Mary Kiekhoefer: what she remembers about Christmas

By Cara L. Dempski

GLENWOOD CITY — When Mary Kiekhoefer was asked about her childhood Christmas memories, she said she could not remember much.

Then she proceeded to rattle off a list of nearly a half-dozen things she recalls from her childhood holiday celebrations.

“It seemed just like any other day,” she said.

Kiekhoefer said the day was like so many other days for families getting together for the holiday: family would come over for a meal, she would play outdoors with her cousins, and there were church and school Christmas programs to participate in before the children took a week, or more, off for the holiday season.

The Glenwood City woman said the school Christmas program would usually happen before the church one, and was almost always the last thing the students in her small country school did before taking a break for Christmas and the New Year.

While both programs typically involved acting out the story of Jesus’ birth, school programs tended to focus more on music and student achievement, while the Church programs focused on the Bible’s story of Christmas found in the Gospel of Luke.

Kiekhoefer attended a very small Catholic church in Emerald, where the young people presented the story of Christ’s birth through playacting and carols. She said her family went to church Christmas morning, but did not clarify if the children’s program was that day, or held on a Sunday prior.

Santa Claus was a familiar guy in her household growing up, and she remembers receiving many toys as gifts. She remembered specifics for just one or two of presents she received from him as a young child.

“One year, I got a bunch of toys for making doll clothes and dolls,” Kiekhoefer remembered. “That was a fun one.”

In addition to receiving items that encouraged playtime or learning, Kiekhoefer received practical gifts as well. She remembers receiving clothes, usually a new dress, for Christmas most years. While many dresses at the time were constructed of the fabric of flour bags, Kiekhoefer said her mother usually purchased material for her outfits in a store.

At home, Kiekhoefer’s mother always had trays of cookies on hand for decorating and then eating, and the holiday meal usually consisted of goodies from the garden, like mashed potatoes, squash and beans. She said the main part of the meal was usually a nice, fat turkey.

The Glenwood City woman said she was not one of the children who ate more cookies than she helped frost and decorate, but knows there are children like that.

Afterward, there would be pumpkin or apple pie for dessert, again from the year’s produce, and then everyone would relax for a little while.

Once everyone’s holiday meals had settled, Kiekhoefer said the children would often go outdoors to go skiing or sledding down the local hills – activities that were popular not just Christmas day, but throughout the whole week leading to the new year – but that it was occasionally too cold.

Then, she and her cousins would make up games to play indoors, or would play with their new toys.

She said the time between Christmas and school starting again in the new year seemed to go quickly, but she enjoyed the holiday season each year.

Even if it did seem like just a regular day with family.