Windham resident Buster Gilman is pictured at 90 years old. Today he’s 91. Haley Pal / For Lakes Region Weekly

One of the most popular features on the Windham Maine Historical Society’s Facebook page is the daily account from the diary of Depression-era housewife Alice Gilman. In 1938, Alice and her family lived in the Newhall section of town off of River Road. If you follow the daily entries, you know that she has a 5-year-old boy named Buster who she frequently writes about.

Buster Gilman is now 91 years old and I was lucky enough to sit down with him recently and hear some of the Christmas memories he has from when he was a boy growing up in our town.

Buster Gilman recounts some of his childhood Christmas memories and favorite gifts like the sled he is pictured with. Contributed / Buster Gilman

I learned that Christmastime was a favorite of Buster’s, whose real name is Lloyd, but he was nicknamed Buster at an early age. At 5 years old, his mother picked out the Christmas tree and Buster was her helper in decorating it for the family. But as he got older, Buster enjoyed being the family member to go out into the woods with his trusty saw and cut down a tree to place in the corner of the living room in Newhall. He recalled the house had 10-foot ceilings and he often looked for the largest trees he could find that would still fit into the house. Generally, once he got them home, they would need to be trimmed and cut to a proper size to be brought inside. One year he found a tree that was so big that when he was dragging it home, his neighbor Lawrence Rogers thought he was seeing things. It looked as though the tree itself was taking a stroll down the street. Buster was hidden among its giant branches as he hauled the evergreen home.

Once the tree was brought inside and placed into its stand, lights, festive ribbons and bows were added to the branches and finally the tree was draped with silvery tinsel. As presents came in, they were carefully placed under the tree to be opened on Christmas Day.

Buster’s baby doll was a means of coping with grief after the death of his little sister. Contributed / Buster Gilman

I asked Buster if he had any favorite toys he remembered from his childhood. One that came to mind was a little toy hound dog that he named Sniffy Snooper. The dog was on wheels and when the wheels moved, the little pup would make growling, barking noises. Buster loved walking his puppy around the house. Another cherished plaything was a toy train set. The track was kept in the kitchen and Buster spent many hours happily playing with it. Christmas stockings were hung on his bed’s headboard. They would hold small toys, gifts and treats that would be opened along with presents on Christmas Day. At age 6, Buster received his very own rocking chair. He placed it behind the tree and had fun watching the Christmas commotion as the family gathered together for the holiday. He also loved the sled he was given one year and spent many an afternoon sliding down a hill near his home with his friends.

On a sad note, when Buster was quite young, he lost a baby sister who died at the age of 6 months. He was very attached to the baby and had an extremely hard time getting over her death. To help him deal with his grief, he was given a baby doll to keep him company until he could finish his personal grieving process.

Haley Pal, a Windham resident and active member of the Windham Historical Society, can be contacted at haleypal@aol.com.

On the brighter side, Christmas dinner was always cause for celebration at the Gilman homestead. A woman in the neighborhood raised laying hens and when they stopped laying, she would sell them for people to eat. Alice Gilman would get a couple of these hens and butcher them at home. They would be the center of the family dinner and be accompanied by all the trimmings from mashed potatoes to cranberry sauce, veggies and stuffing with sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies and candy for dessert. The adults indulged in a bit of elderberry wine.

The 1930s were a hard time for many people as the Great Depression took its toll. But as can be seen by Buster’s family memories, Christmases were still a time of magic for children, a time of sharing for families and, just like today, a time to be merry.