Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
Christmas is a very happy time for most of us but it can be a very sad time for those who have lost loved ones. Those who have lost a husband or a wife dread the coming of another Christmas season without their spouse.
It is even worse for those who have lost a loved one during the same year and face their first Christmas without them there to share the Christmas experience.
Happy Christmas Memories
The most exciting part of Christmas starts for kids on Christmas Eve when they go to bed wondering what presents they will find under the tree the next morning.
My mother would read from the Home Life a Baptist publication before we could open our presents. She would have stayed up most of the night wrapping presents and filling stockings.
Christmas Specials and Movies
Watching Christmas specials on television were always a big part of our Christmases. We would watch the Bob Hope Christmas show, Andy Williams, Perry Como and other entertainers who had Christmas shows.
Natalie Wood and Maureen O'Hara pictured in a scene from Miracle on 34th Street with Natalie being nine when the movie was made..
We would watch the classic Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street with Natalie Wood portraying the daughter of Maureen O’Hara’s character. She was taught by her mother to not believe in Santa Claus.
White Christmas was released in 1954 and is will be shown six times on Christmas Eve on AMC.
Another favorite was White Christmas in which Bing Crosby sings the Irving Berlin classic song White Christmas. It also stars Rosemary Clooney and Danny Kaye. The film was released in 1954 and will be shown on AMC six times on Christmas Eve this year starting at 9 AM but no time zone was listed so assume it is 9 AM ET and 8 AM CT.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas Meaningful Song
It wasn’t easy listening to I’ll Be Home For Christmas during the Christmases of 1963, 1964 and 1965 since I was in Hawaii those three years and wouldn’t be home for Christmas until 1966 after returning home from Vietnam.
I played Christmas music on my record player in the barracks but it wasn’t well received by the other soldiers who also wouldn’t be home for Christmas.
When the Johnny Grant USO Show came to Schofield Barracks with Julie Newmar and Stefanie Powers and others the thing I remember most is that someone sang I’ll Be Home For Christmas which reminded me that I wasn’t going home for Christmas that year.
Other Christmas Memories
I remember the Christmas parties at Louisiana College for the faculty and their families in the cafeteria…the Christmas parades in Alexandria…Ethma Odum reading the The Littlest Angel on KALB TV…Town Talk Christmas parties…Santa Claus appearing in several different stores each Christmas…the $150 Town Talk Christmas bonus which Gannett brought to a screeching halt…the Christmas lights on buildings we could see on the back dock of the Monroe Morning World when we would take our breaks.
Going to the Christmas Festival in Natchitoches on a very rainy day and having a flat tire on way to Natchitoches and car overheating on way back from being in a long line of cars leaving Natchitoches after the parade….the miniature church on the square in middle of downtown Alexandria…the Christmas music being played over loudspeaker we could hear from the Town Talk.
The Christmas Eve Candlelight Services at Pineville Park Baptist Church and how the colder it was the more it felt like Christmas…Seeing the Living Christmas Tree program at Kingsville Baptist Church…hearing Bishop Charles Greco on KALB radio on Christmas Eve…the Christmas lights strung across Main Street in Pineville…the water tower in Alexandria covered with Christmas lights.
The KCS Christmas train parked on the train track by Louisiana College and the long wait in the brutally cold weather that night to board the train to see inside the train….65 snowless Christmases in Louisiana… Christmas caroling as we walked from house to house singing Christmas carols to people we knew and didn’t know and seeing living nativity scenes at churches.
We want to take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!
