Memories of Christmas past
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A group of men playing pool at Harrisburg's Golden Circle Nutrition Program Wednesday were deeply involved in their game, but took a few minutes to reminisce on Christmases past.
They recalled holidays during times of hardship, during the Great Depression, during war time and during times of personal crisis when the giving spirit of the holidays persevered.
In rural areas incomes were often small and people had to make do with what they had.
"When I was a kid I was likely to get one present. One year I got a Gene Autry cap pistol and I liked it as well as any present I ever got," Red Hunt said.
Candles were a way to get lights on a tree, though the fire hazard was ever present.
House fires have always been a problem during the wintertime considering the danger potential of wood stoves, furnaces or electrical heating.
Jonah Reynolds said his most memorable Christmas involved such a tragedy in 1945 when he was 12-year-old.
"On Dec. 20 our house burned. We got everything out from under the Christmas tree," he said.
The family knew there was a fire in the upstairs part of the Herod house. They had time to save most of the furniture on the first floor, the meat from the smoke houses and the gifts from under the tree. They could not reach the second floor to salvage those items.
Everything burned but the barn.
Christmas can be difficult for families with loved ones serving in the military. But the first Christmas back home from the horrific combat of the Korean War is among the best for Don Cooper.
"The tree was the prettiest I've ever seen in my life. My wife, parents, everything, I was so happy at that time. The war was over. Everything was perfect that year in 1953," Cooper said.
Some soldiers made the most of the holidays, too. Kenneth Smith, a veteran of World War II, has fond memories of Christmas in Italy despite the gloomy environment of a war-ravaged countryside and orphaned children.
Smith was in Naples and he and his fellow soldiers saved their candy rations and gave it to orphaned children and children out on the street.
"It was a pleasure in giving instead of receiving, the kids appreciated it so much."
Smith and four of his fellow soldiers procured a Christmas tree for their station. They spotted a fine Christmas tree candidate in a yard while on the way to Rome and believed the house was vacant.
"There was a pretty little cedar tree in a yard. We thought the house had been bombed so we appropriated it," Smith said.
Little did they know the house was not vacant and the owner was none too happy to see the G.I.s making off with his tree.
"He came out yelling, but we had already cut it and had it on the Jeep," Smith said.
Smith remembers the worst year of the Great Depression being a time for being thankful.
"Christmas was spare that year. No one had money for luxuries. We were fortunate enough to eat and have a warm house to live in," Smith said.
-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.
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