In my travels for Hy-Vee, I recently saw some of the small, old bottles of Coke. These brought back memories of my childhood.
When I grew up in the 1940s and ’50s, we did not have soft drinks at home. We only had Kool-Aid.
The Coke ads at that time showed Santa drinking from one of the small bottles of Coke as he delivered his presents. I was hooked and wanted to put out a Coke for Santa on Christmas Eve.
Every year my father would bring home a Coke for me to set out, along with cookies, to refresh Santa. And every year half of that Coke would be gone when I got up Christmas morning. I would put the other half into the fridge for me to enjoy later.
Years later I learned that Santa (also known as my Dad, Vern Vodenik) had drunk that first half mixed with a little Canadian Club. This was his part of our Christmas tradition, while mine was the thought that Santa was pleased with me and the treat I left him.
Memories for all these years were firmly established. Today when I see a Coke and Santa ad or stumble on those small bottles of Coke, I’m that small boy again, if only for a moment.
I realize that memories do not need to be big events or cost much at all. Thank you, Dad, for giving this memory to me.
This year I might just need to fix of one of those small bottles of Coke with a dash of Canadian Club. I’m the dad now, but my son is all grown up, so I’ll do this for you, Pop.
Our tradition will carry on. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
The advocacy of Coca-Cola was monopolizing on Christmas from the early ’20s.
It is largely due to a lengthy national advertising campaign by Coca-Cola over several winters in a series of popular magazines — notably The Saturday Evening Post — that the image of Santa Claus as we now recognize him became widespread across the U.S. and Canada.
Coca-Cola owns several patents, among which are the composition and color of their glass bottles as well as the shape of those bottles.
I remember going to a neighborhood gas station as a boy, where, for 25 cents, I could get a candy bar and a 10 oz. bottle of Coke. The bottles would be bobbing in a metal Coca-Cola cooler of half ice, half water. The pop was so cold you could hardly drink it! Great memories — thanks for sharing, Larry!