CHRISTMAS PAST

In thinking of other childhood memories, I began to think about holidays, and of course, Christmas came to mind.

Christmas was a very exciting holiday because we knew we would get Christmas presents, and especially those that would come from Santa Claus.  Decorating the tree, putting up other Christmas decorations,  making Christmas candy, making and icing cookies, and other goodies was so fun.  We loved putting up the colorful lights, though we only had one string that went on the outside of our front door.  We did have a string of lights to go on the tree. The lights were the big lights, none of these small blinking white or colored lights of today.


We had several different types of trees through the years.  We had real fresh trees, green artificial, and for several years an aluminum tree.



For stockings, we just put up an old sock of my dad's.  In the stocking we usually got an apple, orange, nuts, and candy.

Some of the toys I got from Santa are pictured below.  Some of the pictures are just similar to what I had, but some are the exact thing, which I will designate as such.


Kissy Doll - Exact.   If you pulled both arms of the doll together, the lips on the doll would make a kissing motion, and there was a "pop" for the kissing sound.  My mom still has this doll.  She kept it for all these years.
                                                         


    Doll crib- Similar.  Mine was pink. The side of the crib
    would actually go up and down.  A piece of hard  board was the bottom of                                             the bed. There was no mattress. You had to use a blanket for                                                                   a mattress.

My doll buggy was very similar, but of course mine was pink.
One year I got a metal toy washer.  You could put water in the washer tub and the clothes would actually wash.  There was a tube that was used to drain the water into a sink or bathtub. Another gift received was an ironing board and iron..  The iron was electric and actually got hot.  Maybe toys were more dangerous back then.

(The washer pictured is similar.  Mine was pink also.  The iron and ironing board were pretty much exact) Also pink.  I seemed to have liked the color pink or "Santa" did.  

I had these exact dishes and this exact dish cabinet.  I am pretty sure my girls remember these.  I may still have one or 2 in my toy box for the grandkids to play with.  My girls got to play with the dish cabinet for sure.

There were many other presents from Santa over the years.  I had other dolls, doll clothes, dishes, a bike, clothes, jewelry, etc.  The ones shown here were some of my favorite.

FAMILY VACATION TO COLORADO

Living on a farm, one does not take many vacations, especially in the summer time.  So when we did get to go on a vacation, it was a special event.  Sometimes we got to leave the farm for a day or two, but one year we got to go on a much longer vacation.  I am not certain how long we were gone, but I am guessing about a week.  This was the trip to Colorado and Wyoming. To the best of my memory, I was about 10 years old.

I do not remember where we spent our first night.  It could have been in New Mexico, but it could have been in Canon City or Colorado Springs.  I know we went to the Royal Gorge close to Canon City.  This was an impressive place.  I don't believe I had ever seen a canyon that deep.  There was a wooden bridge that cars could drive over.  We did not drive across the bridge, but we did get out and and look down at the gorge from the bridge.  It was kind of a scary feeling especially since I did not and still don't like heights.  We also went to the state prison in Canon City.  Why we did this I do not have a clue.  It does seem a very odd place to visit.  They actually had tours to go through the prison. I can't remember if my dad went in with us or not.  He must have as I do recall my dad having trouble getting through the security gate.  He had crutches and those caused the alarm to go off.  The crutches were wooden, but they had metal screws.  We saw prisoners in their cells, saw some of the inmates making license plates (at least that is my memory )  They were making something.  I am pretty sure we saw either a gas chamber or electric chair. We might have seen both.  If nothing else, we learned from our visit that this was a place we did not want to end up.

Another thing we did on this vacation was to go to Seven Falls.  This park is in Colorado Springs.  I barely remember the falls, but I do remember all the steps we went up.  It seemed they would never end.  I never made it to the top, but my brothers did.  I must have been a wimp.  I am sure my grandkids could make it, and they are not even 10 years old.  When we started down the steps, my legs would shake.

On another day we rode the Pikes Peak railroad cog up to the top of the Peak.  My dad did not go, just my mom and us kids. There were so many of the activities that we did that he could not participate in because of his being on crutches.  He did not seem to mind.  He would find people to talk to and visit with them.  When we got on the train at the bottom, it was very hot.  By the time we reached the top it was sleeting.  Because of the clouds we could not see anything from the Peak.  I was very glad to get back down to the warm sunshine.

I do not know if we went to Garden of the Gods or not.  Another place we might have gone by was the Broadmoor Hotel.  These were both places my mom had gone to visit when she went on her Senior trip after graduating high school.  I am sure she would have wanted to see these places again.  If we did go to these areas, we probably just drove by without stopping.

The next place we visited was Denver.  We went to the Capitol Building.  I guess my parents wanted us to see the historic sites, plus this was free.  We went inside and looked around. I do not think we got to go up to the dome.  I don't remember anything else we did in Denver.  From there we went to Wyoming.

Our next stop was Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming.  We were going to go see the Capitol Building there, but it was already closed.  I do not think we missed a thing.  Once you have seen one capitol building, you have pretty much seen them all.  I remember staying in a motel in Cheyenne that had a kitchen.  I suppose that we had stayed in motels the entire way that had kitchens as that would have been the cheaper way to eat.  The motel was managed by a Japanese couple, and there was a garden. The plants were some I did not recognize.  Why I remember this piece of trivia, I've no idea.

I am pretty sure after we spent the night in Wyoming, we made our way back home.

My mom took photos of our vacation, and if I could look at them, likely I would have a much better recollection of what actually took place.  It was a fun trip, and I was thankful we got to visit Colorado.  I never dreamed that I would one day live in the city we had visited on vacation so long ago.

THE GARDEN

When growing up, we always had a summer garden.  I cannot remember a summer that we did not have a garden.  It was source of food for us for during the winter months.  My parents always had a garden when they were growing up and guess they continued the tradition.  My mom still has a garden each summer, though my brother does all the planting and watering, and most of the gathering now.

 At first the garden was located just north of our house.  Later it was moved to the east side of the driveway on the north side of our house.  Then it was located east of the barn, and later moved to various places in the field east and south of the house.

Each spring we would have to prepare the soil.  At first this was done with a shovel. I remember my mom and Eldon spading, and I am sure Weldon did some though I cannot remember it.  I never did as I was too little and could not get the shovel all the way into the ground. Then we got a rototiller which was much faster than spading.  I loved the way the fresh tilled dirt smelled and loved the way the soil felt, soft and moist.

Next rows had to be made.  Eldon and Weldon did most of this, though my dad did his fare share even with having to wear crutches.  Next we got out all the seeds.  At first I usually just walked with bare feet on top of the seeds in the top of the rows.  That was an easy way to get the seeds pressed down into the dirt.  Later I got to drop in the seeds and cover them.  Eldon always loved to play in the water, so he was usually the one that took care of getting the garden watered.  At first we used a garden hose, then when the garden was moved to the field, Eldon used the irrigation water. My mom and dad would also water the garden when needed.

We all had to pull and hoe weeds and gather the ripe produce.  We all had to take part in snapping beans, shelling peas, shucking and silking corn, gathering cucumbers, squash, okra, tomatoes, and melons.  There is nothing like the taste of fresh vegetables and we looked forward to the first crops every year.

After I got married and had kids, we had a garden in a few places we lived.  The best gardens were in Reserve and Bloomfield, New Mexico.  Our kids seemed to enjoy having a garden as much as I did, especially planting the seeds.  I don't think hoeing and pulling weeds were favorite tasks, nor at times did they care to gather the vegetables. As the girls got older, they actually liked to help weed the garden, to gather ripe veggies, and to can or freeze the produce.  Ethan was never a fan of the garden activities, but he did enjoy partaking of some of the fresh vegetables.

Some of the vegetables we grew were corn, blackeyed peas, green beans, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, green chilies, jalapenos, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, beets, okra, squash, and pumpkin.  Along with the vegetables, the girls liked to plant flowers and bulbs.

I am hoping that some day I will again have a place and an opportunity to have a garden.  

GOING TO WORK WITH MY DAD

Due to the physical disability that my dad had which was a fusing of the joints, he could not longer do the farming.  He had to rent the farm out, and so took other jobs to bring in more income.  One of those jobs was working at a cotton gin keeping books.  The gin was called Clays Corner Gin, which was where the gin was located.  Once in a while, usually around the Thanksgiving holiday, I would get to go and spend the day at the gin with my dad. I looked forward to going and was excited to "help"  him with different jobs in the office.



My first task was to be my dad's eyes. He was able to still drive, a 3-speed on the column no less, which I found amazing in later years.  At the time, I did not think much of it.  We would get to the highway, and he would ask me if anyone was coming.  If he were by himself, he would just point the pickup toward the east and then look in the rear view mirror to see if anyone was coming from the west.  There were two other stop signs on the way to the gin, Again, I would be asked if there were any cars coming.

Once we got to the gin, our first job was to go in and make coffee.  Then we would take a broom and sweep the concrete floors.  There were three rooms to sweep, a main office, a smaller office which was my dad's, and a bathroom.  To keep the dust down, there was some sort of saw dust that we would sprinkle on the floors,  Then we would take the broom and clean up the place.

After this, my dad usually had some sort of bookkeeping duties. I never really understood what he did.  I loved the adding machine, and some time during the course of the day, he would let me play with it.  My dad's fingers would fly on the 10 key machine. I was truly in awe of how he never looked at the keys and entered numbers.



There were cards that were attached to a wire that went on the cotton trailers to identify who the cotton belonged to.  Those cards would eventually be wired to the cotton bale.



Sometimes we would sort those and some other type of cards, matching numbers.  There was a scale to weigh the cotton trailers, and my dad would write weights in  a book or ledger.  The trailer was weighed with the cotton on it,and then again when the trailer was empty to see how much the cotton actually weighed.



Sometimes we counted the change, which was kept in an old muffin tin.  Each hole was used for separating quarters, dimes, nickles, and pennies.  If there was enough change, we would put the coins into coin wrappers.  If the coke machine was low on sodas, we would put the more into the machine.

At lunch time, we would get out the lunch pail.  It was an old metal pail that was gray and dented. Sometimes we took sandwiches, and sometimes we had Thanksgiving leftovers.  I guess we did not worry about food poisoning or warming the food.  There was not a refrigerator that I can remember nor a way to warm up food.  We sat out our meal and then my dad would let me get a dime from the muffin tin and go get a "coke".  That was the term for all soda's in West Texas.



After lunch, I usually just had to find things to keep entertained.  I am not sure what all I did, but I kept busy.  I think there was scratch paper to draw on, I could go outside and wonder around, and farmers would come in and talk to my dad.  I often listened.  The farmers all wanted to buy me a soft drink.  There was one occasion that several bought me a soda, and I think I was not very hungry for lunch.  My dad was not aware of how many cokes I had drank.  Fortunately some of the bottles were 8 oz bottles, I did not get that much.



Another thing I liked to do was get the sugar cubes and suck on them.  My dad was pretty careful to not let me have too many of those.  There were also raw peanuts in a big bag.  I could shell and eat some of those too, but not too many, or it would cause a stomach ache.

Sometimes the gin office would get super smoky.  Almost every farmer smoked cigarettes in that time era.  It would get so smoky that you could barely see people.  At those times, I would go outside and get some fresh air.

In the afternoons, when it got really quiet, I would get so sleepy and would lay down on a couch they had in the main office and take a nap.

I remember the gin manager was a man by the name of Mr. Scott.  He had a wooden leg.  He would often take me and set me on his lap and talk to me.  His wooden leg always felt odd. That leg was hard and stiff.

Quitting time was 5:00.  I was usually ready to leave and go home.  I had done all I could think of to do, and was tired and bored by that time.


I love all the memories I have of going to the gin with my dad.  Those were special days.

THE SWING SET

One of our favorite things to do as a child was to swing on the swing set.  My mom and dad got the set when my oldest brother was a toddler.  It was set up close to the front door, (on the south side of the house) then eventually moved away from the house on the south side of the cellar.  Then it was moved to under the big maple tree on the north side of the house.  That is where it is now located. Yes, the very same one.  The swings have been changed, and the teeter totter is now a plastic one, but the frame is the very same one.

There were only two metal swings and a metal teeter totter.  If there was ever a slide connected to it, I do not remember it.  The swings were a lime green color.  I don't know what color the teeter totter was originally because all I can remember is the faded gray color and the paint being worn off.

I spent hours on the swing set.  This was before we had to work in the fields.  I would sing and swing for hours.  I am sure I made up many a song.

I remember one accident with the teeter totter.  I was standing on the ground and pushing the teeter totter as high as I could get it to go.  It came back and somehow I missed catching it.  It hit me square in the eyebrow.  I did not have to have stitches, but I still have a little scar. Another thing you had to be careful about was where you put your hands on the teeter totter.  You could not put them on the horizontal bars. If you did, and you were to swing really high, those two bars would come together and smash your fingers.  We all did that on occasion.

Often my brothers and I would swing together.  We made up a game of swinging and jumping.  We would swing as high as we could and then see who could jump farther.  We would take a stick and mark where our heels hit the dirt.  Then we would attempt to jump farther than that mark.

Another thing we did was to swing and look at the clouds and try to find different formations somewhat similar to the ones pictured here. We would watch the cloud formations change from one thing to another.  We would watch the thunderstorms come in and watch the lightning storms in the distance.


The metal bar on the A-frame was a great place to sit and to swing from like monkey bars.  We could only do that for a short time because we got too tall, and our feet would touch the ground, preventing us from hanging from the bar.

My children used the swing set when they were young.  The swing set at that time was by the big maple tree on the north side of the house.  I am sure they had their own games they played while swinging. Seems they tried to swing high enough to touch a tree branch of the maple with their feet.

The swing set is still in that location, but the big maple tree is gone.  It got so old and the branches began to die.  Now, my grandchildren play on that same old swing set.  For three generations, that swing set has been loved and has provided many hours of enjoyment.

MEMORIES OF EASTER

             Holidays were fun times, and I eagerly anticipated them.  Easter was among the ones I liked best.  One of the reasons was because it was a spring holiday.  By the time Easter rolled around, I was ready for warm weather, not to say that Easter was always that warm, picture-perfect day.  Many Easter Sunday's were cold, windy, and might be one with rain or even snow.  I cannot remember an Easter that had snow, but there could have been one. 
            Being out of school was another reason to like any holiday.  At Easter, we would get out early on Wednesday and be off Thursday and Friday.  
             Another reason for liking Easter was that it was a holiday that most got new Easter outfits.  Mostly girls got new attire, but boys often would get new shoes or a tie.  I don't remember if my brothers got new clothes or shoes, but I know that my mom and I did.  We would get a new dress, shoes, gloves, and hats.  This tradition ended as I got older, but it was fun as a little girl. 
              Each Easter Sunday, we would go to my grandparents house.  I don't remember going to the Embry grandparents, but always to the Engelking side.  We would have a big dinner that was usually turkey, dressing, ham, homemade rolls, many side dishes, and desserts.  My cousins Debbie and Davey usually were there as well.  My grandmother would set up a kid's table.  She would decorate the table.  One year I remember her making a centerpiece that we could eat.  The grass was green dyed flaked coconut.  On this "grass" was a big chocolate bunny in the middle and then various little type of candies spread around on the grass.  There were chocolate eggs, chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies, and jelly beans.  
               After we ate, we would hide Easter eggs.  I think my grandmother provided all the hard boiled dyed eggs.  We brought out Easter baskets and one of the adults would go hide the eggs in the yard or in the rye field close to the house.  The ones in the rye field were very difficult to find and some would not be found until the rye was cut or several months later.  PEE_U!  Those eggs had to be rotten.
               Another thing we would do is go to an Easter egg hunt that was close to the gin where my dad worked, at Clays Corner.  There were people from all over the area who would come.  They had the hunt divided up into age groups.  The eggs they had there were these yucky candy eggs of all colors wrapped in cellophane wrappers.  We rarely to never ate those things, but would take them home and hide them over and over for our own egg hunts. 

 One year I was way in the back of the pack.  By the time I got to the area where the eggs were hidden, there were none left.  I did not get one single egg that year.  My cousins and brothers thought that hilarious. I on the other hand was very disappointed and cried.  Why I should cry over not getting candy eggs that I did not like, I do not know. It was just the fact I did not get any eggs.  

              Our Easter egg baskets were made of straw.  They had green plastic type grass and we had a few Easter animals like bunnies, chickens, or ducks in the basket.  I remember ours being more like the basket on the right, more oval shaped.  
                We had this bunny that was somewhat like cardboard, but I think it was made of paper mache.  Mine was pink.  
              My Grandma Ike usually gave us our own candy, a big hollow chocolate bunny, jelly beans,  chocolate eggs, and chocolate covered marshmallows. 










          Another favorite Easter activity was dying eggs.  My mom would boil at least 6 eggs for each of us 3 kids. Most of the time we had to take 6 eggs to school for our school Easter egg hunt. She would take the hot water used for boiling the eggs and put in a coffee cup along with vinegar and a dye tablet.  There were 6 main colors in the kit.  Then we would dye the eggs and put on an old rag to dry.  The only other decoration in the kit was a paraffin stick (wax) that you could write or make designs on the egg before placing in the dye.  Where the wax was, no color or dye would show and you would  see what was written or drawn.
        There was not a lot of emphasis on the resurrection of Jesus, which I now find very odd since that is the reason to really celebrate Easter.  I am not sure why.  It was somewhat like Christmas, and was not really considered a religious holiday.  I do not really know why this was.  I am glad that I now celebrate Easter as the day of the resurrection of Jesus, which means I will be resurrected and live with Him forever in heaven.    

GIRL SCOUTS

     Recently Maddy was signed up or Girl Scouts.  This brought back memories of when I was in scouts.  
     
     I started out as a Brownie. They did not have younger scout groups then.  Brownies were the youngest group.  I believe they have Daisy Scouts now.  I found the different age groups and their designations in Wikipedia.

"In 1965 the age structure was rearranged to Brownies (ages 7 and 8, or 2nd and 3rd grades), Juniors (ages 9 through 11, or 4th through 6th grades), Cadettes (ages 11 through 14, or 7th through 9th grades), and Seniors (ages 14 through 18, or 10th through 12th grades). 
     




         I might have been in Brownies one year.  Then I moved up to Juniors.  Each group had their own uniform.  They seem quite dorky to me now.  I had first 2 uniforms on the left.  Yes, go ahead and laugh.  I am.  haha 

    Unfortunately, I did not have a great scout leader.  That is probably the reason I did not stay in Girl Scouts. I never did earn very many badges.  I cannot even tell you which badges I earned. I am going to assume I got one for cooking.  Other than that?  Who knows.
    
      There are not a lot of things that I remember doing in scouts. I do remember trying to learn to knit.  That was a frustration for sure.  The other activity I remember doing was going on a camp out.  
    
       We went to some ranch close to Friona, TX.  There was an old place that seemed to be a bunk house.  There was a kitchen of sorts.  I know there was a windmill that was pumping water into a stock tank. If there were bathrooms, I can't remember.  We may have had to go to an outhouse.  There was an older group of scouts there as well.  Seems they fixed shish-ka-bobs for their dinner.  I've no idea what we ate. Smores were made at the campfire later in the evening.  
   
       Another thing we did in Girl Scouts was to sell Girl Scout Cookies.  I hated selling, so this was not a fun thing for me.  The cookies they had then and that I remember were: Mint Cookies, Butter Flavored Cookies, Fudge Cream Sandwiches,  and Coconut Macaroons. I always loved the Mint Cookies best. 
   
       I think if I had had a better scout leader, I might have stayed in scouts and enjoyed it more.