“I heard the bells on Christmas Day. . .

Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”  ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Although missing the nursery rhyme light shades, I think
this is the tree Mam brought from England

     "In 1959, I came to America with my family aboard the Queen Elizabeth.  Mam packed a small, artificial Christmas tree.  A central wooden dowel sat in a hole in a square base.  It was 3 feet tall with branches that pulled out and down to form the shape of a tree.  It came with light bulbs, each with a shade like an inverted Dixie cup.  A nursery rhyme and character were painted on each shade."






   "In the early 60's, we bought a 5 ft. silvery tinsel tree.  It had a silver painted 'trunk' with holes drilled in it at increasing angles, so that when each of the branches of the same size was inserted into the holes, they would perch upwards forming a tree shape.  My brother Darryl was born during the era of the silvery tinsel tree.  Maybe that's why he loves tinsel so much."





   






     "In the 70's we had a 6-foot artificial evergreen tree.  It looked real, but didn't smell real.  We three kids could assemble it, no parent help needed.  Dad always put those big, cone shaped, multi-colored lights bubs all over the tree.  Maureen and I begged for fairy lights.  Darryl just wanted to lob tinsel at the tree, big clumps that would drip from random branches."
                                                                                                                 --Barbara

Maureen remembers:

     "I can't say that I remember any Christmases in England.  I would've been 6 years old on my last Christmas there.  I remember Dad taking me down to Nanna's house to receive a gift.  Pop would always give me a small glass of Advocaat at Christmas, a yellow drink that tasted a bit like eggnog.

'Advocaat or Advocaatenborrel is a traditional Dutch alcoholic beverage made from eggs, sugar and brandy. The rich and creamy drink has a smooth, custard-like flavor and is similar to eggnog.'

     I remember more of our first Christmas in Hickory, N. C.  I got a bridal doll that came in a hinged case with a few clothes.  We lived upstairs in a small attic bedroom, but Mam has since said we didn't stay there long after finding rat droppings.
     Mam and Dad would hang a pillow case on our bedposts, and in it would be nuts, fruit and a few gifts.  I believe it might have been the Christmas after we came back from  England, that you and I each received a bridal doll that was about 3 feet tall.

Opening a package from England

We're very dressed up for opening gifts--must have been for
the photos

    





       
     I remember a Christmas in the duplex on
Oakland Avenue in Statesville when I received
a Brownie Bull's Eye camera.  First I opened a
package with film, then one with a camera bag,
and finally the one with the camera.  I still have it!
     Every year we went to a Christmas party at Dad's workplace, Hunt Penn.  Mr. Waring, the owner, led the singing.  Each child of an employee received an age appropriate substantial wrapped gift.  They served cupcakes covered in red and green icing.  What a treat!"
                             



FYI:  Below are some British Christmas traditions, some of which we celebrated.

1. Letters
It is very common for school age children to write letters to Santa Claus.  But, the Brits take it a step further and burn the letters in the fireplace so the ashes fly up the chimney and Father Christmas can read the smoke.

2. Stockings
Rather than hanging stockings above the fireplace, British children hang them at the end of their bed hoping they will be filled by Christmas morning.

3. Crackers
The cracker is a paper tube, covered in foil, twisted at both ends. It’s shaped like a large sweet with hidden treasures inside. Each person crosses their arms, using their right hand to hold their cracker, and pulling their neighbor’s cracker with their left. POP! The cracker will make a bit of a bang with the contents spilling out which usually is a joke to be read at the dinner table, a small trinket and a paper crown.

4. Next Year
Brits say you need to take your tree and decorations down within 12 days of Christmas or you’ll have bad luck for the next year.

5: Crown
Everyone is a king on Christmas! The paper crowns are made of tissue paper and unfold into an actual crown. Adults and children alike don the crown making it a colorful sight. The paper hat was added to the crackers in the early 1900s and the tradition has carried on.
                                                                                               --from BBCAmerica

Bit of history:  

     "The most famous Christmas tree in the UK is the giant tree in Trafalgar Square. The tree is a gift from Norway to the people of the UK as a token of gratitude for British support of Norway during the Second World War. Every year since 1947, Norway ships over a spruce tree that the British ceremoniously decorate with white lights.
 
     Crazy costumes, audience participation and cross-dressing all in one performance! What more can you ask for? Pantomime season in the UK begins around Christmastime. The audience always gets excited at pantomime performances, cheering for the heroes and yelling angrily at the villains. The tradition of pantomimes comes from medieval mummers plays, in which men acted all the parts in a silent play with a moral theme for noble households. Today, pantomimes sometimes even feature famous pop stars or TV personalities.

     While some children leave cookies and milk for Santa Claus like in the US, it is quite common in the UK to leave something a little stronger for good old St. Nick. Many families leave a glass of whiskey, sherry or brandy, along with a heartier snack, like a mince pie, made of fruit and spices. It’s a long, cold night for Santa, so they like to give him something to keep him warm.

     Brits used to stay warm by the Yule log during the cold Christmas season. The Yule log was a large piece of wood that was burned in the fireplace as part of the holiday celebrations. Traditionally, it would be decorated with ribbons and dragged into the house ceremoniously. Once it was lit, it would be kept lit throughout all 12 days of Christmas. If you could keep the log burning, it would bring warmth, prosperity, blessings and good luck all year long"
                                                 --from http://usa.britishcouncil.org/british-christmas-traditions

"The American Dream is all about social mobility in a sense--

                                                            the idea that anyone can make it.     --Fareed Zakaria

Erik,

     "When Mam and Dad were able to purchase their first home in Statesville, NC, they had accomplished something that wouldn't have happened in England at that time.  It was a huge moment, I think.  They were well on their way to 'making it.'"                   --Mom

Maureen remembers:

     "It was in Statesville that Mam and Dad bought us each a bedroom suite (bed, dresser, and desk) from Gordon's Furniture Store.  I still have mine, as does Barbara.

     I was allowed to ride my bike to the library.  I would cut through the back of the high school, cross North Center Street, and ride through a residential area to the front of the library.  I had a basket on my bike; in the summers I went through a lot of Nancy Drew books.
        A few years ago when I visited Statesville, I noticed how small the library (now a Head Start center) actually is; it still looked the same, with curved wrought iron steps on both sides of the front door.

Statesville Drug  Store/Holmes Drug Store

     I would also ride into downtown Statesville and go to the movies.  I remember Cherry Cokes at the corner drug store, Statesville Drug Store or Holmes Drug Store.  On one of my many trips into town, I bought Barbara a tiny china tea set for Christmas.


     I joined a Brownie troop; Mam would help at the meetings.  I remember making a small ceramic fawn and shoe, both of which I still have.  Mam painted the eyes on the fawn.  Barbara and I also made egg cups, her's was a rooster (she still has it) and mine was a duck.



     I was playing over at a Brownie friend's house one day, in the backyard, when her dog jumped up and bit me in the behind.  I had to be taken to the doctors to get a Tetnus shot.  I think that is the reason I've had a fear of large dogs every since.  I stayed in Girl Scouts through high school.
     Our next door neighbors, the Lipshitz family, had a daughter,  Donna, who I often played with.  I needed a dress for a school dance, and Mam had just had Darryl and couldn't get out to the shops, so Mrs. Lipshitz went to a local department store,  Spainhours, and brought home several dressed for me to choose from; I chose a lovely white dress with big green flowers on it.

Maureen holding Patches; Barbara on the far right

 






     "We had our first dog while living in Statesville, a beagle named Patches.  We were out driving up in the mountains and saw some kids playing with some puppies, stopped, went to the door and asked if we could buy one.   The woman who answered looked so down trodden; the house had a dirt floor.  It made us count our blessings.
     Patches became a memeber of the Shelton household, but he kept running away.  We had just about given up on him, when one day he came home with a piece of rope tied to his collar.  We found out later that he would go and visit at some nearby shacks, and the people who lived there were feeding him, obviously something he liked because he would keep disappearing.  We left Patches home alone one time; when we returned there was toilet paper strewn all over the house."
                                                                                            --Joan Shelton

   

"A friend is a brother that once was a bother."

Darryl  
   Franklin
      Shelton

"Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world

                                                                              simply by being there for each other."  --Carol Saline 


                    
                       Barbara  
        
                       Diane  

                            Shelton                                       
                             

 

    

 

"Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents . . .

                                       and grandchildren in order to be a full human being."  ~Margaret Mead

     "My biggest regret in emigrating is that Maureen, Barbara and Darryl did not have the opportunity to live near and get to know my or Frank's parents, their grandparents.  I tried to make up for the loss by saving up and sending ticket money for my mam and dad, Nanna and Dadda, to come to North Carolina for four months.  Darryl was born in January 1962; they came in October of '62 and left in February 1963 after Darryl's first birthday."
                                                                                      --Joan Shelton


Maureen, who was 11 at the time, remembers:

     "When we lived in our first real home on Holland Drive in Statesville, Nanna and Dadda came to visit.  They flew from London to New York on a prop plane, and Mam and Dad drove all the way to New York City from North Carolina to pick them up.  The mother of a neighbor, an elderly lady, stayed with us three kids."

Passport photo for Edward Albert Strutt (Dadda) and
 Hannah Sophia Strutt (Nanna)

     "I wrote an aerogram (a sheet of light blue paper folded and sealed to form a letter for sending by airmail) to Mam and Dad every week, and I remember telling Dad, before he came to visit, to get a good proper haircut.  When we met him and Mam at the airport in New York City, he walked down the boarding stairs of the plane, took off his hat, and swiveled slowly in a circle to show me his 'proper' haircut.

Bit of history:  The aerogram was largely popularized by its use during the Second World

War.  Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Evan proposed that a lightweight self-sealing letter card that weighed 

only 1/10 oz be adopted by the British Army for air mail purposes.

     During the four months Dad stayed with us, he did not go to the barber's again, but once in a while came out of the bathroom with his hair all chopped up (he would hack at it with a razor blade), and I would have to sit him down, tie a towel around his neck, and straighten it out.  Mam would say, 'You old fool!'
     I didn't have a pram for Darryl, so Aunty Gladys, Frank's sister, lent me her's.  It was a big thing which she'd had painted a cream color and reupholstered in turquoise.  It served its purpose.  While they were visiting, Nanna and Dadda took Darryl out every day in the pram for a walk around the block.
     One day I walked into the house and Nanna was holding Darryl under the arms.  She said, 'Stand still,' gave Darryl some encouragement, and he came weaving across to me, toddling and stumbling, but with a big smile on his face.  Nanna and Dadda had been training him when I wasn't about.
   


     Each afternoon, I would take them for a ride, showing them around Statesville.  Their favorite place to go was an old cemetery, Oakwood, where there were graves of soldiers from the Civil War.  A grove of lovely old trees lined the road, and since it was October when they arrived, the trees were in all their autumn splendor.  They were in awe of the golden archway formed by the trees; we would drive up and down the road, admiring the glorious colors.  They never tired of seeing those trees.

                                                                           

Oakwood Cemetery, established 1887, Statesville, NC

   









   
     They spent Darryl's first Christmas and first birthday (January 30, 1963) with us and then left for England in early February.  The family back in England tried to get them to stay longer as England was in the grip of a terrible, icy cold winter, but they were homesick and ready to go."
                                                                                              --Joan Shelton

                                                                          

Maureen remembers:

     "When we drove Nanna and Dadda to the airport in Charlotte for their trip home, Dadda was crying, and I will always remember him waving a white hankie from the window of the plane.  We stood out on an observation deck, watching and waving back, until the plane took off.."

"To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters . . . .

"We know each other as we always were.  We know each other's hearts.  We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.  We live outside the touch of time."                                                                                                                       --Clara Ortega

        Maureen 
            Sandra
                Shelton


                       

"When we are children we seldom think of the future . . .

                     This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can.  The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.      
                                                                                                 --Patrick Rothfuss 

     "When we lived in Hickory and Statesville we didn't stay home much on weekends.  We loved to drive up into the Blue Ridge Mountains on the Parkway; on one such drive we saw what we thought were tortoises and so decided to take one home as a pet.  Well, the darn thing started spitting every time we picked it up.   Someone at Frank's work told him it was a spitting turtle, was protected, and shouldn't have been removed from its habitat."
                                                                                     --Joan Shelton 

Bit of information:  The Blue Ridge Mountains are noted for their bluish color when seen from a distance.
Trees put the 'blue' in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their distinctive color.

Bit of information:  The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road, noted for its scenic beauty.  It runs for 469 miles through twenty-nine Virginia and North Carolina counties, mostly along the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains.  The Blue Ridge Parkway was built to connect Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Joan, Barbara (6) and Maureen (11) at Mabry Mill, July 1961

      Mabry Mill is a watermill located on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. According to the date (July 1961) on this photo, Mam was pregnant with Darryl.






    







Maureen, who was 10 years old when we came back to the States in 1960, has many wonderful memories of her childhood in North Carolina:

     "When we came back to the States in 1960, Mam and Dad bought Barbara and me brand new bikes.  I was old enough to ride my bike to Viewmont School in Hickory.  I remember the school had a little store and besides school supplies that I bought for myself, I would buy a small square box of pretzel sticks to take home to Barbara.

     I was also allowed to ride my bike to some shops near Viewmont Apartments in Hickory.  I would buy little wax bottles in a tiny cardboard box; each bottle was filled with a different colored liquid. You bit the top off and drank the liquid.  

     I was over at a friend's house one day, riding bikes down a steep hill with a curve at the bottom.  I flew off the bike on the curve and landed in the gravel at the edge of the road.  I think there was broken glass in the gravel; my ear was nearly cut off.
     Dad came and got me and took me to the emergency room where I needed 13 stitches to sew the ear back in place.  I begged him not to leave me at the hospital.  My greatest fear was having to be away from Mam and Dad.  Once I went to a Girl Scout day camp where all the campers were invited to spend one night at the camp.  I had an excuse ready for why I couldn't stay.

     After coming back from England, Dad bought another car, a big red-and-white station wagon.  It was in that car and in Hickory that Mam learned to drive, which really was a necessity in the United States since, unlike in England, distances were greater.  She couldn't parallel park that big station wagon so failed her first test in Hickory;  Aunty  Gladys took her to a small nearby town, Granite Falls, to retake the test, which she passed the second time.

Mauree sitting on the tail gate of "the bus"

     Friday nights in Hickory always meant a trip downtown to spend my small weekly allowance.  Murphy's Dime Store was the place to go.  Mam says it took me forever to decide what to buy, but I always came away with something.  
     When I was at Viewmont Elementary School, my class took a train trip from Hickory to Ashville.  We went to a craft fair, and having spending money, I came home with several items.  I remember Dad taking me aside afterward and asking if I bought anything for Mam.  I said I hadn's (selfish little thing I was, it hadn't occurred to me), and he made me promise to always bring Mam something back when I went on a trip.  I have tried to follow his good advice ever since."