Remembering Christmas memories and making new ones

Christmas is in the air at Lely Manorcare, in South Naples. The cozy retirement community, located on the corner of Rattlesnake-Hammock Road and Lely Boulevard, lights up for Christmas with trees and decorations in almost every hallway. But it is the residents who keep the holiday magic alive, year after year.

Christmas with Nanna Merle

Born in 1922, Marilyn Swendsen, also known as Nanna Merle, by her “grand boys,” as she calls them, is all decked out in her favorite festive red sweater. She recalls her fondest memories of holidays through good times and bad.

“I was an only child, and we lived on a crooked little block in Rhinebeck, New York,” recalls Swendson, who grew up near the famous Roosevelt’s and Astor family’s summer retreats along the Hudson River.

“I can remember my mother put out a dish of chocolate-covered peanuts for Santa, but I ate them all and became sick,” she chuckles. “My mother was a professional seamstress, so I had many nice things for Christmas,” she says remembering handmade gifts from her mother.

Times were simpler at Christmas, but grand, nonetheless. Swendson lived through the Depression and recalled how she managed to get through tough times with her family.

“My father, in 1943, gave me a hundred dollars and placed me on a train to North Carolina, where I found Ralph, in the Air Force,” she explains. Swendson married Ralph and they had two children together.

“One time, he worked as an accountant. We just moved to Albany, New York, and we barely had two sticks to rub together. We gave my son my husband’s old train set (that Ralph had) when he was little, and when he (my son) opened it, he asked why Santa would give him a used toy. It was a Gloversville train set, in the original box. Can you imagine what it would be worth now?”

This year, Swendson will spend time with her adult daughter, who lives here in Naples, for the holidays. But her two grandsons are on the top of her Christmas list this year.

Swendson completed her Christmas calling list early, opting to personally send well wishes instead of a card. “I call people instead of sending Christmas cards.”

Merle Harris’ Christmas cheer

Making the most of Christmas cheer is a favorite pastime for 90-year-old Merle Harris. Although this Christmas will be her first without her beloved husband of 69 years, Charles Palmer Harris, she is looking forward to the holidays in her Manorcare apartment. Harris has decorated it with mangers and her intricate, family Christmas tree, with ornaments from years gone by.

Harris’ cherishes her Christmas moments of growing up in Everglades City in the early years, where her family operated a barge for Barron G. Collier. It was a time that had the most impact on her life.

“Back in Everglades City, I was 5 years old, and we were in a tiny school for first to fifth grades. Mr. Collier always saw to it that every child had a present under the tree who lived and worked for him in Everglades City. Graham Copeland organized the party over the years. I remember the schoolteacher asked us to sing, and my teacher wanted me to sing, “Away in the Manger,” and when I got up to sing for Santa, I froze. It was a fond memory, but it was a disappointing one for me and my mother,” Harris reminisces.

An avid doll collector, Harris still has several dolls she received for Christmas over the years. Her collection includes Cabbage Patch dolls and some crafted by Seminole Indians in the Everglades. “My favorite gift as a child was the Flossie Flirt doll. It was not a typical ‘baby’ doll. My sister left her doll outside in the rain and it looked like it had chicken pox, and I wouldn’t give her my doll,” says Harris, jokingly admitting her sister was not as careful with her Christmas gifts as she was.

“At my last Christmas dinner, years ago (in her home), I invited 25 people and the transformer blew, so I couldn’t cook. The neighbor was on another transformer, and I had to warm the turkey on the rotisserie,” Harris recalls of her Christmas cooking challenges when she moved to Naples with her husband. “It was great.”

Ruth Cunnion’s Christmas

“We never expected a lot, because it was during the Depression, but it was an absolutely wonderful Christmas,” says Ruth Cunnion, recalling past Christmases, growing up in upstate New York.

“I’ll tell you, at Christmas, all the aunts who only had boys would give me six dolls. And every Christmas, my mom would line my baby carriage with new material and Daddy would build a dollhouse.”

But nowadays, things aren’t quite so simple, Cunnion believes. “I looked at Toys R Us ads, and toys are expensive now. For 20 cents, we could get a bag of jacks and marbles to play with. I was a great reader. I remember getting books like Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins and Honey Bunch.” Cunnion had a love of reading, and her parents would foster it at Christmas.

“Double-blade skates, with a key to tighten them were fun. We’d wear the key like a necklace around our neck.

“I’m snail mail Grammy,” says Cunnion proudly. She has already sent out her Christmas cards to family and friends. “I sent out 80 cards this year, and I wrote them all by hand.”

A winter resident for 23 years before moving to Manorcare, Cunnion will share her favorite books this year with friends and neighbors at Manorcare’s annual Christmas party. “I’m telling the Christmas story, ‘A Red Bird Christmas.’ ” It is a story of a man who has to move from a northern city to a southern city for his health, written by Fannie Flag, the same author from “Fried Green Tomatoes.”

Cunnion believes storytelling, one of her holiday traditions, helps preserves warm memories of past Christmases she wants to remember.

Harris is also looking forward to getting together with neighbors and friends to celebrate Christmas, past and present. “It’s one of my favorites. Except for my birthday; I’m always glad to make another birthday.” Harris turns 91 in January.