Christmas 1965: How I remember Christmas in the 1960s

North Street United Church Christmas Pageant ‘He Comes’ was a highlight of the 1965 Christmas season in Goderich.

In 1965 Goderich, if it could not be had on the Square or from the Eaton’s or Simpson’s catalogues, Santa was not bringing it.

Post-war affluence beamed from every page of in the December Goderich Signal Star.

Yet, the Christmas Spirit was still very much alive in Goderich as the multitude of church and school concerts, nativity scenes, Christmas charity events and carol singers can attest to.

Sixty years later, Christmas 1965 evokes feelings of nostalgia for those who remember it.

There is no doubt that post-war Canada, and Goderich, was in a period of rapid change.

For the elder generation, Christmastide was a religious tradition for family, church and modest gift giving.

According to the 1961 census, virtually every Canadian claimed some religious, almost exclusively Christian, affiliation.

Although few could know it in 1965, church and Sunday school attendance in Canada peaked by the early 1960s.

For the generation that grew up during the Depression and fought the Second World War, their children – the ‘baby boomers’ – life was never better.

Yearly wage increases were good and prices were low. Most ‘baby-boom’ parents could afford to shelter their children from the hardships they experienced growing up.

Most children expected to find more than one present under the Christmas tree.

By the early 1960s, it was not just the family Christmas tree adorned with coloured lighting. Canadian Tire on North Street sold 25-foot strands of outdoor electric lighting for $6.39. A floodlight with red, green, pink, yellow, blue or transparent bulbs were $3.44.

In December, as excited school children in Goderich’s three public schools and one separate school prepared for their respective Christmas Assemblies, they might have been talking about the television premier of A Charlie Brown’s Christmas that debuted on CTV affiliates CKNX or CFPL on December 9, 1965.

Before cable came to Goderich in 1973, it would have been almost the only show they would have watched. Some of them would have watched their favourite cartoons on colour television sets.

The cartoon perfectly A Charlie Brown’s Christmas illustrated conflict between the difference between the Christmas season and the crass commercialism all around them when the Peanuts gang bedeck Charlie Brown’s twig of a Christmas tree with Snoopy’s gaudy, over-done, doghouse display.

The episode ended with the singing of traditional Christmas carols. Since 1965, it has justifiably become a television classic ever since.

It countered the Signal Star’s messaging that the Christmas commercial season was on when it announced in a full-page ad announced that ‘Goderich Merchants are Ready for Christmas. It’s Santa’s Big Day!’

Santa Claus came to Goderich on Saturday, December 3 where he gave candy and gifts for every child who saw him at the Fire Hall on the corner of West and Waterloo streets. Even rural children were invited to the parade event sponsored by the Mayor and Town Council.

As Santa’s sleigh, perched in the back of a fire truck passed along the parade route, mail carriers took the many letters bearing children’s Christmas wish lists.

Before driving to the malls in the city and online shopping, buying local or from the catalogue was the only w ay to shop.

Breckenridge’s Toyland on the Square, carried a great selection of traditional toys for boys like Lionel Trains, Dinky toys and the last year of lead toy soldiers.

Girl toys included a wide selection of dolls and prams. Toboggans, board games, hockey equipment, and wagons had sportier appeal.

At Blackstone’s on West Street, doll carriages ranged from $9.95 to $19.95. At Canadian Tire, Ruthie Dolls were selling for $3.22 each and Lil Beaver Trucks ‘for boys’ went for $3.66.

Fortunately, for local children, the Eaton’s and Simpon’s catalogues mailed out in October arrived with plenty of time to pore over the expanded toy sections [1965 was the last Christmas for Eaton’s large size catalogue].

Indeed, the most popular girls’ toy in 1965 was the Barbie doll retailing for just over $3.00. In 1965, Midge Sherwood introduced as Barbie’s best friend in 1963 outsold Barbie’s boyfriend Ken Carson.

The Barbie range also came with a mod, hip array of clothes and accessories from the era.

Dolls were not just a girl’s thing in 1965. G.I. Joe, America’s Movable Fighting Man, was the top seller in the Eaton’s catalogue.

Other war toys like molded plastic army men, Monkey Division helmets and weapons, Dinky and Leslie armoured vehicles topped the lists of most popular boys’ toys in Christmas 1965.

The 1965 Christmas season also introduced the Easy-Bake Oven, Mystery Date Game and troll dolls.

Teens and parents may have been more interested in Rivett’s Christmas special on a Philips High-Fidelity stereo cabinet. The cabinet version housed a 12-inch turntable; the novelty of a tape recorder, AM-FM stereo, knob and push button tuning board blaring out stound on two, eight-inch and two, 12-inch speakers.

The wood finished stereo cabinet even had room for a record compartment and retailed at $845.

Rivett’s also sold quality black and white Philips Monitron television consoles at $279.95. The Philips TV was advertised as truly dependable instant sound and clarity of picture.

The unit price did not include rabbit ears or antennae hook up that would have been necessary to watch television in Goderich in 1965. Over at Henderson’s Book Store on East Street, one could buy a pocket-sized transistor radio for just $9.95.

At N.T. Ormandy’s store, one could buy a four-piece sterling silver place setting for just $32.50 each. More modest budgets could purchase a five-piece silver plated place setting for $10.

English bone cups and saucers could be purchased for $1.99. Other practical gifts that could be purchased at Wilf Reinhart’s Appliance store were a Westinghouse fridge for $199, television with instant-on capability for $139 and a complete washer/dryer set for $249.

For the gentleman Dad, Fincher’s Smoke Shop carried a full line of pipes, lighters, tobacco humidors, cigars, all priced to suit your budget.

Yet, brand name toys, jigsaw puzzles, Match Box Toys and Hobby Craft Models along with leather bill folds were also available.

Squire’s Gifts, a curio shop located off the Square on the Bayfield Road, was carrying unique gifts from home and abroad, selling Royal Doulton and decorative plate and cup ware.

Despite its location, Squires was one of the most popular gift shops in town.

It cautioned shoppers that there was no mass buying so you may pay a little more for something unusual, but isn’t it worth it at this time of year?

By all accounts, Christmas 1965 was a resounding commercial success as the Signal Star headline proclaimed Christmas Bonanza for Town Merchants on December 30, 1965.

Yet, the highlight of the 1965 Christmas season stayed traditional as North Street United Church staged its Christmas Pageant ‘He Comes’ on December 12.

The Signal Star described the ‘music, acts of worship and of service, the observance of family customs and traditions-all contribute a sense of deeper meaning to Christmas’.

The sentiment was still undoubtedly sincerely held but great changes were coming in the latter half of the decade.

As this is my granddaughter Poppy’s first Christmas, I hope that she will live well into the 22nd century and look back on a long life and reflect on how Christmas has changed and remember that the Christmas of 1965 is the first one her grandfather remembers.

So, from the Yates family to yours, we wish all the Goderich Sun’s readers a Merry Christmas and a healthy, and prosperous New Year in 2026.