Christmas in Woodside: The Most Magical Time! - Rachel Devine
Christmas in Woodside was, at times, magical. Once you got past the family dysfunction, it was fun. Every family has their own story of dysfunction. However, this article brings forth the goodness of Woodside during Christmas time. It brings forth the essence of being a child during Christmas time, which is the most magical time of the year!
Let’s take a peek into a window of what life was like for children back in the mid-60's during Christmas in Woodside.
I loved growing up in Woodside, New York. We had a house on 55th Street, between Queens Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue. Woodside was a quiet middle-class neighborhood lined with mostly one family homes and a few apartment buildings. The grammar school, PS 11, was 2 blocks away. There was also a library on the corner, across the street from PS 11. Roosevelt Avenue had an elevator line that the 7 train ran on from Times Square to Main street. There were many stores along Roosevelt Avenue, and one special store comes to mind called Walter’s Bakery, on 61st Street. I remember going there on Sunday morning for jelly rolls and other pastries with my father. In my opinion, Walter’s had the best pastries in the world.
My house on 55th Street
I remember almost every house on 55th Street having Christmas lights on their stoops or windows. The O’Connor’s actually had music playing all during the Christmas season from their front porch. As you walk down the block to the corner, where Sids Pharmacy was, you can feel the Christmas spirit in the air as the twinkling lights radiated a sense of joy. My house had those large Christmas light bulbs strung around the frame of the house on the second floor. I remember I would take the plug out and put it in the socket to make the lights blink. We also had a 4-foot silver tinsel tree with many colored blinking lights that we set by the window. As a child, I always longed for a green tree, but as I got older, whenever I see a silver tree, fond memories come back of Christmas of yesteryears.
I remember walking down to Sids in the winter months. Sids was a small type of general store/pharmacy. You can get your medicines, as well as candy, soda, cigarettes, beer, and ice cream. He even had gifts like cologne and watches. He even had those chocolate cake logs with vanilla icing inside. Sid was the one our parents went to when they had a health question and the doctor was not available. He wore a white outer garment, like a doctor, and his adult son also worked with him behind the counter and in the small pharmacy area.
There was a big snowstorm in the 1960s that closed the schools down. MY neighbor took me and her two sons to the back of PS11 to go sleigh riding down the hill. It was an extra happy day being with friends and playing in the snow. My mother always made hot chocolate when we came in from the snow.
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer cartoon came on every year during the Christmas season, along with Frosty the Snowman, which were two of my favorite Christmas shows to watch. The Bing Crosby Christmas Special was another favorite. There is something so wonderful about the traditions of Christmas that invokes a spirit of kinship and love.
I remember my mother wrapping gifts on the kitchen table. My younger brother and I would take the cardboard rolls from the end of the Christmas paper and bop each other on the head, which my mother hated. We would always ask my mother for one gift on Christmas eve and to her dismay she would give in. I remember one year getting a Cinderella watch. I loved Cinderella, and that watch was one of my favorite gifts. The anticipation of Santa coming was incredible, as I use to look out my bedroom window waiting to see Santa and his reindeer in the black sky.
Christmas morning was finally here! My mother would have a chocolate and vanilla pudding cake for Christmas. She usually bakes cakes for special occasions, but on Christmas, she bought one from the local baker. We had a white fake fireplace in the living room, where Christmas holly was hung and the electric logs would be burning bright on Christmas morning. I remember wearing a pink dress and my mother taking my picture. Christmas day was also my birthday, so it was special all around. My mother instilled a love for Jesus in me at an early age, as she always mentioned the fact that Jesus and I shared the same birthday. And of course, Jesus’ birth is the real essence behind Christmas.
I remember my father had a Christmas album and we would listen to all the Christmas favorites like, White Christmas, I’ll be Home for Christmas, Silent Night, O Come all Ye Faithful and all the other Christmas classics. My father would do the cooking on holidays. He would make roast turkey, potatoes, mixed vegetables and his famous stuffing - a recipe he got from his mother. The stuffing consists of onion, chopped beef, chopped turkey livers, spices and of course breading. I used to poke out the livers, which I hated and could spot a mile away. When I make it, I leave out the liver.
Christmas was a beautiful time of year and I enjoyed each and every one of them.
I also visited my friends homes during Christmas, and it just always seemed to be so much fun to play Barbie dolls together. I remember a friend having a very organized black Barbie case with many beautiful outfits, which I admired. My Barbie case was special too. It gave the neighborhood children something to do during the Christmas vacation from school.
Of course, as in most homes, there were good times as well as bad times, but the good times always seemed to outweigh the bad times. Looking back on our childhood can bring different emotions, but when I was a child, I didn’t think about anything outside of what was happening in the moment. The Christmas Spirit lives in the moment. God is peace, God is love, and God is the Spirit of Christmas. God can only be felt in the moment. He is not in the past or the future; he lives in this very moment. This is why children have a natural childlike wonderment because they have not yet learned to wander from the moment to past regrets or future worry. They stay in the moment, where everything is happening and the Spirit of God lives.
As I look back on Christmas in Woodside, I see beautiful memories. I am grateful for the many wonderful Christmas traditions in our home and in the neighborhood. What do you see when you look back on your own childhood Christmas? I hope you see the goodness of the season. Christmas is a magical time for children, so no matter what is happening, life is usually enchanting. May your Christmas be merry and bright. Christmas in Woodside was the very best time of the year!
Do you remember what your Christmas was like as a child?
Rachel Devine is the author of her new inner child book, Discover the Power of the Secret Within, along with The Third Road and Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack, all on Amazon.
Devine Intervention: Inner Healing Center
Let me know your thoughts on your childhood Christmas, you can send an email from my contact page.