Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas 1960: O'Neil - Sheffield Center

Here's a full-page Lorain Journal newspaper ad for the old O'Neil - Sheffield Shopping Center. It's rather clever, as the kids could cut out the Santa, glue him down on some cardboard and assemble him like a puppet. (If you click on it and print it out, you could assemble your very own 1960s Santa puppet!)

Of course, no discussion about the Sheffield Shopping Center at Christmas time would be complete without mentioning the Talking Christmas Tree (which is mentioned in the ad). I remember going there with my family and chatting with it along with my siblings, wondering where a talking Christmas tree fit in with all of the various Christmas legends, TV specials, etc. But it didn't really matter. It was magical and fun and just for kids, and that's how Christmas should be. Or at least that's how it was in a more innocent, simpler time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I remember being afraid of the Talking Christmas Tree until my parents pointed out the speakers under it. Santa never scared me.