BABY BOOMER BABBLE
A Boomer Christmas-1953
My first two-wheel bike. I
must have been five. That would make the year 1953. In the picture, the bike
looks a little small for me. Santa must have goofed.
Christmas was an exciting
time of the year, especially for an only child. There were always plenty of
presents. There wasn't any competition. We always exchanged gifts on Christmas
Eve. I'm not entirely sure how that tradition got started, but I would imagine
I had something to do with it. And the fact that we always spent Christmas day
at my grandmotherÕs.
Christmas dinner. That I
can remember. It was always a surprise as to what we might have. My
grandparents were first generation German immigrants. One of the dishes I
remember best was sauerbraten, which I later learned is a German technique to
sour anything. Usually, for our Christmas dinner, it was sour rabbit, which my
grandfather had recently shot. A squirrel or two may have occasionally been
thrown in, but when things are soured, it all pretty much tastes the same.
Always served with noodles. I did learn the art of souring things, and do
practice it from time to time. I prefer soured, tame rabbit. I don't do any
hunting.
Iced sugar cookies were
another treat at Christmas and Easter. My grandmother could make the best iced
cookies I've ever had, and believe me, I've had a few. The secret was another
German baking trick, sour cream. I did inherit her recipe when my mother died
and will be baking up a batch in the next week or so. You want a real treat,
stop by the house over the holidays, but don't talk diet, these are not for the
faint of heart.
Postage stamps on the
Christmas cards would have been three cents in 1953. A gallon of gas to get to
Grandma's would have been around 22 cents. A brand new Ford to ride in would
have been around $1600–$2400. The average price of a new home was
$17,400. Sugar for the sugar cookies would have been 89 cents for ten pounds.
But to put it all into perspective, the average salary per year was $4000. The
rabbit and squirrel were free.
Dwight Eisenhower was
President, the Yankees won the World Series, and Dark Star won the Kentucky
Derby. One of my favorite all-time writers, Ernest Hemingway, won the Pulitzer
Prize for his novel The Old Man and the Sea.
Waiting for dinner to be
served, we might have listened to songs on the radio sung by Fats Domino, Hank
Williams, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Patti Page, Perry Como, Nat King Cole,
Dinah Shore, Dean Martin, Doris Day, and Bing Crosby. Two of the most popular
Christmas songs in 1953 were Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song –
Chestnuts Roasting by an Open Fire," and "The Hippopotamus
Song," song by a ten-year-old girl from Oklahoma, Gayla Peevey. She sang
it to raise money for the first hippopotamus at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Things
were much simpler then.
Those watching television
in the living room might have seen such classics as ÒI Love Lucy,Ó "What's
My Line," "Truth or Consequences," "The Adventures of Ozzie
and Harriet," "The Life of Riley," "The Jack Benny
Show" or "Dragnet." You remember Joe Friday? "Just the
facts, Ma' am." One of my personal favorites was "You Bet Your
Life," a game show hosted by Groucho Marx. I always liked the Marx
Brothers. This was definitely a classic, featuring a cigar-smoking Groucho asking
such difficult questions as, "What color is the White House?" or
"When did the War of 1812 start?" or "What color is an
orange?" The most remembered question was, "Who's buried in Grant's
tomb?" Ends up it was a trick question. Both Grant and his wife are buried
there. The highlight of the program was if the contestant mentioned the secret
word. A duck, looking like Groucho, with cigar, glasses, and mustache, would
swing down from the rafters. You talk about excitement. TV hasn't been the same
without Groucho. Or the duck.
So that gives you some idea
of Christmas in 1953. I left out the part where the guys usually drank too
much, and the women played bunco, a dice game, for money. That wouldn't be very
Christmasy.
Have a Merry Baby Boomer
Christmas.