From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 25, 1988:

At the Valley View Care Home, several Lawrence senior citizens today recalled memories of their earlier Christmas celebrations. “We always had a tree. My dad always went out and cut it. But we never put up a tree until the night before Christmas,” said 85-year-old Marie Johnson. She recalled decorations made of cut-out paper designs and strings of popcorn, usually practical gifts such as clothing, and the example of charity given by her parents. “Mom and dad always fixed up a box of meat and eggs for the people who didn’t have a lot. We did our own butchering,” recalled Mrs. Johnson, who had lived in the Clinton area and had worked at Weaver’s for 40 years. Vivian Rea, 93, remembered, “As children we never had a Christmas tree. But we could hang up our stockings at night when we went to bed and we would get something in them. Fruit or small little toys. We always had an orange. I was born in 1895. Back in those days we didn’t have very much for Christmas.” Lawrence Booe, 78, agreed, saying that people “didn’t see so much Christmas around in them days like you do now…. We always got something to wear, a pair of gloves, a light sweater or something like that. Once in a while we would get a toy, but not very often. A dollar then meant a lot more than it does now.”