Christmas in the Appalachians

The following little reflections come from A Foxfire Christmas edited by Eliot Wigginton. Growing up in the mountains, these folks didn’t just run out and purchase their Christmas trappings from an over-stocked, decadent store. They really made their own Christmas, and appreciated it more.

Stacy Barron:  My grandmother said the Christmas tree, which was a cedar tree, was cut by her father. Mamaw said they took sycamore balls and dipped them in water. Then they rolled them in flour to make them look like snow.

Lela Maud Dean: As a family, we found a tree together. The decorations were made and popcorn was popped and strung. Chains were made from colored paper and placed on the tree. The star was made from cardboard covered with chewing gum paper that was saved by all the children because there was no aluminum foil at that time. The first “bought” decorations were small candle holders which clipped on a tree branch. A small candle was placed in the holder on Christmas Eve.

Rosa Bell Griffin: We would go find us a cedar and Dad would cut it down. We would spend all day trying to decorate it. My mom would make all kinds of stuff to put on it. She would make flowers out of yarn. My father would carve wood ornaments. My mother would keep my decorations from one year to the next. She would always take good care of them. She would store them in the old washhouse.

Aunt Lola Cannon: One thing that we enjoyed as youngsters – we always had a Christmas tree at the church during the Christmas season. Most times we’d meet a day or two before Christmas to decorate the church house. We’d cut holly, white pine, and anything that was green, and decorate each window and each corner. Oh, we thought we were really living it up when we could spend a whole day decorating the church for Christmas.

Clyde English: We strung popcorn and made chains to put on our tree, once we started having one. And we used to make those paper chains, you know, where you take paper and make cutouts. I can fold paper and make pretty cutouts to go on trees. I can still make those paper dolls and angels where you cut folded paper one time, and then you can open it up.

Mary McDaries: When it was finally time to decorate the tree, being the littlest, I held the popcorn string at the bottom. This caused a great deal of temptation to bite into the string while the others wound it around and up to the top of the tree. Next came our dough ornaments, along with some saved from Christmases gone by. Then some finishing touches were made with our newly finished scrap bows. The tree trimming was a special part of our Christmas when I was a little girl. It’s still special to me today, but back then, it was untainted. Sometimes I wish things could be that simple today.