Branch Come Home Year

August 9-19, 2007

Our Americanized Christmas

By: Marina (Power) Gambin

 

My childhood Christmases were happily spent in Branch in the 1940s and 50s. In 1952, I was five and a half years old and filled with all the magic and fascination that every Christmas season offers. My older sister was six and my baby sister two.

 

Children of today will post, telephone, e-mail or personally deliver their letters to Santa at parades and shopping malls. We believed in sending our Christmas wishes up in smoke via the chimney. We were no different from other outport children and I am sure we asked Santa for the usual toys: dolls, books, nurses’ kits, checkers, snakes and ladders, sets of dishes and the like.

 

In the 1950s, American bases were in full swing in Newfoundland. We did not have much connection with the base in Argentia, but our aunt and her husband, who lived in St. John’s, had many American friends at Fort Pepperell.

 

I remember that, a few weeks before Christmas, my mother made a trip to St. John’s. When she returned, she informed us that she had been talking to Santa Claus and this year he would really be surprising us. My older sister Jean and I were ecstatic. I don’t know how we got through the days of waiting, but I recall the two of us lying in bed, night after night, guessing about what marvels were coming our way.

 

Obviously, we did not realize that our gifts were American-influenced, coming through very generous military friends of our city relatives. We had no TV and we were not familiar with the toys enjoyed by children of the USA. Hence, our predictions didn’t come close to reality when December 25^th arrived.

 

I will never forget the excitement of that particular morning. To our eyes, the room that held our Christmas tree was akin to a toy store. A beautiful child-sized set of a table and chairs laid out with dainty china dishes was overshadowed by a bright-coloured soda fountain complete with gadgets, taps, straws and plastic cups. We couldn’t believe the novelty toys; a cow that gave milk when you pulled its tail, wind up animals that jumped and waved, a jewelry box with a musical ballerina, a monkey that delivered sounds, an attractive Jack-in-the box and a variety of baby rattles and cute little stuffed toys. Our stockings were filled with story books, colouring books, crayons and a selection of candies and fruits unknown to outport Newfoundland.

 

A short time ago, my older sister and I reminisced about our Christmas of 1952. Jean recalls that her greatest thrill came in the knowledge that many children visited our house just to see our toys.

I doubted that we were really deserving of such good stuff, but that did not keep me from enjoying it.

 

Years later, our mother told us how the Good Samaritans of Fort Pepperell had assisted Santa Claus before he flew to Branch on that unforgettable Christmas Eve. Soon after, these generous philanthropists left this province and our relatives never heard from them again. I wonder if they ever realized how much joy they spread to an ordinary family in St. Mary’s Bay, Newfoundland.