Christmas greetings circa 1962, part 2

On Tuesday I shared some images of Christmas ads that appeared in the "Community Magazine" from Albert Lea, MN for Christmas, 1962. (See part one here)

You often get "Merry," "Happy" or "Greetings" wished you, but "Joyous" is kind of nice, isn't it?  I hope De Soto Creamery had some joyous sales.

This is also a nice sentiment.  With all the PC police, it's harder to find that part about "Good will toward men" than it used to be.

Here's not only a very nice sentiment, but a very stylish one as well.  Look how they've worked the numbers 25 into the sleigh.  Look even more closely, and you can see December in there somewhere.  Makes you wonder if Al Hirchfeld worked on it.

I like the sentiment in this - "Let us thank you for your past patronage."  Remember that the customer is doing you a favor.  A lot of businesses don't remember that anymore.

Christmastide - now there's a word you don't hear very often.  Sounds vaguely liturgical, doesn't it?  Also serves as a reminder that Christmas is more than one day.  They could have been talking about the lead-up to Christmas - or they could mean the whole twelve days, leading up to Epiphany.

Remember when carolers used to come to the front door?  Maybe they still do - just not here.

Another ad with candles - I really wish we saw more like this.  Notice too how many advertisers wish us something along the lines of "health and happiness"?

"Best wishes of the season" - with an image like this, there isn't much doubt as to what season they're talking about.  Remarkable how many of these ads had a religious motif.

Reddy Kilowatt wishes us all a Merry Christmas.  And, by the way, don't forget to use that electricity!

And let's finish this series with this serene portrait of a small town in the stillness of a winter night.  Sadly, the hopes for a lasting era of "Peace on earth, goodwill to man" would pretty much be wiped out by the end of 1963.

I don't know about you, but I enjoyed going through these ads immensely.  There was only one sour note in the issue (aside from the sense that this is a world lost to us forever), and that comes in what I suppose we'd call the "predictions" section of the magazine.  The column concludes with a prediction of "a year that lies before us clean and untouched.  May it bring joy and success to us and to you."  Indeed, the year was to bring the death of John XXIII, the continuing "work" of the Second Vatican Council, the overthrow of the president of South Vietnam and continuing U.S. involvement, the assassination of President Kennedy, the murder - live on national television - of his accused assassin, the death of C.S. Lewis - well, you get the picture.  Knowing how the year turns out adds an extra note of poignancy to the optimistic hopes for the year.  When, in 50 years, historians look back at 2013, I hope they will see better news.