Christmas at the Ford House.
I would like to relate some memories of Christmas past at the Ford’s house. I should begin by stating, there are not many olden days memories that can be retrieved from my fertile brain.
In the photo, you should see the Christmas cactus in bloom. You should not see the carton it is sitting on, which can’t easily be seen when an adult is standing erect looking down.
One of the Christmas’ that I remember, we lived in the country. The house was in the fork of two roads, with snake hill on the right (duly named because it had about five curves in it before you reached the top) and Sprigg Street on the left, no curves just a hill. Being an experienced bicycle rider at my young age I (along with friends) would push our bikes up the hill (there wasn’t any way that we could ride up that monster) then at the top we would get on the bikes and coast down the hill.
What? You don’t think that sounds like much of a challenge? Well, smarty pants, listen to the rest of the story. The challenge was to do this without holding the handlebars, AKA “No Hands”! Snake hill was steep and curvy and if you made it to the bottom in one piece, the road continued downhill but much less incline, for another eighth mile past the Mattress Factory and across the bridge at Juden creek.
I can see you have a question, I will provide the answer before you ask it. Yes, we did use our breaks as we descended snake hill, otherwise the speed would have been excessive.
Let me answer the other two questions you have before I continue with the story.
No, I never fell during these challenging rides.
None of the boys were rich enough to have bikes with hand breaks so we were all able to slow the bikes without touching the handlebars.
You always have these trivial questions, let me get back to my story. I could have been done if it weren’t’ for these questions.
Back to the story, remember, we lived in the country.
It was Christmas Eve and there was a possibility of snow! When we awoke on Christmas morning, we had the storybook, “White Christmas”, consisting of about 5 inches of snow. Before you ask, no I did not get a sled for Christmas, I already had one.
I believe I was 10 or 11 years old at the time. We were supposed to have family visiting in the afternoon, so I took my sled and pulled it from the house making tracks in the snow. My thought was that I would tell my nephews that Santa had been here, and those were his sleds tracks.
Dad pointed out that my foot prints might be hard to explain and that my sled was probably not as big as Santa’s. My great plan was foiled.
Another year I wanted a toy derringer like Paladin had on the TV show. The TV show was, “Have gun, will travel” and the main character carried a six gun and a derringer. The small derringer saved him in most of the shows.
The toy gun cost $2.00 at the toy store and I had begged for one. I learned from my nephew Paul, that his mother was getting me the toy gun. On Christmas day I opened the smallest package first and it was the toy derringer! I am sure I got a couple other gifts that year but I can’t remember them, I was too excited about the derringer.
I remember a gift I bought from mom one Christmas. It was a lamp and when you turned it on, the heat from the bulb would rise and cause the inside to move. On the outside there was and old model T Ford and when the lamp was on, with the insides turning, it gave the allusion that the car was driving down the road. I thought this was the best thing ever.
We always had a real tree at the Ford House. Back in the olden days, Christmas trees were sold in many places. I can remember going with Mom and Dad to the gas station on Margon Oak Street, near the Mississippi Bridge, to select the perfect tree. If memory serves me, these trees were advertised at $3.95 each. I remember they liked to get the tree no more than two weeks before Christmas. It would be left outside in the garage thinking that it would not dry out as bad in the cool or cold weather.
A week before Christmas the tree was brought into the house, it was placed in front of the window so anyone driving past could see it. As a kid I liked helping decorate the tree. I remember the tinsel and the plastic ice sickles that we hung on the branches. Mom said the tinsel had to be hung just right and not tangled up. It didn’t matter to me, it was a Christmas tree and there was going to be presents.
The day after Christmas the tree was taken down, I did not help.
Another, among my Christmas memories, would be the plays that were always put on at church. There was always the usual individuals in these plays, and I, on occasion, played one of the three wise men. I may have been cast in this roll, due to my superior intellect.
The part I remember most was the last part I played in a church play. I was a “cop” in a Christmas play. I likely got the part due to my size, I was a big kid (teenager) and the police officer’s uniform they had would fit me.
The play began with me and another boy outside the doors to the church. The other boy would run inside the church with me chasing him and I was to catch him just as we arrived at the front of the church. Not everyone knew that this was going to happen so we surprised some of the audience. I caught the other boy at the front of the church and when through my lines flawlessly, although I no longer remember my lines. Then the main part of the play began, and we kind of faded away (went and sit down).
As with so many things in life, if we want to have lasting memories of Christmas or any event, we should get involved. Being involved will help preserve the many great memories.
May all your lasting memories be good, fun, safe and happy!
Don Ford
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