Gladewater’s famous Christmas store
“We have Christmas all through the house and never take the trees down,” says Jan Greenwood of Gladewater. “Our Christmas collecting sort of got out of hand,” says her husband Don, “so we just got in the Christmas business.” They have the Greenwood Christmas Store in Gladewater.
“We have more selection and more glass ornaments than anyplace,” says Don. “I mean you cannot go to Dallas and get some of the things in our store.” It has some expensive Christmas tree ornaments made from hand blown glass. Don showed me one. “I’ve never seen this go below a thousand dollars and I’ve never seen it any higher than fifteen hundred. If I put it up for sale it goes in a hurry. We’ve got bunches of them in the 500 to 800 dollar bracket.”
They carry the Old World Christmas ornament brand.
Another brand is Christopher Rothko. “It’s one of the best ornaments,” says Jan. “They have good resale value and are vey collectible. People search them out.”
They have had their store 22 years. It’s open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Their building has been in the same corner location since 1907. They have all kinds of Christmas display items including lighted miniature houses, manger scenes, snowmen and Santas. The hottest sellers are water lanterns. The most popular single ornament is a glass pickle from Germany. “Legend says they would hide the pickle and whatever kid found it got an extra present.” Much of their merchandise is from countries that used to be behind the iron curtain. Some are made the same way they were made in 1820 and from the same family.
Don and Jan are experts on Christmas legends. When you go to the store, be prepared to stay a while because there are so many things to see and so many stories to hear. Don loves to tell about Christmas legends. He told me one about Christmas stockings.
“There wee three sisters. They were from a poor family and their father couldn’t afford a dowry. Back then a woman had to pay to get married. So one cold winter night the three girls took off their stockings and hung them up by the fireplace and went to bed. Well, Saint Nicholas came through there and took some gold coins and threw them down the chimney and they landed in their stockings. So when they got up the next morning they went to the fireplace to put their nice warm stockings on and found the coins. Now they had a dowry and could get married. So after that, everybody started hanging their stockings up around the fireplace hoping that Saint Nicholas could come along and fill them up. Even today, they’re making new legends that go with the ornaments. Jan’s favorite is the ice cream cone. It’s a wonderful treat.
However, if it’s not enjoyed quickly it soon melts and disappears. The ice cream ornament reminds us to enjoy and appreciate what we have today because it may be gone tomorrow.”
People from all over the world have been in their store.