By Clif Knight

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Hartselle!

Signs of the holiday were everywhere you looked the day after Thanksgiving. Shoppers crowded the aisles of stores looking for bargains and waited nervously in long lines to pay for their purchases. Lighted decorations on streetlights and lighted garland and trees in storefront windows created a colorful picture of the festive season. In addition, residents joined in by lighting decorated trees and stringing bright lights on shrubs and rooftops.
As I looked at the holiday glitter and the gift-buying shopping rush, I was reminded of how much the Christmas season has changed since I was a boy in the 1930s and 1940s. The lifestyle of our growing farm family was the same in January as it was in December. We were sharecroppers, and money was always scarce. Most of our income came from a two-thirds share of our cotton crop. My father supplemented the family’s income in the winter months by chopping wood for $1 a day.
The Christmas season was downplayed as far as gifts for my older sister, my younger brother and me were concerned. However, we wore out the pages of a Sears & Roebuck Christmas catalog looking at pictures of the toys and making our own gift wish lists. The gifts we had under the Christmas tree seldom lived up to our highest expectations; however, we were always thankful for the small, inexpensive gifts we received along with a handful of fruit, nuts and candy.
Christmas during the World War II years was even more disappointing for most families and their children. Many staple consumer products, including sugar, leather, metal and gasoline, were rationed in support of the war effort. Wood replaced metal in the manufacture of toys, and sorghum syrup or honey replaced sugar in the making of candy. The stores in my hometown didn’t put up Christmas trees or display toys and other gift items until after Thanksgiving Day. Most families waited until the weekend before Christmas to put up and decorate a tree.
The main focus of the holiday was on the birth of Jesus Christ. Most rural families were involved in regular worship at a community church and gave strong support to activities related to the birth of the Christ Child.