Christmas in the City - 1956
Six years old.We were a Navy family and I was six years old.
Up to now, Christmas morning had arrived for me in sunny warm climes. Living close to the beach, our house was in the suburbs near the Naval Air Station my dad was stationed at.
In Florida, we gathered huge Loblolly pine cones and painted them gold. In California, people would decorate palm trees. But this year would be different. We were moving to Washington, DC and for a short time we were going to live right in the city until we found a new house. What an adventure.
We moved into an apartment as the coming winter brought a chill to the air and I continued first grade at the local school. Everything was different from what I was used to. Instead of outdoor classrooms lined up like a strip mall for education, my new school was a big red brick building, a daytime warehouse for kids. It had old worn wooden floors. It smelled like learning and patriotism and pencil shavings. George and Abe looked down at me ominously from the wall and I wondered if maybe they had gone to school here.
The asphalt playground had a chain link fence, making it a kiddie corral. We could go through a hole in the fence to a store across the street and get giant pretzels - yum, what a treat. So there we were, sharing a pretzel, and what did we behold, but the first snowflake, gently falling. It gave way to more snowflakes. They got bigger. They fell faster. We ran around and caught them on our tongues. The asphalt turned white and soon there would be enough to make snowballs to throw at each other. Christmas was coming.
Yes, Christmas was coming. We put up a tree in our apartment and decorated it. It was the smallest tree we ever had, but the pine scent permeated our home. My dad got a chimney made out of cardboard so Santa could visit. We were almost ready.
There were so many things to see and do in Washington - this is the nation's capital, after all. There were parks and museums and monuments galore. But I had yet to experience one of the city's greatest delights - window shopping at Christmastime!
Is there a child alive that doesn't dream about games and bicycles and toys? All the things that Santa might bring? All you have to do is write to him and tell him what you want. But where do those games and bicycles and toys come from? They're made by Santa's elves, of course. Everyone knows that. And where do you find these elves? The North Pole, or so I thought.
It turns out that Santa's elves were right in Washington, DC! That's right! We went shopping and my parents took me to the neatest place in the world: Hecht's deparment store. What makes this store so special? Right there for everyone to see, in the windows, were the elves. Elves making toys with their little hammers and paint brushes. Elves rocking on horses. Elves trimming trees. Elves with train sets and model airplanes and tops and dolls. Why even the jolliest of elves, Santa himself, was right there. Mrs. Clause was helping Santa to put his coat on so he could make his annual rounds. There was a plate of cookies and a mug of hot chocolate. And his reindeer stood at the ready, harnessed to Santa's sleigh. I had never seen anything quite like it before, not in real life.
That was long ago. I'm a grandpa now, but I still think about the elves from time to time. And when I do, I'm a little boy once again, catching snowflakes on my tongue, eating pretzels, singing patriotic songs at school. And once again, I stand red-cheeked in front of the windows at Hecht's, watching the elves getting ready for Christmas.
