A three or four year old smells the live green Christmas trees, and sees colored lights, glass ornaments and tinsel, with gifts under the tree. My mother and I went to visit (I believe) my uncle’s wife, Evangeline. She had a gift for me that was a small baby doll. This may be a stretch of imagination but perhaps this happened during the months my father was in the Army or in Chicago at that time.
The lady we visited had dark olive skin, pretty brown eyes, and had long dark hair pulled straight back in a bun in the back of her head. She had dark red nail polish on her fingernails. She spoke to me in a sweet, soft voice, was affectionate and gave me hugs and kissed me on the cheeks.
When we moved to Chicago my mother took us to see Santa Claus at a department store, likely, it was Sears. We also went into the Woolworth’s store, commonly known as a “five and dime” store. All of the stores would play Christmas songs’ like “Here Comes Santa Claus” or “Frosty, The Snowman,” sung by Gene Autry, a cowboy singer. Also the new song which came to be quite popular then with Jimmy Boyd singing, “I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus”’ I remember shopping for a gift for my mother, and picked a heart-shaped bottle of perfume, or cologne called, ‘Blue Waltz.” I still remember what it smelled like. I really liked the scent of that cologne. Christmases were very simple and without a lot of fanfare.
My Dad was a Mason. Every year we went to the Masonic Lodge Christmas programs and were given a red mesh Christmas stocking with nuts and candies in them. The hard candy was ribbon-like and some were filled with jelly or chocolate flavor inside them, with candy canes. Some of the flavors of my favorites were clove or cinnamon. Sometimes they gave out gifts like dollhouse furniture, Doctor Kit sets, or color books. My grandmothers would send us clothes we usually needed. I recall when I was about eight that I got a beautiful Madam Alexander doll, and a full size doll that stood up about 2 ½ feet tall. I was given the tall doll and my sister the smaller Madam Alexander doll. But my mother for some reason switched them and gave my sister the tall baby doll and me the Madam Alexander doll. I had that doll for many years and even saved it for my oldest daughter, who named her Maggie. I thought that was kind of neat since my maternal 2nd great-grandmother’s name was Mague. After we moved to Utah I don’t remember what happed to the doll. The larger doll would make a [whahh] sound when squeezed; the smaller doll would cry Mama, Mama when she leaned back or forward. I liked her delicate features and pretty blond curls, small teeth and rosebud red lips. She was in a blue dress and white pinafore.
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