Sharing Memories (Week 50): Memories of Santa
It’s Week 50 of “52 weeks of Sharing Memories – A Genealogical Journey” at Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. The prompt for this week is it’s “[…] a good time to talk about our memories of Santa. Were you one of the lucky ones who went to a mall or department store and sat on Santa's knee?"
I have few personal memories of Santa. We didn’t have a mall in our town until I was 12 years old, and I don’t think our 2 or 3 (small) department stores featured a Santa at Christmas time.
I checked my family albums and found two sets of photos where my sister and I saw Santa. Both occasions were at Christmas parties (I don’t remember which organization(s) hosted them) when I was 5 and 6 years old. I sat on Santa’s lap when I was 5, but probably didn’t when I was 6. I think, instead, I tried reaching out for his beard – at least that’s what it looks like in the photo below.
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| Yvonne with Santa, 1963. |
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| Yvonne with Santa, 1964. |
When my son Nicholas was little, my husband and I took him to see the mall Santa, but we couldn’t get him near the jolly old fellow. Nicholas was in his ‘shy’ phase when he was about 1½ to 3 years old, and Michael and I didn’t feel like making him see a bearded man in a red suit if he didn’t want to. Nicholas didn’t mind looking at Santa from a respectable distance, though. Consequently, there aren’t any photos of him by or near Santa.
Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.
Love your photos Yvonne! Looks like you're waving goodbye in the bottom one? Guess it was a decent Santa visit for you :-) What great memories.
ReplyDeleteI remember shyness - my youngest son was terrified of Poke-a-Roo (sp?) and cried when I took him to see him at our local Library.
Thanks, Lorine! I remember the tv show "Polka Dot Door" and Polkaroo; my brother used to watch it in the early 1970s. I can imagine how seeing Polkaroo up close could scare a little child :)
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