Memories of Christmas
Helena (Hotvedt) Snyder
Washougal
When my parents and older brother were released from Japanese concentration camps during World War II, they were sent to Australia, where I was born in 1946.
They waited for visas to come to the USA, and when I was 4 we entered via New York.
We finally settled in Glendale, Calif.
One of our first Christmases in our new home, we had a beautiful Douglas fir. Mom hung candy canes and glass bulbs, and back then Dad would wrap the ends of candles and clip them with wooden clothes pins to the branches.
At night he lit the candles, unheard of today! We would get together with other Norwegian (Dad) and Dutch (Mom) immigrants, where a play was held before St. Nick arrived.
One year I played the main part of Santa Lucia with a crown of lighted candles on my head.
Another fond memory was Dad singing along to the novelty Christmas record “I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas” by Yogi Yorgesson. I still play it every year, but now my son sings along.
