Christmas on Pleasant Row (Annie)

From Annie P.

Though almost 69 years have passed, the memories of 'Christmases Past' at the Pleasant Row home of John and Edna have not dimmed! Pleasant Row is such an appropriate name yet today for that little community of folk who live along 'the hard road' into Cuba from the north!

A few years ago, I wrote those memories down for cousin John and am attaching them to this letter, first.

“Christmases Past Nostalgia”

Christmas at Grandpa John and Grandma Edna’s in the later 1930 and early 1940’s holds special memories for me and I would like to share them with you as I remember them.

The big two story bungalow still stands (and looks much the same as it did then) on Pleasant Row in Cuba. It was the family home of John and Edna and their six children: Verna, Reba, Wendell, Robert, Bernard and Louise. A long-covered porch runs all across the front of the house with the entry door in the center and two large windows on either end of the front. Along the south side there are also two large triple windows. It was inside the first of these two windows that the big Christmas tree always sat in the spacious living room with the adjoining dining room open to view with a couple columns supporting the archway between the rooms.

It was under this tree that the gifts were all placed and then opened together on Christmas Day. It was quite an ‘opening’ as you might imagine of six offspring plus their spouses and children. There were a lot of brightly wrapped packages under that tree!

Since this was still post-depression years, money was tight, but ingenuity was not! There was a limit of 10c per gift. Yes, 10c! so you can see (even then) what I mean about ingenuity! I can remember how Mom and I would keep our eyes open (or our thoughts) for items for everyone that met the 10c criteria: items for ‘the men’ and items for’the women.’ Kitchens gadgets (the state fair with its hawkers was a wonderful source for these) were high on the list as I recall and often homemade items as well.

But, what I remember most is the Fun! Real fun and joy as we shared together on Christmas Day and exchanged what each one had managed to find for the others. And, just the ‘togetherness’ with Grandma and Grandpa in their home was special. I know we all gathered in that dining room for a big meal too, but I don’t remember all that as much as I do the gift ‘hunting’ and giving of those years. I remember feeling the warmth of the family and their love for each other and the special time of just all being together at “The Home on Pleasant Row.”

Many Christmases have come and gone since those years of my youth, but they remain treasured memories still of wonderful joys of family no longer with us.
How I look forward to some day greeting each one again where ‘every’ day is Christmas.

Then, secondly, a photo taken either in 1939 or 1940 of the 'nuclear' family of John and Edna:



Verna is on far left, then Reba, Louise, Edna, John and Bob. Wendell and Bern are in the back row. As you can see, it was taken outside (again on the southside of the house!) and is only the children of John and Edna. I do not have one with the spouses in the family at that time.

This was the era of the Great Depression's ending and pre-WW II.

I also have a photo of E. Mary and I taken that same Christmas, standing in almost that same spot.



There is a little house in the background (behind Mary) and a good friend of ours still lives in that house. She is in her 80's now, but so good to keep me posted on happenings of today in Cuba. I was about seven and as you can see, Mary was a beautiful teenager, so with seven years age difference between us, probably about fourteen at the time. John would have been there that Christmas with his Mom and Dad at about the age of two. So sorry there is no photo of John or Uncle Bill (Reba's husband,) your John's Mom, Evelyn, or Aunt Phil (Uncle Bern's wife) if she was 'in the picture' yet at that time or of my Mom who just might have been the photographer. Aunt Louise did not marry until about ten years later.

Merry Christmas Present, With Joyful memories of Christmases Past and Anticipating Future ones,

annie