In 1897, Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the New York
Sun. “I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is
there a Santa Claus?”
We could easily exchange the words Santa Claus to Christmas.
Let’s take a stroll or a brief car ride as we weave out into the countryside to
the little town of Pleasant Lake. Meander on down past the schoolhouse until
you come to the Pleasant Lake Museum. On Sunday afternoon it was decked out
with every whimsical Christmas bauble to be found in the archives of folks in
and around Pleasant Lake.
I drove out, cautiously looking for deer at every turn,
until I arrived at the museum. Opening the door was like stepping into a time
capsule of Christmas past. Of course, I was greeted by a smiling Elten and
Carolyn Powers who have spent the last month turning the museum into a walk-through
Christmas event. There were trees decorated though out the decades with toys
and other treasures donated by Pleasant Lake folks. As I perused the trees, I
had to laugh remembering my own stories. Two trees were decked out with the
added tinsel! When we were kids, we loved throwing the tinsel on the trees. My
dad had to take off all the clumps of tinsel and redo them. No one uses tinsel
anymore, but it was beautiful as it caught the light. This is exactly how the
trees looked in the museum. One even had the bubble lights from long ago.
There was an aluminum tree because didn’t we all have at
least one of those? I remember the year my parents bought an aluminum tree. We
rebelled until they got us a real tree! I don’t know what happened to that
tree, but we never saw it again! I loved reading the story board with the
history of Christmas trees around the world! I had to ooh and ahh over every
collected card from the past. They were lovingly displayed along with books and
trains and an old phonograph complete with an entire case of records.
Of course, my visit wasn’t just about all the tangible
items, but the folks who are Pleasant Lake. I met up with Kay Walker and Barb Penick,
and they filled my head with stories which was much better than sugar plums!
These two ladies have been best friends since childhood and are current board
members for the museum. “What were your favorite Christmas gifts?” I asked
them. Barb pointed to the skates under the tree. I had to laugh as they looked
just like my old skates. The two of them got to talking about skating on
Pleasant Lake as kids. Every night, they said, they all would skate across that
lake. Barb also pointed out her record player. All the kids were getting them
for Christmas, and oh how she wanted one. She did get it for Christmas but helped
pay for it! I could see Kay remembering as she talked about a kitchen set her
dad made for her as a child.
We walked over to the gumdrop tree. Carolyn had been
telling me all about it, but this was the first for me. During the 1930’s, and
even up through the 70’s, families in the Appalachian Mountains would find a
thorn bush in the mountains, along with cutting down their Christmas tree, and
bring it home. It was decorated with gum drops for the children. I love this
idea of a gumdrop tree, and the story. I might have to do this in the future!
I meandered a bit more around the pretty little museum. I
chatted with Tracy Stroh who grew up in Pleasant Lake. He told me lovely
stories of skating and swimming in the gravel pond years ago.
Does Christmas exist? Much like the answer to Virginia, it
does exist in the hearts and minds of all of us. If you missed the open house
at the Pleasant Lake Museum, never fear. Elten and Carolyn want to make sure
you have this lovely experience so give them a call to schedule a visit! (260)
403-1803.
“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as
certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. Alas, how dreary our world
would be if there were no Santa Claus.”
Merry Christmas from my family to yours.
No comments:
Post a Comment