Best Christmas in Detroit.

[jackie5275]

Going the to the Thanksgiving parade in freezing cold weather, stood near the old Vernors plant location.
My dad starting on Woodward in downtown Pontiac, driving all the way down Woodward to downtown Detroit to see the Christmas lights in all the cities along Woodward, then stopping at Cobo for the Christmas Expo show in the 70s.

Spending Christmas Day at my aunt & uncle's huge house with all my dad's family for a gala event as my uncle liked to spare nothing for Christmas. Toys, decorations, food, drink, everything.

[reddog289]

My earliest memories of Christmas were the Christmas Eve parties at my Grandparents on Pierson St. After we went to my fathers side of the family which while his parents lived in Detroit their house was small and the family too big to handle.
I belive that all of my Christmas eves ended at that house until the year that Fleetwood Mac's Rumors came out and Linda Ronstat was big, Cause that year We meaning 2 familys piled into my uncles Dodge van and headed to Warren.
We took 75 up to my aunt and uncles. I was lost till on the way home I spotted the golden tower of the Fisher building all lit up. I said " Wow were going to Belle Isle". My Dad said "Hell no""Were going home". My one cousin slapped me upside the head for that remark.
Those days were great I got to see my Great Aunt and Uncles, watched them play cards with Grandpa. And as Ed said all the grown ups had their smokes. I was just happy to be there. and around midnight, Someone I never found out who, would ring the sleighbells and we would go home cause Santa was on his way.
This year all I am really thinking about is my "nieces and nephews' presants the kids are grown up so thats not as fun.
But gotta love them memories.

[detroitbred]

Looking back at my childhood in Detroit, all my Christmas memories were truly special. I can truly appreciate, now, how hard my parents worked at making it that way, doing without many things themselves. We didn't have much money [[ of'course I didn't know that then ) and they managed to make each year wonderful. I hope that I have made my chlildren's Christmases as special as mine were.That is indeed a tall order.

[Maxine1958]

Gosh, so many memories. I guess I'll just post the 'traditions.'

Brunch with Santa at Crowley's. All decked out in my patent leather shoes and usually a purse to match. Snowy white hat and gloves. After seeing Santa, a brisk walk through the toy department. I suppose my Mom was making mental notes like crazy.

For the actual Christmas Day, after I'd torn through all the dolls and games and clothes Santa had laid out for me all over our living room, we'd start with mass. Usually downtown at St. Mary's in Greektown. Then off for a full day of merriment. My Mother and my Grandmother were both wonderful cooks and bakers, so the tables would be overflowing with all sorts of wonderful things. Cookies, and chrustrikies, and coffee cakes and pies, and nut breads. The main meal would be turkey and ham, preceded by bowls of czarnina. Mmmmm, I can smell it all now.

My grandmother's house would be full beyond bursting with all the relatives.

Oh to be that young again.

[Ragtoplover59]

Courtesy bump for Dfd

This thread did fall far enough to be forgotten about, easy to start another without knowing about it.

[river rat]

The best 'Christmas Time in the City' for Detroit was when the city peaked in the late 50's. No import cars, the Rotunda and Hudsons and Kerns downtown, flourishing neighborhoods, rational politicos, safe public transit, Michigan Central and Fort Street and Brush Stations all bringing people in and out for family visits, local stores with customers; it was a great city and a great place to live.

Hockey at Olympia, hot Vernors at the foot of Woodward, the Lions at Briggs, and little concern about crime. You rode the DSR everywhere, even at night, then you walked home from the bus stop,

Yeah, there were problems, but anyone who wouldn't trade those problems for the mess of today just wasn't there.

Sad to see what will be a continuing decline.

[SMRJim]

Getting home from school on the last day before Christmas vacation started. That was always the day we put up the decorations in the house, including the big Santa head that went on our front door.

Walking to the Christmas tree lot down the street with dad to get the tree, carrying it back to the house. We'd put it in the garage til Christmas Eve. Going into our attic to get the tree lights, ornaments, testing the lights to make sure they worked before putting them on the tree. Having the 'tree procession' where we carried it into the house, putting all the decorations on it. We'd toss the tinsle onto the tree from a couple of feet away. Seeing the tree lit up for the first time with everything on it was a thrill. Sometimes we'd have a fire in the fireplace, which was very close to where we put the tree, and we'd turn the lights off in the living room and dining room and the only light there would be from the fire and the tree.

Going to midnight mass at St Marys of Redford. They'd have a horn section for that mass, made it quite the spectacle. Having people back at the house after mass.

Waking up on Christmas morning extra early and getting the things from our stockings. We could also open up one present before everyone else got up [[my two sisters and I were much younger than the older siblings). Seeing that huge pile of presents under and around the tree. They filled up a good portion of our living room for a few years.

Taking the bus downtown, visiting my dads office in the Federal Building, then going to Cobo Hall, then on to Hudsons to see Santa, doing lots of walking around downtown and seeing all the decorations.

[vetalalumni]

My older brother got a Lionel train and I loved the smell of the transformer. You used to be able to put drops into the engine stack to simulate it smoking.

The heat and smell of electric slot cars was fun as well. When the Aurora AFX models came out in 70 or 71, it was all over for me. I did not want to go outside to play for several days of Christmas vacation lest I miss time on the track. I probably ran up my parents electricity bill.

[jcole]

When my older sisters and brother were little, my Dad worked the midnight shift as a Detroit cop, so they had Christmas on Christmas Eve. Even though by the time I came along he was on days, we still always opened presents on Christmas Eve. Every year, he'd take us for a walk to see the Nativity display at St. Jude's and when we got back, HE would have been there. My favorite year was when I was about 6, and we walked in the door there were Barbie dolls and clothes spread wide under the tree, all for me. The clothes were all hand made by my mother along with a beautiful handmade bridal gown by my sister in law. The neighbor lady who could knit like nobody's business had supplied Barbie and Midge with sweaters, sweater coats and a knit beach wrap. That same year my 11 year old sister had bought me a 'birthstone' ring at the dime store and wrapped the small plastic case in holiday print scotch tape just to be a smart ass.

[9mile&seneca]

1969. I got a Major Matt Mason Space Station. Although my sinouses were all dried out and burning like hell from the combination of fuel oil heat and 6 or so adult [[Do bumpkins ever really attain adulthood?) Ga. Bumpkins puffing away day and night on ciggs, [[they're all dead now of course), it was about the best Christmas. Or Xmas as they called it back then .

[lalynch]

I still have my Chatty Cathy doll, too. My brother got the boy version that same Christmas. We got matching toy boxes too. We lived in New Jersey then. My Christmas have been spent the past 50 years in Philadelphia, Northern New Jersey, Orchard Park, NY and then Michigan from 1971 and on. Because most of our stuff was in storage after our move here we started spending Christmas at my grandparents house outside Philadelphia. Christmas was always spent seeing Santa at a local department store. Yes, we saw Santa at J.L. Hudson's downtown and then it was dinner afterwards at the Stouffer's restaurant on Northland Drive, I think. Or maybe it was in the J.L. Hudson's dining room. When we'd go to Philadelphia we'd go to Wanamaker's Department Store because my mom worked there as a store planner in the mid-1950's to 1959 and her co-workers and old boss still worked there. Christmas in Philadelphia was spent visiting with an aunt and uncle who lived off of Roosevelt Boulevard in the Frankford section of Philly as well as visiting other cousins and family friends. The best Christmas were spent in Orchard Park, NY because it was a quaint small town at the time. And the best winter wonderland.

[EMG]

Downtown Detroit / Hudson's was never really a part of my Christmases [[we did our shopping and Santa-visiting at Eastland). I don't know of a particular Christmas that was my "best" - all involved common family traditions such as real trees, tinsel, family meals, presents under the tree on Christmas morning, etc. I would say my greatest Detroit-specific memories would involve exterior Christmas lighting on various private houses in my neighborhood. I remember really enjoying that and also being REALLY MAD when Richard Nixon [[as far as I'm concerned) ruined Christmas by inventing the "Energy Crisis" in the early '70s and convincing everyone that the world was going to be in the dark in a few years if we didn't stop decorating for Christmas. I've NEVER seen Christmas lights since that measured up to what I remember before that. Still, the occasional big display was still there to stand out. What I particularly liked, even more so than an individual greatly decorated house, was the rare occasion when I found a string of several houses together that did some degree of decorating - that was reminiscent of what I was more used to seeing as a younger child. I even specifically remember such a stretch on the block of Balfour just south of Morang - two blocks from my home - that I used to make a point of walking by every night during the Christmas season in the late '70s for this reason.

There was another time when my parents took me for a ride up and down many streets in the Manoogian Mansion area that were heavily decorated as well [[again, before the Nixon debacle). Another greatly decorated area that I remember riding through was the Eagle Point area of streets east of Jefferson in St. Clair Shores.

[jcole]

I still have my Chatty Cathy doll, too. My brother got the boy version that same Christmas. We got matching toy boxes too. We lived in New Jersey then. My Christmas have been spent the past 50 years in Philadelphia, Northern New Jersey, Orchard Park, NY and then Michigan from 1971 and on. Because most of our stuff was in storage after our move here we started spending Christmas at my grandparents house outside Philadelphia. Christmas was always spent seeing Santa at a local department store. Yes, we saw Santa at J.L. Hudson's downtown and then it was dinner afterwards at the Stouffer's restaurant on Northland Drive, I think. Or maybe it was in the J.L. Hudson's dining room. When we'd go to Philadelphia we'd go to Wanamaker's Department Store because my mom worked there as a store planner in the mid-1950's to 1959 and her co-workers and old boss still worked there. Christmas in Philadelphia was spent visiting with an aunt and uncle who lived off of Roosevelt Boulevard in the Frankford section of Philly as well as visiting other cousins and family friends. The best Christmas were spent in Orchard Park, NY because it was a quaint small town at the time. And the best winter wonderland.

Don't forget Lakeshore Drive. There are still some good displays there.
The biggest one I remember from childhood was on Three Mile Drive off Kerchival.

[EMG]

Don't forget Lakeshore Drive. There are still some good displays there.
The biggest one I remember from childhood was on Three Mile Drive off Kerchival.

Yes! How could I ever forget?

And do they still have the big display at the Van Elslander's house in Grosse Pointe Shores?

[jcole]

Yes! How could I ever forget?

And do they still have the big display at the Van Elslander's house in Grosse Pointe Shores?

Yes, they still decorate lavishly every year. I'll be doing the Lakeshore drive next week some night.

[56packman]

I remember taking the Grand River bus with my older sisters downtown to Huson's, there was a floor with a small section that was reserved for kids to shop for small gifts for their parents, unescorted by them. A clerk would sort of help you, there were just tables set up with the goods arranged on them, the clerk would ask "is this for your Father"/ [[Mother) and they would ask what sort of things they liked. All of the gifts were under $5 [[this was in about 1966) and after you made your purchase the check out clerk would put the gift in a plain brown craft paper bag and staple it shut so that you wouldn't show anyone accidentally, and they told you to keep it stapled shut until you were ready to wrap it. I remember vividly the pneumatic tube system for handling the money .
I started Christmas shopping at Hudsons's Downtown in 1977 when I had my frist job, the malls were already over-crowded and crazy, and parking was easy around Hudson's, so I started doing my Christmas shoppping there, until 1983, when the store closed.
As a kid the windows at Hudson's were magical. I have a vauge memory of the Ford rotunda, I was pretty small, I remember my Father holding me up and seeing these life-size [[to a small kid) automaton figures on a huge diorama.

[daddeeo]

Getting photo taken with Santa at Wards store on Grand
River and Greenfield.

[Maof]

how cute. my sister has ALL of ours! gonna have to get a few from her

[EMG]

A few more memories I've thought of since my last post. I might return here periodically as more come back to me.

Visiting Santa - at Eastland.

Classroom Christmas gift exchanges on the last day before Christmas Vacation [[NOT "winter holidays") in my elementary school [[Carleton). And, of course, singing carols - yes, real carols that had religious themes!!!! - in the school Glee Club for both Christmas AND Thanksgiving.

Another common memory was the proximity of my birthday [[beginning of December) and Christmas just about three weeks later. Three weeks was still a L O N G stretch of time when I was 7 or 8 years old. Now, as an only child I was always lavishly spoiled [[I admit it!) and I always thought my family was very generous with my presents both for my birthday and Christmas - but the Christmas presents were always even more spectacular in both quantity and quality. And of course, if I ever didn't get something on my birthday wish list there was always Christmas to continue to look forward to. My family always saved the most special gifts for Christmas - and I suspect that was simply out of a motive to "save the best for last" - but if it helped teach and remind me that Jesus' birthday was more important than my own [[and to an extent it did!) I think that was just a bonus that my family wasn't really consciously attempting to do.

Oh yes, one more memory that I may have mentioned indirectly before but that will be of interest to member turkeycall here - in my later childhood and teen years we always took trips of a few days to stay with my other grandparents who lived in Muskegon [[Dalton township to be more specific, on Nielwood Drive northeast of M-120 and River Road). We also usually visited over Thanksgiving and for a few days each summer, but during our shorter Christmas break stays [[usually getting there the day after Christmas), I especially enjoyed playing in the woods and tobogganing on a large hill on Bard Road with my cousins who also lived in the area. While the hill is still there [[I assume), alas, the woods I remember enjoying so much have mostly been overrun with new housing developments. I was lucky to have been young in the time that I was.

[SMRJim]

Getting photo taken with Santa at Wards store on Grand
River and Greenfield.

Pretty cool picture, Daddeeo. I don't remember there being a Santa at Wards when I was a kid. Maybe they stopped doing that at some point, or else I didn't care because I knew I'd be seeing him downtown at Hudsons when dad took us down there. You could only have one Santa visit!

[p69rrh51]

Thanksgiving Parade with my father while mom made the turkey at home.
Santa at Hudsons, mom took my sister and me with the next door neighbors, then we would meet our fathers at Cardinelli's for dinner, and play happy birthday on the jukebox over and over all night long.

[old guy]

1971. Drinking cheap wine and shooting pool with Johnny Winters at the Garwood. Actually daydreaming in between shots of being home for a conventional Christmas. I can relate to post #21 though.

[Bodybagging]

Daddeeo Im sorry to inform you that you had your Picture taking with a fraudulent santa, everyone knows that the REAL SANTA worked at DOWNTOWN HUDSONS! Im blessed with one of the few pictures from my childhood to be taken with him. Great picture daddeeo!

[jcole]

Daddeeo Im sorry to inform you that you had your Picture taking with a fraudulent santa, everyone knows that the REAL SANTA worked at DOWNTOWN HUDSONS! Im blessed with one of the few pictures from my childhood to be taken with him. Great picture daddeeo!

Nuh-uh, my Daddy was.
Attachment 4375

[Bodybagging]

Loving Santas lil helper!