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"1960A Very Merry Christmas to you all!
"Dear Rae Sandra & Dana: ~
"You know Anna is getting old and I thot that maybe you would like to know
what kind of a Christmas I had when I was a little girl. It was so different compared to what the little girls and boys
have to-day.
"Long before Christmas my mama used to buy big bags of different kinds of
candy and all kinds of nuts, that she used to put away high up in the top
most shelf of our cupboards so the children couldn't get them.
"Papa used to get our tree at the grocery store. It used to be about the
biggest one he had. Papa trimmed the tree Christmas Eve while mama stuffed the big turkey ~ Papa worked in a mill and
he got a big 25 pound turkey for nothing and a big 100 sack of flour for nothing as a Christmas present.
"This was one nite the children couldn't go to sleep, thinking about Santa
Claus ~ Papa always had real candles on the tree and way on the top he had a beautiful angel ~ It had blond curls all over
its head and beautiful silver and gold wings ~
"Christmas morning the children were up early ~ but Papa wouldn't let them
go in until after he had the candles all lit ~ There was a wide scramble when he opened the door to see what each one got.
In those days Christmas presents weren't wrapped ~ They were set under the tree. The boys received drums, horns, mouth
harps, books, watches, candy, jumping jacks, tops that spun around and made music. The girls got dolls, doll beds,
bracelets, dishes little cupboards and all kinds of things to play house with ~
"We always had oyster stew for breakfast on Christmas morning and then came
the grand march ~ We had a wonderful papa and mama ~ Papa was at the head with drum sticks and a drum, then the boys with
horns and mouth harps ~ Round and round the house we would go until mama was almost crazy with the noise ~
"Then mama would bring down the candy and nuts and put them in big bowls ~
I almost forgot, mama always made about 2 dozen big popcorn balls ~ I remember one year that mama made a horse out of dark
brown flannel and stuffed it ~ That was for the baby at that time ~ also there never was a Christmas without a teddy bear ~
I still think they are adorable.
"We certainly had big dinners, besides the turkey, we had pies and fruit
cakes. We usually had a lot of company late in the afternoon . . ."
~ This letter was divided between Sandra and Rae when they were
little girls, and Sandra has the second concluding page.
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