tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795176.post7793033750249684040..comments2023-09-22T13:07:59.106-05:00Comments on Jim's Thoughts: Unless you enter the kingdom of God like a little childJimBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17312606954135884910noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795176.post-41911505678035264082009-12-30T10:20:23.697-06:002009-12-30T10:20:23.697-06:00Loved this post. Thank you for writing it!Loved this post. Thank you for writing it!Christalnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795176.post-79817817498963420892009-12-08T20:57:54.163-06:002009-12-08T20:57:54.163-06:00Ron,
I cannot speak to always. In the 60's...Ron, <br /><br />I cannot speak to always. In the 60's I can recall the Friday after Thanksgiving newspaper being so heavy with ads I got an extra quarter from my paper route. So even then it was a major thing. <br /><br />Here in Chicago, one of the treats of the season was a trip to State Street and Lake Street to see the train layouts that Lionel and American Flyer placed in store windows. Nearly all the other windows had Santa scenes. Several State St. stores carefully reserved <i>one</i> smaller window for a nativity set. Goldblatts had one window which showed a family dinner with a menorah on the table. <br /><br />In the late 40's I recall being taken to Marshal Field's to ask Father Christmas for toys etc. But then I also still know my 'parts' from the Lutheran kids service on Christmas Eve -- I might even be able to recall parts of the Luke-ian birth narrative and some caroles in (the original) German. I still slip into German when singing Silent Night.<br /><br />I suspect the pressure was a bit different, but not all that much. I think what has changed is that the one window for the nativity set means so much less to so many.<br /><br /><br />FWIW<br />jimBJimBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17312606954135884910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795176.post-25352913426523747772009-12-08T15:50:18.505-06:002009-12-08T15:50:18.505-06:00I am trying to figure out just when the American r...I am trying to figure out just when the American retail industry became so dependent on Christmas. I don't remember a shopping frenzy such as this when I was a child. Of course, I was brought up in Massachusetts in the '50's and '60's. Back then and especially there Thanksgiving was it's own holiday, separately prepared for and celebrated. Christmas decorations didn't go up in the stores until after Thanksgiving. Moreover, there was such a thing as Thanksgiving decorations, which went up after Haloween.<br /><br />There's a comic strip in the Trib whose name I forget that is premised on a bunch of people manning a rocket ship. They've been celebrating "Thankseenmas", the single holiday that stretches from about mid-October to January, and making jokes about how it all runs together and have all lost their identity.<br /><br />Was the retail industry always like this? Did they always have to have a huge Christmas shopping season to survive?RonFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13533867151466876449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795176.post-73991803967812563062009-12-01T08:54:41.047-06:002009-12-01T08:54:41.047-06:00Jesus said we must enter the Kingdom like little c...Jesus said we must enter the Kingdom like little children. Gabriel has it right.June Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723016934182800437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795176.post-35774220705396471272009-11-29T07:19:34.832-06:002009-11-29T07:19:34.832-06:00A very fine post. Thank you!A very fine post. Thank you!Göran Koch-Swahnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00925549945659350649noreply@blogger.com