| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Chuck Hinman, IJMA 027: Memories of Christmases Past It's Just Me No. 24, Memories of Christmas Past The next earlier Chuck Hinman story, Chuck Hinman, IJM No.92: Christmas Memories from My Show Biz Days Reader comments to CM are appreciated, as are emails directly to Mr. Hinman at: charles.hinman@sbcglobal.net by Chuck Hinman My earliest Christmas remembrance is in the 1920's when we lived in the farm home where I grew up between Liberty and Wymore in southeastern Nebraska. The house was large, almost new and had all the "bells and whistles" except one. There was no fireplace and/or fireplace chimney for Santa to enter the house! Ye gads, Dad, why did we move here? This house is Santa Claus unfriendly! The house had a floor furnace with chimney but that isn't the same for Santa's grand entry. He prefers a big fireplace with a mantle for hanging socks. Did I just dream it or doesn't it say somewhere ..."the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there".... Everyone knows that! How will Santa ever find this Nebraska farm kid? No way! If "necessity is the mother of invention," my parents found it just in time for Christmas and the Hinman kids in their new house. This house had a large kitchen and a wood burning cook stove. The chimney for the floor furnace would have to do for a place for Santa to enter the Hinman kids' house. This is how it all panned out (excuse the pun). We hung our stockings on the hooks Mom had on the wall next to her wood burning cook stove -- hooks intended to hold pot holders, not kids' Christmas socks! Santa would have a difficult-enough time negotiating the crooks and turns of the stove-pipe leading from the kitchen stove to the furnace chimney on the top of the house. And how he did all this, entering our house through the kitchen cook-stove mystifies me to this day! From pictures, I get the idea that Santa is a little on the heavy side. Just in case, we Hinman kids removed ALL the lids on the top of the stove with a "lid lifter." The lids were only 10" in diameter. How in the world did Santa Claus wriggle out of four 10" holes in the stove and with his pack to boot? Oh well, that's his problem! I will never know the answer to that mystery; but somehow, some way he never missed a year leaving a Christmas present for this Nebraska farm kid! He even gobbled up the cookies and milk we left for him! Surely he rejoined the reindeer on the roof by way of the kitchen door. I never saw ladder prints in the snow! It does seem I heard him or someone yelling in the distance ... "and a Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!" ... or did I just dream that? One thing I know for certain, he did NOT say -- "Happy Holidays," he distinctly said "Merry CHRISTMAS"!
This story was posted on 2009-12-20 11:27:48
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Chuck Hinman - Reminiscences:
Chuck Hinman: Christmas Memories from My Show Biz Days Chuck Hinman, IJMA No. 083: Long-John Weather In Nebraska Chuck Hinman: IJMA No. 161: Our old fashioned Thanksgiving Chuck Hinman, IJMA No. 323 Hi! Where Are You From? Chuck Hinman IJMA No. 327: The Sower Atop Nebraska's Capitol Building Chuck Hinman: IJMA No. 349: Ever Read a Telephone Book? Chuck Hinman: IJMA No. 343 Lost: Middle C Chuck Hinman, IJMA 336: Halloween When I Was a Kid Chuck Hinman IJMA No. 043: Somebody's sitting in my chair Chuck Hinman IJM No. 344: Mealtime When I Was A Kid View even more articles in topic Chuck Hinman - Reminiscences |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
