Holiday memories of Rudolph the reindeer, who came into my life in 1942

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer came into my life in 1942.

I was eight years old and he was only three, but he seemed very mature for his age. Rudolph, of course, came to us from Montgomery Ward as a free promotional gift to kiddies starting in 1939. The initial distribution was 2.4 million copies. I just wanted one book. But I didn’t get to have my own Rudolph book until long after we moved from Montana to Spokane.

As soon as the holiday season started, the line at Mongomery Ward would be very long. That would be about 50 kids of all ages waiting for their Rudolph book, moms holding one or two toddlers by the hand - and (insert heavy sigh) there would be my mother, ignoring me totally. She was on a mission of her own.

Finally reaching the front of the line, I gained my Rudolph book, and while I was looking at it, my mother leaped nimbly onto Santa’s knee. Santa did not seem especially surprised. I certainly wasn’t. My mother leaned in and told the Jolly Old Elf that what she must have for Christmas was at least one pair of nylons. Six would be better. But because of the war, nylon was strictly rationed. The material was used for essential military items like parachutes, ropes, and other supplies. But my Mother decided she’d put up with scarcity long enough and she was going to the man at the top. So she made her request and waited confidently. But Santa leaned forward and said rather severely: “Oh, my Dear, if Mrs. Santa heard about this she’d be very unhappy. She’s been waiting for years for her own nylons.“

Soon after, the wartime paper shortage forced Rudolph into suspension. He wouldn’t turn up again until after 1946. So my mother waited out the war like all of the other mothers, painting liquid stockings on her legs and carefully drawing on a seam with eyebrow pencil. Drawing a seam down the back of your leg is very hard. Kids like me just wondered if Rudolph would ever come back again. The movie and the song would come much later, but never mind. We were lucky to have the book. So, Rudolph became part of our holiday tradition. Distribution stopped during World War II due to paper shortages, and the booklet was not re-released until 1946, after the war had ended.

In the meantime, our world turned upside down.

We were all involved in saving anything that could be used for the war effort, rendered fat from cooking, newspapers, tin cans neatly squashed so as not to take up too much space. No Christmas lights of course, but the song, “When the Lights Go On Again All Over the World” became the theme song for our troubled times.

Christmas stockings were one tradition that continued, but the treats were different. M&M’s and other now traditional candies were specifically designed for soldier’s packs as were many of the others. Candy corn and rock candy kept well and were staples for soldiers, but sugar rationing was very real so we didn’t see many of these treats.

Oranges were almost impossible to get so if my brother and I found the traditional orange and apple in our stockings, it was a rich Christmas indeed.

Remember, TV hadn’t come along yet so often after dinner children gave Christmas plays featuring, guess who? That’s right, our friend Rudolph.

And now Rudolph is 86 years old. I’ve seen a lot of stories giving his age as 60, but you know how those Hollywood people exaggerate. Never mind, he has become part of our tradition and we retell his story every year.

TV didn’t come to Spokane until December of 1952. Our family splurged to buy the most popular TV brand and my father was so happy he danced about the living room singing: “We’ve got a Hoffman” (Hoffman was the leading TV manufacturer in those days.) It was a great moment. Then the brand new beautiful appliance blew up. Blew up without a word of warning. The company repaired it, but my father did no dances around the new one. That’s the thing about Christmas traditions. We can’t keep things the same, but there will be another one that could be even better. I wonder if Rudoph is thinking about assisted living.

Where to find Dorothy in December

Find Dorothy’s podcasts at www.itsnevertoolate.com, and on YouTube, Spotify, Apple or wherever you get podcasts.

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This story was originally published December 7, 2025 at 5:15 AM with the headline "Holiday memories of Rudolph the reindeer, who came into my life in 1942."