Drawing names. If you attended public schools in the South in the 40s and 50s you know about this pre-Christmas activity. You may have some good memoires of this annual ritual and, again, you may have had nightmares. This seemingly innocuous practice was probably created by a kind adult who thought its premise would help the poorest child feel a part of the group during Christmas gift giving.
I suppose they failed to check the prices ....Blue Waltz perfume was twenty-nine cents and chocolate covered cherries were thirty-nine.... a great deal of money in those days. If you were a boy, there was no doubt what you would get. With girls it was a toss up....but you prayed it would be the chocolate covered cherries. If you're wondering why I didn't say the perfume, then you have never smelled Blue Waltz . When its aroma first hits your nostrils, you may think , "ah, that's different, I think I like it, or your eyes begin to water and you start sneezing. For just 29 cents it packs a wallop, either way. I must say for thirty-nine cents the cherries were a pretty nice gift, if you like the gooey center that tended to run down your arm if you didn't stick the whole thing in your mouth. My Mama said that was bad manners.
She was an expert on manners. She never failed to remind us the no matter what we got for our "drawing names gift, we should smile and say, "thank you and Merry Christmas". That was hard to do with a mouthful of cherries or a nose full of Blue Waltz!
