🤔 1923-1973 Do You Remember...

[Anonymous]

👍Tell us about YOUR "good old days"......

BORN: Age 50 - 1973, Age 60 - 1963, Age 70 - 1953, Age 80 - 1943, Age 90 - 1933, Age 100 - 1923.

[LisaS961881]

    But I remember that this little guy lasted a few hours until he got stuck up in a tree!

[SereneSeagull]

Yes! Always

[papawofboo]

We made ours. Get a hankie and tie a string to each conner, attach tp man, then throw it as hight up as you could.

[DaveMcK]

You probably won’t know what this is. But if you do…you are really old!! What is it used for?

[Vexed]

 Looks like an auto cigarette lighter.

[DaveMcK]

[papawofboo]

This and a BB gun are the reason for most of the butt whooping's.

[LeeS4949]

 Oh yes.. My constant companion.. I remember my sister learning to braid her hair.. I got the idea if I could braid the sling double like her hair I could,at least in theory,double the sling shots velocity.. The braiding was successful with sis's help but at 8 years old I found I coudn't pull it back to fire it.. Back to the drawing board..

[Vexed]

 I remember slingshots. I got dared to try it and still have a scar where it broke and popped me.

[DaveMcK]

[papawofboo]

*It's ice hooks. Speaking of ice, saw an ad other night where a man went out on a frozen lake, cut a block of ice and took it home. He got his ice pick and got a few cubes from it for his drink. You know, ice doesn't look as good as it use to. Anyone know if you can still buy a block of ice?

[SereneSeagull]

Just saw your answer.  I’d like to think one can still buy ice blocks somewhere.

[SereneSeagull]

Ice block pliers I think

[LisaS961881]

    That’s my guess as well.

[DaveMcK]

[LisaS961881]

      ~ And whatever happened to Tuesday and so slow?
         Going down the old mine with a Transistor radio ~

                    ~~ Brown Eyed Girl    Van Morrison

[DaveMcK]

[LisaS961881]

       Does anyone else remember a Christmas tree decked with tinsel and Shiny Brite ornaments?

[papawofboo]

Growing up we had wood floors, the last thing that was done when decorating the tree was everyone would get hand fulls of tensel and throw it on the tree.

When I got married our house had carpet. We did the same thing with the tree. We had tensel all year long.

Carpet is the reason I quit with live trees and tinsel.

[SereneSeagull]

I’d always like to throw it, and let it cascade, but I know of some people liked to do it strand by strand!

[LisaS961881]

   We were always admonished to do it strand by strand, and yes, we too always found stray bits if tinsel, pine needles, and even an ornament hook or two clear into February! 🤭

[SereneSeagull]

The more tinsel the merrier!  Since having little pets in the house have skipped that now.   It was different back then too,  But this is how I remember our trees back then!

[LisaS961881]

    No tinsel anymore for me either because of a furry little one!

[ChasKy53]

Dave, I have a colander exactly like the one you posted. We have several others, but this one is the only one I use. Also, I love the Christmas from the '50s and '60s post. Main street and store fronts everywhere were decorated to the 9's. Christmas is online anymore. I miss the ma and pa shops.

[LisaS961881]

    I miss the Mom and Pop stores too!  When you walked in, they all greeted you by name! And I remember my Grandfather’s Barber Shop, where I was always given a lollipop! 

[DaveMcK]

[LisaS961881]

[LisaS961881]

    ….and small towns had decor that stretched across every intersection!

[MsStretch]

Before I quit working several years ago, I used to work every Christmas season for a company that did exterior decorating at town centers and squares and shopping centers in the northern VA, DC, MD area.  (It's where stagehands and riggers go to work for extra money in the winter. 😁) We did perimeter lighting on buildings and lit up trees, installed 20' - 30' Christmas trees, 3' - 6' wreaths and sprays on the side of buildings, wrapped columns in garland, installed banners, snowflakes, other assorted goodies on lamp poles, and a myriad of other decorating.  It was quite an operation and we had to work overnight when everything was closed because we had to work with 40' - 60' lifts.  We used to say we were like Santa's elves because people go to bed one night and the next day everything would be all twinkly and Christmas-y.  We usually started install in Oct., and everything came down the first week in January.  (I can tell you it came down a lot faster than it went up.)  But it could be bitterly cold 🥶 out there in the middle of the night.

There are still a few smaller towns in VA that I still see the decorations stretched across the street.

[LisaS961881]

     And you were Santa’s Elves!

      Kindergartener me was awed by those decorations magically appearing the day after Thanksgiving!  Along with the garlands, the banners and the lighted bells, we had an elf-sized “Express North Pole Post Office” materialize in front of the Woolworths. I couldn’t wait to mail my letter to Santa there. 

   And, about three weeks later, Santa would arrive at our house riding a fire truck.  Not only did he know my name, but he always knew about a good deed that I had done, and would gift me with a candy came and a clementine!  

    My small town still has vintage style Christmas decorations stretched across the street, but it is now only at a single intersection, not throughout Main Street.

     Thanks for the memories! 🎄