Christmases Past: Bob & Lynda Bird: Going to church with the whole family is a highlight
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BOB & LYNDA BIRD
Bob & Lynda Bird have lived in the area their entire lives. Lynda, whose maiden name was Anacker, grew up on a farm outside of Downing about a mile down the road past where Kadinger’s Salvage is today. She was the oldest of seven children.
One thing that Lynda remembers the most about Christmas as a child was the program at the school. Lynda attended the Goff School which was just across from her home. “We would have to make invitations and then we had to walk to deliver them. I walked like a mile and a half and delivered it to three different houses to come to the Christmas program at our school and some of the other kids were walking in their area. That’s how we got the invitations out after we had made them.”
Lynda said that their teacher planned the whole program which included a couple of skits and some singing from the whole group. “A lot of people came and right at the end a Santa came in and handed out bags with peanuts, apple, orange and a candy cane.” That was a big event for Lynda.
“Of course we had the church program also.” Lynda stated. She attended Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Glenwood City as a child.
“Christmas at our house was simple. My dad would go out and get a tree and my mom would put lights on it and we made decorations to put on it and my mom always put the silver icicles on it so that made it pretty with the lights.” Lynda remarked.
On Christmas morning Lynda and her family would open gifts. She said that mainly the gifts were clothes; socks, underwear, a new shirt and maybe one toy or a game. One of Lynda’s fondest memories is getting a new doll when she was 13 years old, a beautiful keepsake doll that she still has to this day.
Later they would go to church and afterwards they would go to her mother’s brother and his wife for Christmas dinner. Lynda enjoyed these dinners because they had a bigger home and they spread out the tables so they could all eat at the same place. She said her aunt always decorated the house and the table.
“On Christmas Eve we would go to my grandparents (they lived on one side, we lived on the other)” recalls Lynda. She goes on to say that there wasn’t much for gift giving but they would have a lunch. One time when Lynda was 15 or 16 her grandmother gave her a pair of nylons. “I remember that because it was so special that she got them and gave them to me. They didn’t buy much for presents. When she gave me that pair of nylons, I never forgot it because she wasn’t a real warm kind of person.”
Bob who grew up just around the corner from where he and Lynda live now and was one of six boys growing up on the farm. He falls third in line of the Bird boys.
Bob said that his Dad could be kind of a gruff old thing but when it came to Christmas he was different. He liked Christmas so he always made it special. He would trim the tree. He would always go find the nicest tree he could find.
Bob goes on to say that his Dad liked bubble lights so his tree was all bubble lights. He would also hang icicles on the tree. He would have the tree up a month before if he could get away with it. “He liked Christmas.” Bob reiterates.
Bob also admits he didn’t inherit his dad’s talent in trimming the tree.
They never got a lot of gifts usually just one big one for all of the boys to share. One of the most memorable ones is the year they got a RCA Victor radio phonograph.
Bob said that on Christmas Eve “they always curtained off the room and we’d go out and do chores and then when we got done we would have to walk through this curtain to see what was there.”
On this particular year when they got done with chores (and of course nobody could go to the house till everything was done, comments Bob, no snooping allowed) this music was playing when they opened the curtain there was this RCA Victor playing. Bob said it seemed like every Saturday after that when his Dad went to town he brought back a new 45 record. He said a lot of the records were Polkas because they were into Polkas.
“One other year that really sticks out is we walked in and there was a toboggan in there. And of course with six boys that thing got an awful work out. We rode these hills.”
Most of the stuff they bought was from the Spiegel catalog but Bob thinks the RCA came out of Van’s appliance in Menomonie. His Dad and Van were good friends.
They would buy clothes and trinkets from the Spiegel catalog. Bob would bet that the bubble lights came from the Spiegel catalog as well.
Besides the one big gift they always got new clothes for Christmas. Bob remarked that by the time Christmas would come, the six boys had everything wore out. He said that most of their activities were outside. They had games in the house but were always outside playing.
Another Christmas memory for Bob was when he spent three months in Shriner’s hospital when he was 6 years old and turned 7 while he was there. At the hospital every kid could get one gift. If your family couldn’t give you one they would furnish one. “I got a top from mom and dad. A metal one that you pump. I wish I still had that but it got wore out.”
At Christmas time Boyceville had a celebration for the kids and the first gift that Bob remembers he and his brothers buying for his folks was an electric popcorn popper at Frano’s Hardware store bought during this celebration. Bob also remembers doing a Christmas program at the school. He attended the Clack School. In his bag of treats after the program he said they always had a popcorn ball along with some other goodies.
On Christmas day Bob and his family always went to his Grandmas’ and his Uncle Ray always gave them a hay ride. His Grandma lived near where the ethanol plant sits today. Bob tells the story of one particular Christmas Day: “One year Uncle Ray, he was a tough man, would go out in the woods and work all day and think nothing of it, well any ways this one year we went up there for Christmas and it was bitter, bitter cold and we kept pestering him for a hayride and he kept telling us that it was too cold and he didn’t have a cab on his tractor. Finally he gave in and went down to the shed and got the old M (a Farmall M) out and hooked on the wagon and threw some hay on it. And he bundled up and crawled on the seat of that thing and he put her in high gear and he went clear to Wheeler sitting out there in the cold because that’s the type of guy he was, he was tough. And we got back to the house and ain’t nobody wanted anymore hayride. He froze us right up on that wagon. Oh my God that was cold!”
Lynda said he pretty much always had a lesson in what he did.
Bob said his Grandma always had canned meat so we always had her meatballs for Christmas. “They were always a treat because they were really good.”
As for a sweet treat, date or raisin filled cookies that his mom made at Christmas time were Bob’s favorite.
Another special Christmas memory for Bob was when his Dad would always buy a box of delicious apples and slide it under their bed. “Not sure why they kept them under the bed except maybe to keep us from eating them all at once. But by the time Christmas vacation was over they were all gone. They would do that every year.”
“My dad was pretty strict most of the time but he really liked Christmas,” stated Bob. He goes on to say that he didn’t think his parents had much growing up so they tried to make Christmas special for their boys.
Now a days Lynda says that her kids think she goes over board because they have three trees and decorations everywhere in between. She said it’s probably the same kind of thing where she didn’t have much as a kid so she wants to make it special for her kids; Tammy, Tim, Steve, Kevin and Amy, their 11 grandkids and 2 (plus one on the way) great grandkids.
She said Bob gets the trees up and gets the lights on and she takes over with the decorating.
When their kids were little, funds were limited but they always had a tree. They would celebrate at home on Christmas Eve and then visit with the kids’ grandparents on Christmas day, where they would have a gift exchange. Of course there was the programs at the school and the church. They would buy the kids individual gifts and Lynda said when they needed they wouldn’t use Spiegel catalog they would use the Sears catalog.
Lynda said they always made cookies and candy with the kids and they always made meatballs. Now they make about 18 pounds of meatballs which will help to feed the whole family as they gather on Christmas Eve day. Lynda states that they all arrive between noon and 1pm. They have a big meal and then they all go to church together (the early service) and then when they get back they have dessert, open gifts and play games.
“That’s one of our highlights of Christmas that all our kids and grandkids are in church with us,” concludes Lynda.