"I think this was in the main court of the mall, and [Santa] was a very, very lucky fellow because that look on my face is pure, unadulterated terror. And, then as now, when I get upset, my stomach gets in knots. I got about two feet off off Santa's lap, and my mom said I absolutely filled my pants.
They had just put me back in the stroller -- Grandma was there with me -- and they had just set me back in the stroller, and [my mother] said it just let loose. She said it was, yeah, all over the floor, it was in the stroller. She rolled me down back to the bathrooms, which were way down by Sears, leaving a trail behind us, and sent my grandma to go find the cheapest set of clothes she could find.
And that I believe is the only other picture I have with Santa. She never took me back to the mall."
Betsy Cech (as told to Joal R.)
Woodland Mall, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Circa 1972-1973
Woodland Mall, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Circa 1972-1973
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4 comments:
These are brilliant! Keep em' rolling!
I totally have that same photo. I thought that Santa chair looked familiar then saw where it was taken. I grew up in Grand Rapids. It's very strange to see that.
I feel very strongly that little tiny tots aged 3 and under are the only ones allowed to be terrified of Santa. If you're 4 years old, you should be old enough to recognize the folly of being terrified of a genial old man who gives out presents to all the world's children every year. But if you're 2 or 3 (say), that old man can seem like a menace.
Poor Becky looks like she's just turned 2 and is thus petrified of this strange old man she's been asked to cozy up to a big old monster. Awww. I wonder how the mall handled that messy trail of biohazard, though I hope they recognized that she couldn't help it. And she's right, it could've been considerably worse and a whole host of young children would've burst into tears at the sight of a newly browned Santa.
* "... cozy up to, who looks like a big old monster". Sorry. BTW, would it count if I contributed a photo of a baby version of myself celebrating a '70s Christmas? Because by the time I turned 1, it was already 1980, so I was a little infant around the close of the '70s.
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