Several Plainsman readers shared some of their favorite Christmas memories, holiday favorite music and more.
Mary One of my favorite memories and a gift is the one year I got a Black Hills Gold ring from my mom. I think I was around 11 years old. It was special because I knew it held value and it represented trust from my mom.
My most memorable gift was Baby Alive. It was memorable because my niece and I both got the same doll that year. What was even more memorable was my mom forgetting they were in the trunk, opening it in front of me and my niece a few days before Christmas.
They were supposed to be from Santa!
Mele Kalikimaka is my favorite Christmas carol because my dad loved Bing Crosby and even though he has been gone for close to 40 years, I can still hear him singing along to that song.
Randy Keating In the late 1950s, when I was 6 or 7 years old, my Mom, Mrs. Raycroft Keating, from Carpenter, put my name in a box at Randalls grocery store, which at that time was located at the present day Advance Auto Store.
My name and some others were drawn for a helicopter ride with Santa!
On a Saturday morning we were all gathered in an open field by what is now 21st Street. Santa landed the helicopter and strapped me and two other kids in and away we went!
Of course he knew your names and as we flew around Huron, he quizzed us, asking if we had been good all year and what we wanted for Christmas.
I remember flying over the Armour plant east of Huron. At that time Armours fed cattle there. Everything east of the plant to Custer Avenue was feedlots filled with cattle.
To this day, Im still a believer!
Anonymous One of my favorite memories was how our mom always made Christmas special for my brother and I. One year, she put up a very small tree, sitting on a decorated box. This will take up less space with the family all here, she said.
Anyway, quite often, Mom would write short four-line rhyming clues that would lead one of us all over the house, in search of the next clue. That particular year, it was my brother who went in search of clues.
I dont recall the final clue, but it had something to do with your gift is the largest box under the tree. It turns out, his gift – a bean bag chair – had been wrapped and under the tree for nearly three weeks, hiding right there in plain sight!
Deanne Ness When we were growing up on the farm, we always went to the Christmas Eve Program at the little country church in Tulare. After the service and program, we all headed to Grandma MacNeills for oyster stew. She always had another kind of soup, for those who didnt like the oyster stew. There were always sandwiches, and plenty of candies and cookies for dessert.
This was such a good memory of growing up on the farm, that my brother wrote a song, Christmas on the Farm, where he talks of doing the chores in the morning, feeding the cattle more, so we could go to the Christmas eve program at the church, then to Grandmas house for oyster stew.
This is a memory of our family, and will always be remembered. Thanks
Anonymous While its not the flashiest, most expensive, etc. Possibly one of the most sentimental Xmas gifts was a homemade card I received from my sister – I was in my early 20s. A lot of heart was put into it!
It was all decorated and shed written a nice, flowery message. But I remember the very last line said, I Love you, Bro – And it really meant a lot!
JW When our son, Chris, was young, he wasnt dressed until he had his guns and holster on. The Sears and the Montgomery Wards Christmas catalogs had two pages of toy guns and holders and the Wards catalog had guns with blue handles and a real leather holster. Chris said that is what Santa was bringing him.
I told him Santa might bring him guns, but maybe they would not have blue handles.
Every place he went people would ask him what he was getting for Christmas and the answer was always the same, blue-handled guns. Of course, they were the most expensive ones. We cut out a few other things in order to get them.
Now, he is a grown man and subscribes to The Rifleman Magazine. It had a page of collectors fun items and there were the blue handle guns. He asked me what happened to those blue handle guns and I said, Son, you wore them out!
CN – As I enter my 60s, I have many happy and lasting memories of different Christmases with family and friends. For me, a large part of Christmas is the music. I love the music of the season that I learned going to church as a youngster, and also love the hundreds of different interpretations of holiday music. However, if I was to be held to only one song associated with Christmas, it would be Silent Night.
Its about the message, for certain, but for me, its all about the harmony. My favorite recording is by a mens barbershop chorus, The Vocal Majority – there are several recordings of it on YouTube – and the glorious layering of voices combined with the precision of more than 150 singers has a lasting effect, at least on me.
Traditional programs always include A Charlie Brown Christmas. Over the past few years, I have gotten sucked into the Hallmark Christmas music maelstrom. You know that somehow, against impossible odds and despite no money or logic, the couple is going to get together, to live happily ever afterimmediately following their fruitful efforts at saving Christmas.
Barbara Pinkal I started a new tradition last year. I have a small Christmas tree, which I had given my parents to use in their Winnebago, as they traveled back and forth to Arizona each winter. The tree now has a memorial angel hanging toward the top of the tree, which has my husbands mom on it. There is a star above it.
On the forefront in a small, white, portrayal of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus lying in the manger.
In the back is a lamp, shining down on the scene. Above and behind it is a picture on the wall of the Lord Jesus Christ as he hung on the cross, shedding his blood for all those who will accept him as Savior and Lord.
A favorite hymn that presents the message is Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne.
Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown
when thou comest to earth for me.
But in Bethlehems home, there was found no room for thy holy nativity.
On come to my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for thee.
LE Two young women fresh out of college, embarking on their first real job. They met at their place of employment, a dental office in Lead. This was in the early to mid 1980s. Lead was the home to the Homestake Gold Mine, which was still running at the time.
Needless to say, these two did not have a lot of money. They became fast friends working together in the dental office. They decided to become roommates, as this would help them with their expenses.
When the holiday season started, they decided to decorate their apartment and had a freshlittle tree from the Black Hills of S.D.
Thesetwo friends decided they wanted to exchange gifts with each other. One day they drove to Rapid City to go shopping.
As I was contemplating what my friend Carla would want, I remembered her always saying we should have a pet.
Frankly, I thought that was a little crazy! Well, there happened to be a pet shop at the mall, so I went in. I believe I thought of the perfect gift for Carla – a goldfish!!
I bought the goldfish and fish food, and went on my merry way! (Said fish in a baggie and food in my purse)
I met up with Carla after shopping, baggie with fish still in my purse!
SomehowI managed to get home, put the fish in a casserole dish and hide it in a kitchen cupboard, without Carla knowing! That goldfishstayed hidden for a couple days! I wrote a little poem for Carla to find her gift, it started like this:
In a cupboard in a dish, you will find a little fish.
Hes been swimming around in the dark, dreaming of being a great big shark!
I dont remember the rest; poetry probably is not one of my stronger talents!
Carla certainly was surprised by this gift! I did not spring for the fish bowl, but she was able to get one, and now we had our pet! Carla named the goldfish appropriately, Ebenezer!
CP It was the biggest box to ever get tucked next to the Christmas tree. Brightly wrapped, festive bow . . . and (how can this be?) no name tag at all.
Ill tell you on Christmas morning, was all Mom would say.
Anticipation, hope, and dreaming about what could be in that big box filled the rest of the days until Christmas. I was sure the box held an amazing stereo system, but what my sister and brother may have dreamed I cant say.
The big day finally arrived. Who was that huge box for? My little brother! He eagerly ripped off a layer of wrapping paper, only to find another layer of wrapping paper, this time, with a label with my name.
Sure enough, I unwrapped one layer of paper before the box was passed to my older sister. And, finally, after much laughter and dashed dreams, the box was in my fathers hands.
He unwrapped the final layer of paper and began opening the box. Inside, cushioned by layers and layers of crumpled tissue paper, he found a tiny box containing a tie clip!
It was the most fun Christmas present we ever had the fun of opening . . . and opening. It was all about the anticipation, hopes and dreams just like the Christmas story of Jesus birth.
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