I'll admit that Christmas is very difficult for me. For a very long time it was my favorite time of year, but when my mother died two days before Christmas it changed everything forever. Now I have to try a little harder to find Christmas.
Looking through an old magazine my mother owned can slowly take me a few steps back in time. The following vintage magazine ad is from the 1957 Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas magazine. I have several years of Christmas craft magazines that my mother kept and throughout each year as a child I used to enjoy looking through them, anticipating the Christmas to come.
A View-Master is no longer a toy kids long for. I still have my View-Master and a box of reels. I still get a kick out of looking at them, but then I can be easily pleased. With a View-Master you step into a quiet little world that only you can see; you don't need to share it with anybody else. And surprise, no batteries needed.
I think I might just need to get out my Santa's Village reels and take a trip back in time.
Do you have memories of a View-Master?
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I still have my View-Master and some picture reels I received in the 1950s. However, my dark-brown Bakelite View-Master has the optional backlight attachment that does require batteries. That attachment is relatively heavy and somewhat awkward to handle so I have not used it in many years.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though there have been View-Master picture reels [and reels made by other companies] produced about almost every imaginable subject -- but I have not found any reels that illustrate any of the National Christmas Trees near the White House. It would be interesting to have a set of picture reels illustrating all of the 90 National Christmas Trees.
This year is the 90th anniversary of the annual National Christmas Tree tradtion that I have read dates back to December 1923 when President and Mrs. Coolidge occupied the White House. President Coolidge had then been President for only about four months, having succeeded to that office upon President Harding's sudden and unexpected death [of uncertain cause] in August of '23.
This year's ceremony of the official lighting of the National Christmas Tree was again a fun affair. On hand were President and Mrs. Obama, the Presidential daughters and Mrs. Obama's mother, Mrs. Robinson, as well as several celebrities from the entertainment industry. It truly was a "View-Master event."