I love all of my Christmas memories! This is a really silly one that I’m sharing now, but it’s one I’ve never forgotten. It was so memorable (I was probably 5 years old) that I can recall certain details just like it was yesterday.
Mother always made sure that my brother, sister and I had a great holiday all about baby Jesus and Santa magic. For example, she would take us to plays, Christmas tree lightings .. (Remember Rich’s Downtown? We were there, and with an added bonus, I got to ride the original Pink Pig!)
Circa 1960, the City of Villa Rica decorated the whole block of downtown beautifully! They scheduled a tree lighting and invited everyone to come out to see Santa, sing carols, have hot chocolate, oranges and peppermint candy, and shop in the stores staying open late that night. And of course, we were there!
What is so memorable about this Christmas was a real time lesson that even the best laid plans sometimes don’t happen as you want.
With the whole town gathered and all the children waiting to see Santa Claus, we started singing, “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear.”
Everyone knows that a train track runs down the middle of town, and all of a sudden, we heard a train whistle.
Where we daunted? Did we run? Did we stop singing? The answer to all of those questions is no. (Notice I didn’t ask if we felt silly!)
The person who planned this magnificent event failed to check the train schedule and think through the location of the tree which was 5 ft from the train tracks. You know; that little stretch of ground and little patches of grass between the train track and the street… Yeah. That was the spot.
Let it suffice to say that that was the closest I had ever been to a real choo choo train, especially one that was flying down the tracks barely
slowing since Villa Rica wasn’t really a major town on their route in those days. Hats went flying, coat tails and dresses demanded both hands, and we did not stop singing for a second.
We couldn’t hear a thing but the train, but we could see mouths moving to know NOTHING – not even a train – was going to ruin this “party.”
Good times .. Good times…
To my knowledge, that was the last Christmas tree lighting Villa Rica ever had for the rest of my childhood. They always had a tree but it just sort of appeared after having been lit and tested in the middle of the night to be there one morning after Thanksgiving..
Pity ..