The Crowds At Christmas Time

🎄 Merry Christmas!🎅

Three Shopping Days to Christmas!

Seattle, in more colorful recent days!

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In 1954 Northgate Mall had the world's tallest Christmas tree.

The whole story about that.

            Do you remember the countdown before Christmas? First there were months of shopping days, then there were 20 something days. Then there would be a week, or less than a week? This was serious business! You sure didn’t want to be out trying to get some shopping done before the stores closed on Christmas Eve. And yet, some people did that very thing.
            I think back to before Amazon, or catalog shopping. You had to show up in person, with your checkbook in hand. This was before the internet ruled life.
            And yet, though it sounds strange now, there was a cheerful busyness to it. It was part of the season, part of the celebration of Christmas was being out there on the hunt for the best gifts you could find at your local stores.
            There was even a time before shopping malls! Do you remember?
            If you lived downtown there were usually some department stores, and that’s where most people did their Christmas shopping.
            Now, as it happens, I remember the 1950s from a child’s point of view. The first place I remember being brought along to while my mother shopped was Seattle’s Northgate Mall, which happens to have been the first mall in the sense we think of a mall in the whole United States. It was built in 1950 and it was a new thing. To a small girl it was quite an experience. Crowded. Everyone either in a sort of Christmas state of mind, or else not so much.
            We used to go out in the world and be among one another. Amazing. Just as if we were social creatures, and even recognized each other as fellow people on a mission.
            Even non-Christmas shopping and other business was done in person, out in the open around other people. It sounds maybe a little quaint now. Heck, the grocery shopping used to be a social experience. You were forced to deal with other humans face to face, more or less. There's nothing wrong with a little anonymous sociabilty.
            I’m thinking it might be good to do some of that again.
            So, back to the countdown, we have today, tomorrow, and maybe Christmas Eve left for Christmas prep.
            I hope that all of your shopping and mailing are done already and you are having a relaxed and cheerful holiday time!

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