Getting Ready for Christmas
We have heard from a number of people who remember the various stores (especially the hardware stores) that used to setup large displays for Christmas each year. We have also heard memories of the stores that used to decorate their windows, whether with displays or even painting their windows. But what about the rest of town?
Each year the borough hangs Christmas decorations from the lampposts as shown in this picture from the 1950′s. For a number of years there was green lighted garland weaving back and forth across Lawrence Avenue. Christmas in the Park recently made a grand return and I am sure there are many other yearly traditional decorations throughout town. We would love to hear your memories of Ellwood City getting you into the Christmas spirit. Please share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com
Tree lights, my family would get in the 1948 Chevy and take an evening ride to see the tree lights. I remember distinctly that, from my viewpoint, Walnut Ridge homes just above “Derby Hill” had the best Christmas tree lights.
Some light arrangements were all white. The ones that stick in my memory the most were the outdoor primary color lights. Those were the light strings with the big bulbs. Red, blue, green and orange bulbs strung across various points on a house and the shrubs around the house.
My daughter was home one Christmas when we were in Maine and I bought two hugh strings of those multi-colored outdoor lights to put on the smallest pine tree in the yard. Turned out only to be enough lights to circle around the tree twice and highlight the bottom section only. Lesson learned: when electricity wasn’t so expensive you could afford more lights.
Ah, the all-electric “Gold Medallion Home” has turned into “hey, you left the light on in the kitchen.” Times, but not the memories, have changed.
As a child, I remember shopping Ellwood City after dark & often in the snow downtown for gifts for my Mom & Dad and visiting with Ellwood City policeman, Tommy Magnifico, standing at the corner of Lawrence Avenue & 5th Street. Also, Mom & Dad waited until I was in bed Christmas Eve before they put up the Christmas tree, decorated it, and put the presents underneath. During that time their friends would stop by and visit a while over a few cocktails. My folks hung my Christmas stocking on my bedpost to open when I awoke, so they could catch a few more winks of sleep Christmas morning (they weren’t in bed before 3 in the morning and I usually woke them up by 7 a.m.). Mom & Dad made me wait at the top of the stairs until they were in their robes and then we all went downstairs to the Christmas wonderland they had created for me…it was truly magical.
Another memory – caroling around the Pittsburgh Circle/4th Street/Glen Avenue area to the homes of shut-ins with members of Christ Presbyterian Church, then returning to the church for hot chocolate.