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Christmas With The Smith Family
By Minnie (Smith) Stoumbaugh

Our family didn’t do much that you could call a tradition, but there was the matter of how we observed Christmas. We were never taught to believe in Santa Claus, so we always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve—but not until we had done the supper dishes. We weren’t from the south, (my parents were from South Dakota), but we always called the evening meal supper and the noon meal was dinner..

Minnie's parents, Lewis & Josie Smith, celebrating Christmas in 1959

Mom would make it easy on us by having something very light for supper. At least one time it was popcorn, which Mom served on a square of waxed paper instead of using bowls or plates. No, we didn’t have paper plates. That was something that rich people used and we were definitely not rich. I think it was grilled cheese sandwiches another year, again, on waxed paper. That way we only had to wash the glasses we used for milk, no silverware.

Even though our parents didn’t go to church, they seemed to want us kids to know how to be grateful to God. However, that sentiment was lost on me, as, from my point of view, it was just how we started a meal. But not at breakfast, as that was usually every kid for him or herself. There were seven of us and from the oldest (Ralph), to the youngest (that’s me) we all memorized and recited a prayer that Dad wrote for us:

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this beautiful day and bountiful supply of food. Give us strength to do Thy will in word and deed and thought. In Jesus’ name, amen.

One year we somehow had some red and green construction paper which we cut into strips. Then we made glue of flour and water, and made a chain of the strips to hang on the tree. Another time we made a string of popcorn for decoration. Finding a tree was half of the fun as we searched through the woods for a good one that was the right height to sit on Dad’s typewriter table and not touch our low, seven-foot ceiling.

Christmas gifts were one or two toys, usually one, and then something practical such as underwear or socks. Our favorite relatives Aunt Tina and Uncle Brent in Albany never forgot us, and always sent each of us some small gift.

But one year, maybe in 1950, Dad asked us ahead of time to help him decide what he should give us. He could buy us toys, and he was willing to do that. But what he really wanted us to have was a large Webster’s Dictionary offered in the Montgomery Ward catalog— our favorite place to shop. He asked us to talk it over among ourselves and decide what we preferred.

A page from the old dictionary. Minnie says, “To have colored pictures in a dictionary in 1950, you really had something!”

See, if we didn’t know the meaning of a word, we would ask Dad, knowing that he could answer our question. Instead, he always said, “Let’s look it up.” And with a groan, we would get one of our old school dictionaries from the bookshelf. Sometimes we also learned how to spell the word that way. For sure the idea caught on because, to this day, if you ask a question of my sister June (second born), she will shortly bring a worthy reference document to the discussion.

Well, we five younger children who were still at home discussed Dad’s offer, and he was very pleased that we chose the dictionary over toys. Then we had a “Cadillac” to use. And my middle sister Fern has that Christmas dictionary–now a family heirloom–to this day.

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