Holiday celebrations of days gone by

Holiday celebrations of days gone by

Written by Pamela Stephenson Thursday, 07 December 2006

In the book Pflugerville: A Heritage to Remember, to be released Dec. 10, long-time residents recall their holiday celebrations.

At Immanuel Lutheran Church, the children participated in the Christmas Eve services by standing beside the tall Christmas tree in front of the congregation to recite their Bible verses. After reciting their verses, each child was given a brown paper sack of goodies, usually an apple, an orange and a couple of pieces of hard candy.

“Back in the Depression days, that was something,” Clarence Bohls, 79, said.

Midnight Mass at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church on Christmas night, known as the Misa de Gallo or Mass of the Rooster, was a favorite memory for Angeles (Joe) Ramos, 74, and his wife, Sulema Riojas, 73.

Following church services the families gathered at a family member’s home. Joe Ramos said trees were decorated with candles and homemade strings of popcorn or paper chains.

“I still don’t know how we did that without burning the darn things,” he said.

Bohls remembers getting together at his grandparents, the Fuchs family home. While the adults enjoyed a glass of wine together, the children again recited their Bible verses. Then the family opened their presents.

The Caldwell sisters, Dorothy Ates, 70, and Betty Dixon, 75, said their mother, Fannie Mae always raised two turkeys, one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. The entire family shared a big dinner of turkey, corn bread dressing and all the trimmings on Christmas Day.

The Weiss sisters of Cele remembered their mother would do most of her Christmas shopping through the Sears Roebuck catalogue.

“When we got home from our Christmas program at church, we got to open up our gifts,” Ruth Weiss Pfennig, 80, said. “The first time we would get to see the tree, it was lit with candles on it. There was always a bushel or a basket of apples and oranges under the tree for us.”

Arlene Cornelius, 60, said her family didn’t make a lot of money, but yet they had gifts for everybody.

“They gave practical gifts,” she said, “like socks and handkerchiefs. What I learned from them was it doesn’t matter about giving a lot, but everybody had something.”