The Compass Cast Iron Hunter Plaid Shirt
People strung cranberries and popcorn, starched little crocheted stars to hang, made paper chains and The Compass Cast Iron Hunter Plaid Shirt had glass ornaments, usually from Germany, about two inches wide, they would get old and lose their shine. There was real metal tinsel too, that you could throw on with the argument about single strands and clumps. Each side had it’s followers. In the fifties various lights were a big deal, with bubble lights, that had bubbles in the candle portion that moved when plugged in. There were big primary colored lights strung around the tree too, nothing small or ‘tasteful’ Christmas trees were meant to be an explosion of color and light. I took Styrofoam balls and a type of ribbon that would stick to itself when wet, and wrapped the balls, and then used pins to attach sequins and pearls for a pretty design in the sixties. I also cut ‘pop-it’ beads meant for a necklace into dangling ornaments with a hook at the top to put it on the tree. Wrapped cut-up toilet paper tubes in bright wools too. Kids still remember making those.

The Compass Cast Iron Hunter Plaid Shirt
For me, A Christmas Story is popular because it recalls an era that I can remember, or at least the era I can remember had not changed that much from the The Compass Cast Iron Hunter Plaid Shirt of the movie. For me, that was the late 1950s, though the movie was the late 1940s. I remember the toys that were featured in the movie, such as specifically the train and the BB guns. The movie really captured the magic of Christmas back then for me without becoming sappy about it. Most other Christmas movies don’t have that connection, so I can’t really relate to them, and they don’t really do that much for me. I think that’s what makes it so popular, at least for people of my generation born from about the mid-1940s until the mid-1950s. I was born in 1952. I remember pining for some big Christmas present every year. Santa usually brought the really good stuff. The biggest Santa gift I ever received was a Lionel HO Texas Special train set about 1958 or 1959.

