More Vintage Christmas Pix

Happy Birthday to our friend Matthew!

Christmas is a holiday that evokes so much powerful nostalgia for many of us. We grew up watching old movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street", and "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" every year. We pored over Sears "Wish Books", made decorations in school, heard endless Christmas songs in stores... it made a huge impression. So looking at some vintage photos from holidays past is a lot of fun.

Let's start with this first one, undated but possibly from the late 1940s. A little girl is delighted with her record album, "Tales of Uncle Remus" (it's playing on the portable record player). Her foot rests on a new toy stove, complete with tiny pots and pans. She got a sketch book, and possibly some new dolls as well. The woman to the right (the girl's aunt?) looks like she just finished her shift at the hospital. 

Next is a pair of photos from 1960 (though I would have guessed earlier if they weren't dated). Santa Claus has made an appearance, at a  church (I assume) in what seems to be the public meeting room. How does Santa keep his beard so silky, with no split ends? A view out the window shows that it is snowy and cold.

Well, there he goes - Santa has a busy schedule. All the children are wearing paper hats that look like upside-down men's underwear. Who am I to complain? I hope they got something a little more fun, though. When I was a kid we got little glazed ceramic manger animals in Sunday school. There's a painting of the Virgin and child on the wall, and the church's priest (with his stylish biretta) says his goodbyes to St. Nick.

This last one is my favorite because it is so darn weird. The slide was labled, "Christmas, 1959", and shows a table with a dozen toothy mouths. Is the pink stuff clay? Or Play-doh? The teeth seem to be some sort of white beans, such as Navy beans. The cigarettes are a classy touch. What these have to do with Christmas I will never know, but I love it.