* I Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 25 December '85 5

SHOP AT HOME IN CAPE MAY COUNTY

A Vivid Memory 1 Of One Christmas j 8

By RUTH A WANBERG Christmas — what would we ever do without it? Without this special season during which we can show those near us how very much we love them. Now, it's appropriate, it's easy, it's comfortable, it's CHRISTMAS. Hugs and kisses are expected and Trolley Ride Plus View Of Lights CAPE MAY - The heated "Victorian trolley" offers a front-row seat for the spectacle of festive Christmas decorations in the city. These Christmas Lights Trolley Tours, sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Center of the Arts (MAC), leave from the Information Booth on Washington Street Mall at Ocean Street. The guided tours wind throughout the old and new neighborhoods of Cape May to see the specially decorated homes and businesses of the town. THESE TOURS also travel out to the "1000 Summers" estate in nearby Lower Township, to see the spectacular winter fantasyland on its grounds. The tours, which usually last about one hour, are offered on the following schedule: Thursday. Dec. 26. 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.; Friday. Dec. 27, 6 and 7 p.m.

plentiful and for those of us who have been hoarding these treasures all year, it's a time that we can get our emotional and affectionate "fix." True, it has also become a commercially successful period because sometimes it is easier to bestow a tangible gift, than to give of ourselves. But that's all right, too. The message of love is still visible. When we really love someone, we want to give pleasure. We want to make their life a little easier and a little more enjoyable. When I think of pleasure offered, a vivid memory of one particular Christmas comes to mind. I remember traveling on a bus to Philadelphia with my mother. I was probably six or seven years old, yet I can still visualize that long SIC Slates Meeting SEA ISLE CITY - Meetings scheduled by governmental agencies and civic groups in the city for the next few weeks are: Tuesday, Jan. 7, 7 p.m.. Zoning Board of Adjustment, Public Safety Building. Tuesday, Jan. 7, 3 p.m.. School Board. S.I.C. Public School. Thursday, Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m., S.I. T.I. Committee. Community Center. Thursday, Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m., S.I.C. Garden Club, Conyn unity Center.

8 line I had to stand in so that 5 I might see Santa Claus. 2 IT WAS IN THE MIDST g of the Christmas season. 2 that period between "Black g Friday" and Christmas g Eve. The line of children 2 weaved 'round and 'round, g divided by railings. This $ circuitous journey, of g couse, was to accom- » modate hundreds of 2 children on their annual « trip to sit on Santa's lap g and tell him what they g wanted him to bring to » them. My mother deposited me » in place at the end of the g line. She stood vigil outside g the barricade — no parents » allowed. Alone in this line g of so many strange s children, I felt a wee bit J nervous. I could feel the g blood slowly entering my * cheeks, no doubt giving the g appearance of a healthy 2 blush, but really the result g of the tension a young child g feels on such a momentous £ occasion. By the time I jj reached Santa, my face $ was so scarlet you really g couldn't tell where my face g ended and Santa's red suit | began. We spoke in whispers so 8 no one else would hear my g secret requests. (It's fun- g ny, because all I ever asked S for were dolls.) After our a brief visit, Santa reached {J into his sack and took out a $ treasure for me alone (I STILL like "magic ft slates"). Then I left the platform via a path that a eventually led me, beam- W ing, to my mother. » THIS RITUAL occurred jj only once each year, but in rj those days, that one trip , ft was all that was necessary, fl probably because we didn't Y have the plentiful local- L store Santas helpers we H have today. Lt But to continue, on this particular day I had finally ft regained my composure & and was standing with my « mother in front of the n store's elevators, waiting vL for one that would take us nj to the street, some five Q floors below. The doors of jjj the service elevator, which f> was at the far right, open- n ed... and what to my B wonderous eyes should ap- Hi pear? no less a vision than a Roy Rogers and his horse, r "Trigger". ?»■ At thgt time. Roy Rogers W represented for me what |\] Julio Iglesias does now. "C Bells rang! I was thrilled. 1 joyous and merry! Securi- fl ty guards were scurrying J? to make a path for Roy 7 Rogers' highly publicized W scheduled appearance in c Santa Claus land (a secret my shop-weary mother had Y kept from me). /! I honestly don't * remember what I got for f Christmas that year, but in £ retrospect, my most en- ft joyable memory was the 7 gift I received each and every Yultide of my for- K mative years — that tradi- \ . tional visit with my mother f to a Philadelphia depart- 1 ment store to see Santa \ Claus and the wonder and r awe of it all. \ Ruth Wanberg of Avalon . r writes periodically for this "j newspaper. •*

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