IDEALS MAGAZINE
~ ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS ~
|
1963
This is the much earlier "old - time" volume
that both the daughter and the mother (in the story below)
remembered and cherished, from back in the grandmother's day. |
Between my mother and her mother (my beloved Grandma
Rovilla Lindsey), they collected nearly every
Christmas Ideals for 60 years. The oldest one I have from their early purchases is 1947 (
Ideals began in 1944). When sorting through
my mom's things, I kept all the older issues that my siblings and I recalled
from our childhood. How we all loved the pre-Christmas ritual when Mom got them out for us to read. We would pour over the pictures, page after page, and imagine the perfect Christmas!
~ My Own Ideals Christmas ~
The later issues from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s I passed on to the public library sale, since, for me, they lacked the same charm and nostalgia of the earlier years. Before giving them away, however, I did take an afternoon to look through every page, including the letters to the editor.
Turning to the back page of the 1991 issue, I came across this multi - layered, multi - generational (grandmother - mother - daughter) meta anecdote. The mother's letter tells the whole story that happened a year earlier (Christmas 1990) about the daughter's sweet gesture to the mom in honor of the grandmother:
I have a Christmas story I would like to share with you.
"I have Christmas Ideals, Vol. 20, No. 6, November 1963. This issue has been on our coffee table with a candle and a Bible every year since.
"Our daughter came home a week before Christmas for a day. My 91 year old mother is ill and I had not decorated as much as usual and did not put our cherished Ideals on the table.
"My daughter noticed this but said nothing. Christmas morning I found a 1990 Christmas issue of Ideals. A note enclosed said, 'Mother, it did not seem like Chritmas with our Ideals not on the coffee table, is it lost? Here is a new one for you.'"
~ From Mrs. William T. Preston, Kenova, West Virginia
|
1990
This is the volume that the daughter bought
for her mother when the grandmother was sick,
the year the mom wrote the letter. |
|
1991
This is the volume containing Mrs. Preston's letter
in the Readers' Forum, p. 80 |
I knew then that I could never part with
1990 and
1991. As you can guess, I shelved them right beside my vintage
1963, an issue which -- just like the daughter in the story -- I remember vividly from every childhood Christmas. From now on, these three magazines will always go together, a sentimental holiday triumvirate.
Another thing I love about the old issues is that my grandmother went through and marked all of her favorites with a tiny red penciled "X".
This one, for example:
At the End of the Year
I cannot let the old year die
Without a thought of you;
Without a wish for Christma joys,
And New Year blessing too. . . .
It is a time when friends and kin
Meet round a common board,
To share the love and fellowship
That happy days afford. . . .
And now my warmetst wishes go
To loved ones and to friends,
That peace and joy be in your hearts,
And love that never ends.
~ Agnes Davenport Bond ~
Also Thanksgiving Ideals
Next Fortnightly Post
Tuesday, January 14th
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