Pike Township Family Stories
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Nichols, Iowa Centennial Book 1884-1984, page 140Des Moines Register, 1964
Question: Reference often is made to “an old-fashioned Christmas.”
Was an old-fashioned Christmas better than those we have today?
(Answers obtained at Nichols.)William Porter, 58, Nichols, feed store operator: “I’m trying to think what is meant by the term ‘old-fashioned Christmas.’ Yes, I suppose the old-fashioned Christmas was a little better. It usually meant the whole family getting together someplace. Grandmother used to make a plum pudding. I think Christmas meant more on that basis than it does now. People had more Christmas spirit. Today it seems like the kids are interested in receiving expensive gifts. Of course today people are more scattered about the country.”
Jess Newton, 57, Nichols, owner of Newt’s Café: “I would say that the modern day Christmas celebration is not the same because it seems they have taken the Nativity out of Christmas. An old-fashioned Christmas to me means the Nativity. I wish they would bring it back and not go so much for the commercial end of Christmas. I think the habits of people now are about the same. They look forward to Christmas dinner and an exchange of gifts. Kids still come home for Christmas when they can.”
Mrs. Helen Rice, Nichols, housewife and co-operator of the Rice Café: “I know we used to celebrate differently than we do now. I think it did mean a little more, too. There wasn’t the hurry and scurry of modern day. People were more settled and not so jittery. The Christmas celebrations I’ll never forget were the times when we would get on the train and go to my grandmother’s house in Iowa City. That was what I would call a real old-fashioned Christmas. You really felt like you were doing something on those occasions.”
Charles Howe, 46, Nichols, town postmaster: “Yes, in my opinion there is a big difference. I recall old-fashioned Christmas as a time when families got together. They took time to celebrate and things were not so commercial. People were satisfied just to be together. The gifts were not so important. I think today people are just moving too fast. They do not take time out to be with one another. This hurrying all the time is true even in a small town such as Nichols. People are always going some place else.”
Return to Family Stories Index Return to Muscatine Co. IAGenWeb, Index Page
Page created February 3, 2011 by Lynn McCleary