24- 1965 Dec: Christmas Holidays, First Color TV, a CAR-TV, Good-bye Peppy
The year of 1965 draws to a close. Enjoy a glimpse of life from the eyes of a 13 year old eighth grader as recorded in my childhood diary from that year.
People mentioned in this story: Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Davis were junior high teachers from Richland. Diane, Wanda, Laurie, and Razz were my classmates and friends I had known since first grade. Jimmy, my across-the-street neighbor and friend whom I also have known since earliest childhood years, was a year younger. Jackie was one of my brother’s closest friends. Hal, brother’s friend from Atlanta, who became my first major crush.
My family members mentioned are my mom and dad, brothers Adie and Joe, and Uncle Leonard. Dr. Webb was the county veterinarian. Miss Joyce is Laurie’s mom, Mr. and Mrs. Kenmore, elderly neighbors were grandparents of Debra, a peer friend who visited them in summers.
“16 Dec 1965, I had a Science test today. I thought I had done horrible, but I made a 94. I bought Christmas presents for Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Davis. Tomorrow, we get out of school for the holidays! 17 Dec 1965, Friday, We got out of school for the Christmas holidays. We had our school party today. Diane had drawn my name and gave me earrings. We had our Sunday School Christmas party, also. Wanda gave me some cologne. 18 Dec 1965, We cannot find a Christmas tree this year! Mom and Dad went to Columbus. They brought home a COLOR TV. It’s our family Christmas gift.”
Mrs. Lee was my homeroom teacher. Traditionally, most kids took a small gift for their homeroom teacher. Classrooms had Christmas trees and schools generally held Christmas parties. Students brought a small gift for the classmate whose name had been drawn earlier in December.
The Sunday School sections had similar practices. Everyone drew names on a previous Sunday and on this particular Friday night, all gathered at the Sunday School Annex and exchanged gifts and sang Christmas carols.
The purchase of our first color TV! In an earlier post,(8–1965 April, Easter, Science Fair, ColorTV, Report Cards, New Puppies) I mentioned that my parents had ‘tried out’ a color TV set to see if we were going to see the value in switching to the newest technology. Christmas time offered the perfect opportunity. The switch occurred!
“19 Dec 1965, We got our Christmas tree today. Pulled Christmas decorations out of attic and decorated the tree. I went to church tonight with Mama to the Christmas program. Jimmy and Jackie came to see the program, too. We gave our little dog Peppy away to a Negro family. 20 Dec 1965, This is the actual first day of Christmas holidays. My little cousin was over here at our house all afternoon. Daddy went to Columbus. We ate supper in Richland. 21 Dec 1965, Adie and I went to Columbus with my cousin and met her husband at the airport. Mom and Dad took Tiny (our dog) to see Dr. Webb in Richland to get advice about Tiny having any more puppies. We put most of our presents under the tree tonight.
“Getting the tree” meant driving several miles out in the country on a dirt road and surveying the countryside for evergreens. No permits were required or at least I was unaware of the need; perhaps my dad had taken care of that, but as I recall we just drove around until we spotted a candidate tree and then chopped it down, loaded on roof of the car and hauled it home.
Peppy was the single female puppy born to Tiny a few months earlier. Giving away Tiny’s puppies was always hard, but she seemed to reproduce yearly, so we had to make room for the next litter. The terminology of that era, my reference to an African American family in our community as a“Negro family,” was considered respectful and was commonly heard then. Even respected African Americans referred to themselves as Negroes. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. himself used that expression.
I remember Dr. Webb’s home in Richland. He cared for all of our family pets during my growing up years. His home sat on one of the main thorough fares going through Richland. He had his vet clinic on his family home property and I can still see the slight incline of driveway, as we would pull our car in.
“22 Dec 1965, Hal sent his class picture in a Christmas card addressed to the Anglin family. Why would he do that? Sometimes I am so frustrated. Laurie came over to the house awhile. She has been acting interested in Adie as of recent. 23 Dec 1965, I went to Laurie’s and helped her paint the backyard playhouse. A bunch of kids have been out caroling tonight. They’re knocking on doors and singing. That’s so fun. 24 Dec 1965, We went to Columbus. Bought Mom an electric knife and a new pocketbook as part of her Christmas. Adie got a new comb and brush set. Dad bought a new clock. Adie is mad at me for some reason. I don’t know why.”
My comment about Hal, the class picture and the Christmas card raises the thought that I must have wished he had enclosed his picture in a card to ME, not to the whole family. Girl/boy dynamics appear to be in full swing with my long time friend Laurie, perhaps, interacting with my brother a little differently. They had never been more than brother/sister- type friends and so it remained, but perhaps there was a moment here and there, when those dynamics might have changed.
Laurie’s backyard playhouse had been the scene of many a good time in our earlier childhood years. I mentioned fun times in that house in another of my writings from 1964. Click 5- Friends and Freetime 1963/64 Style and read more about leisure time activities of 11 and 12 years olds.
I went caroling a few times as a youngster. Seems I didn’t go this particular year, but my family always enjoyed the carolers coming by and standing out front of our house singing beautiful Christmas songs.
How many trips to Columbus does one family make during December? We heated the pavement between Lumpkin and Columbus about as often as just driving up the street in Lumpkin! Even on Christmas Eve, we were still shopping!
25 Dec 1965, I’m so happy it is Christmas. Mama got an electric knife, Daddy a nutcracker, Adie a small TV (it actually has a rack to be mounted in our car); I got a clock radio, a scrapbook, some clothes and a few other things. Adie gave me some bath powder. It has been a great day. 26 Dec 1965, I went to Sunday School and Church. Laurie came over to our house awhile, then I went to her house afterward. We’re making Joe a tape. Uncle Leonard called. He may come to visit. 27 Dec 1965, Mom and I went to Columbus with Laurie and her mom, Miss Joyce. We got some new clothes, shoes and coat. I am going to spend the night with Laurie.”
We had a good Christmas that year. Each received something a little extra special. Church attendance the following day was a given.
Visiting friends just after Christmas mainly meant perusing their Christmas gifts. Family was also on our minds. A call from my dad’s brother Leonard was familiar in that he came down from Roanoke VA almost every Christmas to visit us a few days.
We connected with my brother in Germany through the “making of a tape” during which time each of us sat down with microphone in hand and talked five to ten minutes to his family. My dad sealed it up and mailed it ‘airmail’ on the following Monday. 8–10 days later my brother’s family received it in Germany. Click here for a picture and a one minute take[Making a Tape]on this method of correspondence we commonly used in the 1960s.
After-Christmas sales beckoned us to shop. Most items were marked down right away after the Christmas rush. To this day I still consider buying a new coat or some on-sale winter clothing just after Christmas each year.
“28 Dec 1965, My cousin’s husband left today. I drove a little bit in the “lots.” Mama, Dad, Adie and I went to Eufaula grocery shopping. We had Adie’s new TV in the car! It was wild. The antenna extends above the window kind of layering over the roof of the car. 29 Dec 1965, I’ve been right here at home watching TV. Razz has been down here at the house with Adie. He’s kind of cute actually. Mr. and Mrs. Kenmore came over and watched our color TV.”
At 13, I had ample opportunity to practice my driving skills since my 16 year old brother was kind enough to allow me to take the wheel occasionally. I loved that so much. I was already 5'8" tall at 13, so I had no trouble seeing over the dashboard!
That Car-TV blew us away! What an amazing gadget! We took our first ‘wired-with-TV” trip over to Eufaula, a town about 30 miles away, and that provided ample time to tune in a couple of the local channels and experience a TV broadcast while on the road. The picture above at the beginning of this post shows how it was mounted on the back car door and the clip of the antenna appended to the window. Truly ahead of its time.
Neighbors came over to watch a show on our new color TV! Isn’t that adorable?
“30 Dec 1965, Uncle Leonard arrived for a few days. Something feels kind of up on end with him. Just different from other years. Jimmy came over for awhile. He had a nice Christmas. I wonder what is troubling Uncle Leonard. All of us are noticing it. He make me feel especially weird. I’ll ask Mama if she knows what’s going on. 31 Dec 1965, It is 11:30 in the year 1965. We are all here watching TV as the new year 1966 enters. Uncle Leonard, Adie and I went to Columbus earlier in the day and saw the movie ‘That Darn Cat.’ ”
Again, as a young teen, I was not paying attention at all to the fact that my father and his brother were spending their first Christmas without their mother. No one even talked about it either. No wonder my Uncle was acting a little strange. He had always had a mother waiting in Lumpkin when he would come home for Christmas. This time he only had our family. Perhaps, he was just a bit more needy and lonely and focused more on all of us than he had in previous years. That extra attention caused me to feel something was wrong. Well, yes, something was wrong.
Watching a New Year ring in by sitting in front of the TV is still one way some families celebrate even today. I suppose that the similarities to how one rings in the New Year at 64 or at 13 are more similar than if you picked random times throughout the years in one’s 20’s, 30’s or 40's.
I have had many variations on the theme from being at neighborhood parties to walking down the Champs-Élysées in Paris, or celebrating in Germany with my military friends, being in an airplane coming back to CO from Puerto Vallarta, sitting in a living room warmed by a fireplace in a snowy Colorado resort and even just being in a movie theatre as the clock strikes midnight. I never have made it to Times Square. I would definitely still try for it once if I were 35 again :) Happy New Year friends!
