Christmas reminiscences, Edmonton, 1920s and 1930s, by Bob Davies

Date: 1920s to 1930s

My parents, Alfred William and Violet Florence Davies, were married in November 1921. My eldest brother, Alfred Franklin, was born in September 1922. He was named Alfred after his father, a family tradition that goes back some generations before him, and followed him to his eldest son, and eldest grandson. Franklin was my maternal grandfather's second name. My next eldest brother, Harold, was born on Christmas Day, 1923. Harold was the name of my mother's brother who was killed in action in the First World War. My mother decided that because of the date of Harold's birth his second name would be Christian. Being born on that date deprived Harold of many birthday parties and birthday presents, as in many cases one present was meant to serve both as a Christmas present and as a birthday present. This year will mark his 80th birthday anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, my sister last weekend (Saturday, December 6th) arranged a surprise birthday party on a day when some friends might be more able to attend. Among the guests was Olive Dean Malcolm, whose parents owned the Barton Block at 10738 - 95th Street, and operated Dean's Grocery on the main floor of that address, from about 1920 to 1945. A bit of a surprise arose when another couple, originally from Edmonton, but who had never met before, Leona and Tom Corbett, were talking of old times in Edmonton, and Tom said that he had lived in the area of the store in his youth and had shopped there many times.

I was born in September of 1931. That was in the depression years, although at that time, and in the next few years that meant nothing to young kids. I can't remember my father ever being out of work, so I would think that our family, although not wealthy financially, was rich in having loving parents. We lived in a large two-story house on 109th Avenue, about half a block west of 95th Street. I have vague recollections of a floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree, sparsely branched, and with little spring-loaded clips that attached horizontally to the end of the branches, and on the top of which their was a little socket into which a candle was firmly pushed. I seem to remember not too many candles on the tree. I do remember the shiny little ornamental birds that clipped onto the branches. Their tails were like the long bristles of a narrow paint brush. For storage purposes the tail was pushed into the bird's body, but for display purposes the tail was pulled out to its full length and it fanned out somewhat like a peacocks tail.

There were no shopping malls, and few service stations, or community halls, in the days of my youth. The main location for selling Christmas trees was in the large parking lot of the City Market, now where your Milner Library is located. There were many dealers with trees making a virtual forest of the lot. A beautiful fragrance filled the air. Many of the dealers had large empty oil drums serving as firepots, around which they and their friends and customers would stand to stay warm though the evenings.

The middle-aged couple living in the house next to us on 109th Avenue had no children. They had built that house in 1926, and when I was born they became my Godparents. I spent many hours of many days and nights at their house, and on four occasions they took me to Vancouver by train for summer vacations. "Sandy" Pirie was a carpenter at Woodwards store. His wife, "Georgie" had gone to cooking school in Scotland as a girl and was an excellent cook. I remember on a few occasions having Christmas dinner at their home, and after the turkey feast with all the trimmings, the lights would be turned off in the dining/living room and from the kitchen, my God-mother would bring in a flaming plum pudding, on a large platter held high and well out in front of her. A truly gorgeous site to see the blue flames. Almost as good as eating the pudding and the sauce that was poured over it. Mmmmmmmm! Sadly, my Godmother passed away before my 10th birthday. My Godfather lived on for another 41 years until he also passed away at the age of 94.