The Way We Were

BLACKOUTS, COLD, TOYS FOR ALL

Reprinted from the Dec. 24, 1970, Wrangell Sentinel

In 1898 a Christmas gift was promised to every child in Wrangell. Four years later, in 1902, Wrangell shivered in 5-degree weather. Thirty-nine years later in 1941 it was blackouts and war, but Christmas still came.

These excerpts from accounts of Christmases past are taken from issues of the Wrangell Sentinel.

Some of the stories, reprinted here as historic notes on holiday seasons gone by, follow:

Dec. 24, 1898: The St. Michael's Trading Co. carried a half page ad on the front page advertising Christmas gifts, cider made from pure apples, best in town at Hunt's Grocery, Santa Claus will have a present for every child in Wrangell Monday night.

Dec. 24, 1902: Mrs. W.G. Thomas will be pleased to pour coffee for her gentlemen friends on New Year's Day. Open hours are from 11 to 5 o'clock. The mercury stood at five above yesterday at 7 a.m.

Dec. 25, 1919: Christmas is not just a day of tree-trimming and toy-giving for the kiddies - not just a holiday for youngsters to outgrow. Its spirit is of the heart, the soul-communal between us and all those we hold dearly as our friends. It changes not, however we may. May its glow be reflected for you throughout the coming year. In other words, Christmas is the day when we shall celebrate, masticate and bicarbonate, and the next day we shall medicate.

Dec. 25, 1924: The following University of Washington students arrived on the Northwestern Monday night to spend the holidays with the home folk: Miss Margaret Grand, Fred Gunderson, Elton Engstrom and Neil Grant.

Dec. 26, 1929: Christmas passed quietly and enjoyably in Wrangell. Religious services were held in all the churches. Christmas dinners were very much in vogue, which meant the mingling of friends under most happy circumstances. At the Wrangell Hotel Mr. and Mrs. Grant had as guests a number of their old pioneer friends. The Wrangell General Hospital also played the part of host at a Christmas dinner. Several members of the school faculty were dinner guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. L.B. Chisholm, Dr. Diven was a guest at the Mason home on Christmas Day. To mention all the good dinners would be an impossible undertaking.

Dec. 25, 1930: This week saw us over the hump of winter, with the shortest day of the year left behind; today is Christmas and the new year is but a week away. Some day soon the sun will shine again (maybe), and fishing and cannery crews will begin to show up around town, loads of lumber and construction supplies will go rumbling through the streets, and we will awaken to the fact that spring has come again.

Dec. 19, 1941: Despite blackouts and war, the Christmas holiday period will be observed in Wrangell in the traditional manner.

Dec. 29, 1944: Preceded by several days of sunshine and mild weather, big white flakes of snow began to fall on Christmas Eve, as if by special order, until there was plenty for old Santa Claus to get around in with Donder and Blitzen and the rest of the team - also enough for some good sledding during the Christmas vacation. (In all, the Christmas storm brought Wrangell six and one-half inches of snow, the Sentinel reported, with Christmas Day temperatures at a relatively mild 34-25).