest

christmas-past-christmas-morning.jpgI am planning to do a post on the echoesfromcatawba blog about celebrating Christmas in Catawba as a child during the period 1935-1955.  I am asking anyone who would like to share a comment about their “old timey” Christmas to do so. It can be on the kind of gifts you received, cutting a Christmas tree, Christmas activities in your church, etc. All folks participating will have their names put into a drawing with the winning name drawn receiving a $50 gift card. Deadline to submit your story is December 15th.

Keep it within 100 words.  At the bottom of this post, under “Leave a Reply” share your story in the comment section.

Your stories will be included with my article I will be publishing before Christmas.

Thank you for participating!

3 thoughts on “Old Timey Christmas Contest

  1. My early memory of Christmas was always going to Shiloh Church on Christmas Eve to participate in the program. I was nervous and excited to be a part of this special event but always happy when it finished and I didn’t forget or mess up my part. I loved when we drove home and we were in sight of our house, seeing the beautiful blue candles that Mama always placed in the windows. The family usually came and we had so much good food and opened gifts. I am ashamed to say but I was always anxious for everyone to leave so I could go to bed knowing that Santa was on his way. I was never disappointed because I always got everything on my list and more. I was one lucky little girl, not because of the presents but all of the love that surrounded me in my home.

  2. Christmas Eve always held a special place in our small community as the Catawba Methodist Church youth gathered to go caroling in “downtown Catawba”. The church lot was the gathering place as cars filled with youth heavily bundled in winter clothes to offset the evening’s cold temperatures. We carried small wallet-sized paper songbooks of favorite Christmas carols but usually started with “Joy to the World” and always ended with “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. Most residents were aware of our caroling tradition and had their porch lights on to welcome visitors. Sometimes we walked the side road leaving the cars in the store parking lot with Roy and Ellie Baugh’s house as the turn-around point. We looked forward to Ellie’s snicker-doodle cookies and Madeline Edwards later Crawford’s hard candies. The evening usually concluded at the Tuck Garman house where Sue and Pam’s mother had delicious hot chocolate and more cookies waiting for us. One particularly memorable evening some of the youth group guys had shot fresh mistletoe from a tree on Catawba Mountain and used it to share Christmas kisses before we left to celebrate Christmas with our families.

    (Ted—I hope you’re going to write about the live outdoor nativity scene—another of my favorite Christmas memories.)

  3. Submitted for Peggy Halsey
    A Special Christmas
    On Christmas Eve we went to Shiloh Church for the Christmas program. When we got home Daddy and Mama made us go to bed so Santa could arrive. Christmas morning we rushed to the tree, usually we had some candy and fruit but this year there were two dolls one for me and one for my sister Lola. We were so excited and happy since we now had dolls to carry instead of chickens. I was around 9 years old that year. Years later we learned that the dolls were given to Mama for us by our Uncle John Garman, who worked st Heironimus Department Store. What a wonderful and happy Christmas.

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