Christmas nostalgia brought to life
NOVA SCOTIA – Kids were easy to please back in the day.
“We got nice, warm clothes for Christmas. I can still feel the nice, new pajamas in bed,” Gladys Riley said.
Riley is an 89-year-old African Nova Scotia born, raised, and living Amherst.
“We didn't get many gifts but I'll tell you one thing, we were satisfied with what we got. I guess we didn't know any better” she said. Riley grew up in the 1930s, the second youngest of 10 kids.
“You didn't have the technology the kids have today. We didn't even have telephones, so why would you stay in the house? You only stayed in the house to do your lessons and your chores and then you went out and played.”
The Riley kids grew up across the street from Dickey Park in Amherst where they used to skate on a pond in the wintertime. One Christmas, their mother bought Gladys and her sister one pair of skates to share.
“She went for a spin and then I went for a spin,” Riley said.
The Rileys decorated Christmas tree sat in a room that was off limits until Christmas morning.
“Oh my God, what a sight when they opened the double doors and I saw the tree and the presents under the tree,” she said. “I tell you, it was a thrill when they opened those doors.” It was also exciting to see Santa Claus at Barker's Department Store in downtown Amherst, now Dayle's Grand Market.
“I remember ... the lineup was way down to where the jewelers used to be,” Riley said. “Santa would sit right in the centre aisle. I can see him there right now. He'd give you an apple or some candy. Santa was a big thing in those days.”
Myrtle Merritt is 92. She currently lives in Port Williams, near Wolfville, but grew up not far away on a farm in South Berwick. “I had one brother. It was the two of us,” Merritt said.
They went to their grandparents for Christmas.
“But after my grandfather passed away my uncle and aunt and grandmother would come to our house for Christmas dinner,” Merritt said. “They lived about half a mile away, and if it was deep snow they would come with a team of horses pulling a logging sled.” Like Riley, Merrett didn't get the kinds of gifts kids get today.
“There wasn't all the shopping. We had small gifts and they really meant something,” she said. “You had one or two gifts and you kept them for a long time.”
She attended a one-room schoolhouse where kids went to see Santa Claus.
“Santa Claus would come and deliver a bag of candy and an orange.”
Jean and Clyde Mossman live in Rhodes Corner, just outside of Lunenburg. Jean is 74 and grew up in Blockhouse, not far from Rhodes Corner.
“Times were hard in those days because the war ended in 1945, so there were a lot of things you couldn't get,” Mossman said. “If you got a gift under the tree you were happy with that.”
Following the war, people were issued ration coupons.
“You were given coupons for rations for flour and sugar, and most people had their own farm so if they had their own cow they'd make their own butter,” she said. “People who didn't have a cow had a coupon to get butter and, also, the milkman would come directly to your door and deliver your milk.”
Her mom stayed home to take care of her and her brother, and her father was a mechanic at a garage he ran.
She also didn't get gifts like they do today. “We'd get oranges, apples and fruit. One year was special to me, because I got a doll in a carriage,” she said. “And we also got colouring books and crayons, and books to read and that sort of thing.”
Laura Duggan grew up in the '90s, but would have been right at home living in the '30s. “We have a pretty big family. I'm the youngest. I'm 30,” said Duggan.
Duggan lives in Merigomish but grew up nearby on Eight Oaks Farm, which is near St. Andrews in Antigonish County.
“We grew up in a community where we had a lot of our aunts and uncles and grandparents and everyone living nearby, so it was a very old fashioned way to grow up.”
There were many animals at Eight Oaks Farm, including horses, and each winter the Duggan family would bundle up, hitch horses to a sleigh, and ride into the woods to get a tree.
Laura's father Leo would often tell his kids a story about getting the tree.
“He would tell us this crazy story about a Christmas tree trip gone wrong where the horses saved the day. He eventually made it into a book” - entitled ‘Christmas is Christmas Wherever it's Spent.'
The Duggans also exchanged more traditional gifts at Christmastime.
“We had typical toys like Barbies, but everybody gave a gift to everyone, so they were usually small, heartfelt, handmade items.” Leo is 74 and his health has been failing. “I have horses at his house but when he got sick I decided to make a makeshift farm of my own and took my horse from there,” Duggan said.
Her horse is named Star.
“Dad and mom gave him to me for my 12th birthday. He was six and I was 12 and we're still together today,” Duggan said. “I might have to take a little sleigh from home and to out and get a tree.”
There wasn't all the shopping. We had small gifts and they really meant something ... You had one or two gifts and you kept them for a long time. Myrtle Merritt