Sunday, December 22, 2019

Growing Up Christmas, Part 2

We continue the stories from Christmas long ago.
At the feed mill, my Dad would let me play with his adding machine, which had large type bars which came up when you pulled the handle. I liked putting in all nines, so the bars would come all the way up. Eventually, the noise would be too much and he would tell me I could go sweep the warehouse.   Now this was a code word to me that I could go play. He only let me sweep when we weren’t busy at the feed mill. If you have never been to a feed mill, there was dust everywhere.  So I would go out and tell my brothers that Dad said we could sweep.  We would all fight over the big broom, but would all grab one and start sweeping.  The feed mill had beautifully finished hardwood floors, which would have been suitable for a fine town home, and therefore were easy to sweep. Once we had gathered up all of the dust, we knew we had time for some play.
There were moving dollies or hand trucks that were used to stack large bags of feed to be moved to and from the dock.  The ones at the feed mill were made of wood with metal reinforcements and a metal tongue for stacking.  They were excellent at rolling young children to and fro on a newly-swept hardwood floor. Wayne and Denny would take turns rolling each other and me, although they often would roll me into a wall of bags.  We would all laugh and continue to play until a customer drove up, or Dad gave us another assignment.
If Mom had to go to town to finish shopping without the prying eyes of children, Dad would take us to lunch at the Cedar Hill Grill later known as the Golden Point Restaurant and Motel. Charles B. and Lucille Fulks Powell ran the service station on Highway 41 in Cedar Hill. In the early 1950s they added a motel and small restaurant that was named Cedar Hill Grill and Motel. Many of the local residents remember the restaurant and motel.  It was famous for the good country cooking and homemade pies. Mrs. Powell made all of the pies from her own recipes even down to the crust. Pecan, Chocolate, Coconut, and fruit pies were often on the menu. The restaurant when full to capacity, which was most of the time, held 35 people.
Wayne, Denny and I usually got hamburgers and fries, while Dad often ordered a regular plate lunch. We almost always got dessert, which for me was a slice of warm pecan pie with ice cream. I can still remember some of the conversations between my Dad and brothers at lunch. 
Once we headed back to the feed mill, we would enjoy all of the wonderful farmers who traded with my Dad. We had a great opportunity to know so many extraordinary people, who played such a large part in our lives.
I’ve already shared my shopping experience at Gregg’s 5 and 10. The way this secretive shopping worked was I brought all of the items to the front, while my Mom shopped in another part of the store.  My purchases would be rung up, bagged and held until my Mom finished.  My total was six dollars. I had purchased over ten items, including a large plastic flute for my brother, Denny, a stuffed dog for my sister, Beverly, a tie clip for my brother, Joe, and a checker game for my brother, Wayne.  When we got home, I knew that I had to hide the flute from Denny, (he had a reputation of sneaking under the tree) so I stuck it inside a paper towel cardboard roll and hid it under my pillow.  My sister, Beverly, helped me wrap all of the presents (but hers) and label them with tags.  She even helped me wrap the flute, which I hid under my pillow again, so Denny wouldn’t find it under the tree.
Christmas always included lots of friends and family in our house. This meant that where the kids slept often moved from night-to-night. Remember I had hidden Denny’s gift, a red plastic flute, under my pillow to keep him from discovering it. At that time, the Lowe boys slept in bunkbeds made from heavy angle iron. I slept on the bottom bunk and Denny slept on the top bunk, while Wayne and Joe slept in matching bunkbeds on the other wall. With cousins, Uncles and Aunts added to the household, it was always chaotic, but fun.
Somewhere in the hustle and bustle in the days before Christmas, there was wrapping of presents hidden on every bed and table in the household. The resulting trash paper would be bundled up for burning.
Finally, Christmas Eve arrived and it was time for Christmas in the Lowe household. We had a wonderful dinner that definitely included Aunt Martha’s fruit salad, Miss Lucille’s chocolate or caramel pie, and rolls. It seemed that we young kids could move through that wonderful meal in seconds.  “Let’s open presents,” became our refrain.
Minutes seemed like hours as we sat under the tree waiting for the adults to finish their holiday dinner. Occasionally, someone would remind us not to touch the treasures under the Christmas tree.
Finally, everyone would crowd around the living room and the Christmas tree. Every chair would be moved into the room and once everyone was seated, it was time.  Denny and I would be selected to distribute the gifts to the waiting crowd. Every tag was read aloud.  Wayne would help me with the poorly written names. There were gifts from “Guess Who?”  This usually meant they were from Aunt Martha and Uncle Kenny.
Once the gifts were distributed, we started with the youngest child and worked our way to the oldest. At this point in time I was the youngest and began to discover the wonderful treasures in my pile.  I remember among this year’s gifts a wind-up lion toy, a peppermint stick as thick as my brother’s arm, and a new blue notebook with paper.  We then moved to one of my cousins, then another, then finally time for Denny.
He opened his gifts, thanking the givers, then turning to another package.  As he opened his last gift, I said, “Where’s your present from me?”  As we looked again under the tree, and everyone examined their pile.  I remembered it was hidden under my pillow.  Running to the bunk bed and feeling under my pillow, there was no present. We looked all around the bedroom and someone suggested they had picked up some red paper from the bedroom and discarded it in the trash can. Our search went to the trash can. There was no flute.  We finally decided it had been thrown away and burned in our trash pile earlier that day.
Although Denny was not upset, I described his red flute in great detail. Fortunately, we are able to laugh about that little red flute even today.
May your family have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Remember to share your memories with your family. 
 

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Growing Up Christmas, Part One


Photo:Family and Friends gathered for a Lowe Family Christmas celebration: (L to R) Frank T. Jones, Denny Lowe (known for sneaking under the Christmas tree), Flossie Denton Haynes, Mark Lowe (down in front), Lucille Chester Jones Smith, Wayne Lowe (enjoying some nog).  




While touring the wonderful homes on the Historic Homes Christmas Tour this weekend, I felt a warm, traditional feeling come over me. It reminded me of the days not so long ago, when the last day of school before Christmas meant the Holiday was upon us.  Join me as I go back a few years to one of those days.
When I ran into the house, my Mom and sister were waiting to take me to town to finish up our shopping.  Now I thought I was really finished anyway.  We had bought my school friends’ and teacher’s gifts, plus I had spent several dollars at Gossett’s General Store on the important gifts I bought my family.  We hopped into our big green Oldsmobile and headed to Springfield, while a light snow continued to fall.  We stopped at Kroger’s first, then headed over to Ehrenwald’s for several boxes; down to Randolph House & Co for some other items; and down the hill to Gregg’s for our last bit of shopping.  My Mom asked if I needed to do any more Christmas shopping.  I told her I would like to get a few things for the family and went down the aisles to complete my purchases. 
The way this secretive shopping worked was I brought all of the items to the front, while my Mom shopped in another part of the store.  My purchases would be rung up, bagged and held until my Mom finished.  My total was six dollars. I had purchased over ten items, including a large plastic flute for my brother, Denny, a stuffed dog for my sister, Beverly, a tie clip for my brother, Joe, and a checker game for my brother, Wayne.  When we got home, I knew that I had to hide the flute from Denny, (he had a reputation of sneaking under the tree) so I stuck it inside a paper towel cardboard roll and hid it under my pillow.  My sister, Beverly, helped me wrap all of the presents (but hers) and label them with tags.  She even helped me wrap the flute, which I hid under my pillow again, so Denny wouldn’t find it under the tree.
It was still a few days until Christmas, so it seemed that the hours just dragged along. The weather was really cold, so to go outside one had to wear several layers of clothing and then put on the heavy waterproof coat with a hood along with a muffler wrapped around your face. I think this is why we all appreciate the scene from Randy (the brother) falling down in Jean Shepherd’s Christmas Story.  Once you were bundled up and couldn’t move around we could venture out for a few minutes, until the face turned red and then you were ordered back into the house to warm up. The only time we could stay out a little longer was when we were feeding our baby calves.  We would heat up enough water to mix with powdered milk formula for the calves.  My brothers would argue over who got to pop the nipple over the bottle, but eventually we would head out to the pens to feed.  We usually got these calves from Mr. Leon Haynes, who had culled them from his dairy herd.  The calves would nudge and butt us, which was a natural way to stimulate their mothers to provide milk.  I was small enough that they often just knocked me over.  My brothers would laugh and tell me to hold on.  I would get back up and try again.  Occasionally we would have a calf, which would bite on the bottle so hard, they would pull the nipple off and the milk would run out.  If this happened, one of us had to start over with that calf.  My brothers could hold the bottle close to the calf’s mouth to prevent this, but my hands were too small and it was all I could do to hold the bottle anyway.
If I was lucky, Dad (J. W. Lowe) would take me to the Feed Mill on the days when we were out of school.
The Feed Mill was located in Cedar Hill where the road split between Main Street and Washington Road. Across the street was the Cedar Hill Methodist Church and next door was the Cedar Hill Baptist Church.  Today, the site of the Feed Mill is the parking lot of the Baptist Church.
There were four steep steps to the front door of the Feed Mill. At least they were very steep to a youngster like me. A storm door opened outward, which served as an additional obstacle to one short like me. Once inside, it was a kids’ dream – jars of bagged peanuts, a candy bar machine and a soft drink cooler.  The office was closed off from the rest of the building.  There were various types of heaters over the years from milk room electric heaters to propane heaters, but there was always a place to warm up. The balance of the building was unheated, which meant we had to store the extra soft drinks in the office to keep them from freezing.  My brothers, Denny and Wayne were the masters of making a drink freeze just right.  Once frozen to the right consistency, they would roll the bottle in their hands until the soft drink became a slushy treat.  One of our favorite frozen drinks was Kick, a drink very similar to Mountain Dew. RCs or Royal Crown colas were a close second.  If the weather was warmer, we were satisfied with a bag of peanuts poured into an RC cola.
Join me next week for more Christmas stories and fun.   Be sure to share your Christmas memories with your family over the next few days.

J. Mark Lowe
J. Mark Lowe Reviews
Springfield, Tennessee Speakers
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