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January 2 , 2025 The Beacon • 19
Kinkade spends New Year ’ s Eve reflecting on the past
This letter is being typed on a quiet New Year ’ s Eve , still part of the 12 Days of Christmas .
My earliest memories of Christmas were from a church program at the Augusta Gospel Tabernacle , a block down Pearl Street from our home at 6 Stanley St . This would have been in the late 1940s . We lived there while I was in kindergarten , first grade and part of second grade at Williams School .
My piece to recite was a little poem , something about “ Take a bit of holly and a sprig of berries bright ... ”
My brother Glen , who is four years younger than me , had a little piece to recite . Typical sister , I can remember his words exactly : “ I ’ m just a little fella , but I ’ ve got a big job to do . It ’ s to wish a merry Christmas to every one of you .” If I remember correctly , he was too scared to recite it , so that Christmas wish never was heard .
On Christmas Eve , our family of five would join Daddy ’ s older sister Vera and his sister Ruth ’ s family of four , who lived in the apartment above Grampy and Grammie Scott . We all met in our grandparents ’ four-room apartment downstairs at 115 1 / 2 Bangor St . Food would have been on the kitchen table , and we would have gotten little sandwiches , et cetera , to eat in the living room . The main part I remember was opening presents . There were no stockings with tiny gifts and candy . There were
just two or three gifts each . My cousin Carol and I , two skinny girls , always sat together in one blue stuffed chair that had wooden arms . Grampy Scott sat in his rocking chair . There was a stuffed chair to the front and a long narrow couch with no arms or back . Other wooden chairs were added .
There was a Christmas tree beside Grampy Scott ’ s rocking chair . It was a tree that had been cut and held ornaments and silver foil garland . Glenn and I might have an ornament or two that used to be on their tree .
In later years everyone drew names to buy one nice gift . One year Aunt Vera left the price tag in the gift box underneath a pair of nice gloves , or something like that . She said it was in case the gift needed to be returned . My parents , however , thought she wanted them to know how much she spent .
We didn ’ t sing Christmas carols or have any special activity . In later years , after I left home , the family gatherings , which grew to include more people , were held at different places , like out at the “ Shack ” on the way to Monmouth or at Carol and Dave ’ s house in Hallowell .
We moved to 69 Eastern Ave . partway through my second grade
and lived there until the Christmas school break during my seventh grade at Farrington , which was across the road from our home . Many things were carried by sled next door to 71 Eastern Ave ., which was our family home until Mum died Dec . 29 , 2014 .
There ’ s only two Christmas memories to share with you from the five years we lived at 69 Eastern Ave . The first one happened one night when my younger brother and sister were sent to bed as usual , but I was told to stay up and join my parents in the living room .
The late 1940s and 1950s were a more innocent time , don ’ t you think ? My parents told me there was no Santa . It was all make-believe . They broke my heart because I believed in him . Nowadays , some neighborhood children seems to delight in spoiling Christmas for happy children . That ’ s why “ Polar Express ” is good , with its important word , “ Believe .”
To add insult to injury , they gave me a dollar and told me I needed to buy gifts for each of my parents , for Grampy and Grammie Scott , and for Glen and Linda , my brother and sister . For 35 cents I often bought Daddy a pair of garters to hold up his dress socks because he worked in an office . These were round , flat , elastic bands with a two-part flap with a metal “ button ” that was inside his sock cuff . Another metal circle fit over
the sock and pinched it into the button .
For 10 cents I usually bought Mum a powder puff . This was not the big fluffy kind , but smaller , to fit in a compact for her face powder . Probably , Grampy Scott got a man ’ s handkerchief , which cost another 10 cents , while Grammie Scott got a pretty lady ’ s
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handkerchief , which cost the same .
Probably , I got Glen and Linda some kind of toy , from Woolworth ’ s or McClellan ’ s down on Water Street .
My only other Christmas memory from living at 69 Eastern Ave . was receiving a beautiful bride doll one year . When I looked closer , it was my Alice , which I had received the previous year , but wearing a bridal outfit Mum had made with little seed pearls on the cap that held the veil and then the beautiful fitted dress with a crinoline slip underneath . I never had a boy doll to be the groom but often had Blackie , our tuxedo cat , stand beside her .
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