12 Days 'til Christmas
1966 Christmas Concert. Smith twins were in 8th grade but were also members of the high school band. Click to read the full page article...other photos..
1970 Christmas Mass schedule in Eureka and surrounding areas. Click to view other schedules.
1967 Christmas announcement. click to enlarge.
Eureka Snow Queen. Big Event each year in the upper midwest. click to enlarge.
1969 Christmas Display winners...it wasn't the Smiths (unfortunately). Our house was second this year...but that was quite a feat. CLICK to enlarge.
Ruth Smith article. click to enlarge.
1978. John Smith was admitted to the hospital twice during the holiday season. Once around Thanksgiving and then a few days before Christmas Day. Click to enlarge.
His age was a mistake in this announcement. It was corrected in the funeral articles noted below. He was actually 58...
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Ah, Christmastime. As children we eagerly waited for that blessed night when Santa would visit our home. Thanksgiving Day was, in our minds, the start of the Christmas season. On Thanksgiving night we began Christmas Club where we laid out detailed plans for sneaking downstairs on Christmas morn. Nothing seemed to go as planned, but it was always fun trying.
On the last school day in December we knew Christmas was close. Teachers trotted all students down to the Lyric Theater where we watched the same movie each year - Steve McQueen's 'The Blob'. Unlike our Protestant neighbors, the Smith's Christmas tree was never put up early. Our tree went up anytime between December 21 and 24. Many times it went up on Christmas Eve. The kids unraveled the lights and tinsel. Mom would pop popcorn, string it and it would be placed on the tree. In the early days the Smiths put up glass ornaments, but misuse and abuse broke most if not all of these. I do recall one glass ornament surviving the years. It should have been canonized as 'St. Ornament'! The tree normally stayed up until the 12th day of Christmas, which is January 6 also known as the Feast of the Epiphany. This is also the same day Terry and I were born. Later Dad bought an aluminum tree with a color wheel. Dad loved it, and it was interesting but no one could possibly believe it would ever replace an evergreen tree. Big plus for the aluminum tree is it needed no water.
We enjoyed the first winter snowstorm of the season which most years happened in early December. On these nights we would watch snow flakes glisten in the light of the nearby street lamp. How many of us ran outside to create our first snow angel of winter? Old timers told us legends of Hepsebah, the ice witch. Do not go out in the dark night we were told; otherwise, you would turn to ice if your gaze met Hepsebah's eyes. Scary stuff! One December blizzard Dad and I hiked down to the Pool Hall where he could 'buy cigars'. I drank coffee.
The Smiths would set up outside Christmas lights and decorations. VJ took it to the next level each year vowing to defeat the Heilmans. At least one year VJ received first place for his decorations. Other years it was the Heilmans who took first place. Some of you may have seen the movie 'Talladega Nights' where Will Farrell's character would tell others "If you ain't first you're last". VJ took this advice to heart. He vowed to take first place or go down in flames of glory. Other town families put up their own Christmas displays. Believe me there is nothing like packing 10 people into a cold station wagon and driving around town viewing Christmas lights. Dad would drive down EVERY block to find the elusive tinsel or light. I love Christmas because Dad loved it so much. Maybe that is why I like standing in line for Black Friday too. Each year Laurel and I travel around our neighborhood looking at Christmas displays.
You will notice an assortment of different news articles that defined Christmas for me in Eureka. Most of these articles were taken from the Aberdeen American News.
Two news articles concern the Christmas Band and Chorus concerts held each year in December. One article is dated 1966 when Terry and I were eighth graders. Normally Senior High Band members were composed of High School students only. However, Terry and I were part of the 1966 EHS Senior High marching band that went to the Minnesota State Fair earlier that year. Even though we just got out of 7th grade our band director, Gerald Cutshaw, needed more people to beef up the marching band. He asked incoming 8th graders to join his summer marching band. As our ‘reward’ for marching, all 8th graders were allowed to join Senior High Band in 1966. 1966 was our first year to perform in the Christmas concert. I participated in band and chorus for the next 4 years. In my Senior Year I participated in neither.
Merida was selected as Eureka's Snow Queen. I still have the original Northwest Blade stored in my home. Unfortunately I cannot find it but I have seen it in the last year or so. It is one of the few newspapers I have saved over time. Snow Queen contests were generally held in November. Here is a little tidbit for the family. In the early to mid 1950’s Dad acted as ‘Master of Ceremonies’ for Eureka’s Snow Queen contests.
There is Mom's article regarding her Christmas memory which you have read before. For Mom it served as a ‘life lesson’.
What would Christmas be like without attending Christmas Day mass? Included is a small ad for St. Joseph’s Christmas Day mass schedule.
Finally, you will see news articles about dad's hospitalization, death and obituary. It is not Christmas-y but it was an event that happened around Christmas. I do not see it as depressing either. What follows are my memories of that time.
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Dad died early on December 21, 1978. To this day I don't talk much about dad's death, but it is a story which must be told. Merida was very young at the time. For many years afterwards Christmas was not the same without seeing the old man running around in a bathrobe with cigar in his mouth. Time tempers memories and today it seems like a distant dream.
VJ and I were living and working in Denver, Colorado. One night Mom called us and said Dad was very sick. We knew he was hospitalized for what was described to us as 'ulcers'. VJ kept asking her if we needed to come home and Mom said it was not necessary. VJ persisted, and Mom finally said we should come back to South Dakota as Dad's liver was failing. So VJ and I packed up that night, and left for South Dakota the next morning. I don't think VJ and I talked much on the way back home. On our way out of Denver one of the radio hosts made a joke about liver failure. We did not think it very funny. By 4:30 PM it was nighttime in the Dakotas. I remember driving through southern Black Hills where we saw hundreds of mule deer running free through open territory made visible by a full moon. It was quite a sight.
It was past midnight when we reached Eureka, and no one was home. After taking a short break, VJ and I started driving towards Aberdeen. VJ may have called the Black family to see where Mom was staying. Early morning on December 20th we drove into St. Luke's parking lot but I don't remember going inside the hospital as it may have been closed to visitors. However, I recall going to the Black residence as we thought this might be where Mom and the kids were staying.
Later that morning we were all in the hospital including Dad's sister, Mary Cecile. Dad's doctor came in and told Mom that Dad was dying. Mom asked him about a liver transplant. The doctor said 'no'. So we waited. I still remember Mom pacing back and forth by herself in the hospital wing. Later that day we went back to the Black residence to get some rest. Sometime before midnight the hospital called telling us the end was near. So we all drove to the hospital. About 2:30 to 3:00 AM on December 21 we knew death was close as Dad's body was shutting down. The boys (Steve, VJ, Terry and Tim) went down to the chapel. Catholics either pray for a speedy recovery or for a quick and painless death. We prayed the rosary. While praying we could hear many voices praying behind us. We stopped praying, looked around, but no one was there. It made our hair stand up but we continued saying the rosary. The voices continued praying with us until the end. We left the chapel in silence.
We went back to Dad's room and continued vigil. I felt a hand press my left shoulder, but there was no one behind me. Later Terry confided that he felt a hand on his shoulder at the same time. As Dad's breathing got fainter, Mary Cecile said “John, John, John” and walked out of the room. The only two people remaining in the room were Steve and myself. We watched Dad take his last breath and then we left. Dad died peacefully between 4:00 and 5:00 AM on December 21, 1978. One of his attending nurses, Patty Welch, was a college classmate of mine. Later the boys discussed the events among ourselves.
Perhaps the boys only felt this otherworld presence that night. Maybe the girls had similar experiences. I think about this often, and is one reason why I still remain Catholic. Mom always told us the Irish were attuned to the Spirit World. Our “Irish Blood” may explain why the boys felt and heard what they did that night. Soon after we drove back to Eureka. We were silent. After arriving home and without discussion we immediately started cleaning the house as we knew there would be a lot of company.
VJ and I drove back to Denver several days after the funeral.
For some weeks later I kept smelling roses by my office desk although no roses could be seen. I was working at Boddington Lumber Company (VJ called it Lobotomy Lumber). It happened at other times too. After Mom died I also smelled roses in places where none could be seen, including my home and car. The last time I smelled roses in 'out of place' locations was after Mary Cecile died. I think this was their way of letting me know they were OK.
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(Left) funeral announcements, 1978.
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