THOUGHTS FROM AN AGING PIZZA EVANGELIST NAUGHTY OR NICE Published: December 28, 2014 8:00AM Well, Christmas is over and hopefully all is well with everyone. I certainly hope everyone was nice and there were no naughty ones on Santas list thereby receiving a lump of coal under the tree. Many of you older readers know what Im talking about when I say a lump of coal but many younger readers may not. Let me …. splain (as Ricky Ricardo would say). The lump of coal theory was started in Holland. When a child was bad they got a lump of coal, but if they were good they got a small toy, cookies or candy. There was a pervasive belief in the mid 19th century that if you were poor it was because you or your ancestors did bad things. They were poor because God was punishing them. Most of England and Europe was powered by coal. Most household furnaces were coal burning. They would take coal and put it in pans under the bed to stay warm at night. So coal had value. If you were a poor kid, you were lucky to get coal that you could use to keep yourself warm on cold winter nights. The rich had nice warm houses and lots of goodies in their stockings but the poor, who were so as punishment from God for being bad were lucky to get coal. I never received a lump of coal but my wife Nancy relates of an instance in her childhood when she did receive a lump of coal. It was a joke from her uncle who was always teasing her. So one Christmas he wrapped up a lump of coal and placed it under the tree for her. Ha ha! However, Nancy didnt think so. I can remember as a kid going uptown to Davis Department Store to look at all the Christmas toys. The highlight was a giant Christmas tree as soon visible as soon as you entered the front doors. But I was more interested in what circled the base of the tree. A large Lionel train display! I thought if I was very good I would get my dream; my very own Lionel train set. However, living in the Fairground and from a poor family I didnt expect something as expensive as a Lionel train set. Oh well, a kid can dream cant he. Then on Christmas morning in 1950 I awoke and went downstairs to see what Santa had left for me. To my utter amazement I unwrapped my packages. It couldnt be could it? I was blessed with a Lionel train set, but just not any train set. It included an orange Union Pacific Diesel engine, an oil tanker car, an automated cattle car, an automated milk car and of course a caboose. This was the best Christmas I ever had as a kid. There really was a Santa Claus. See you next Sunday. Bob Fettes is a semi-retired Cambridge businessman and Columnist for The Sunday Daily Jeffersonian. He can be reached at nancopiz@yahoo.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 13:12:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015