By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
When Barbara McKeefery was only a year old in 1954, her mother gave her a Santa toy that transformed her Christmas into something magical.
The cherished toy was only a few inches tall, but it had an enormous impact on her life.
“The important thing to me is that it came out every year,” McKeefery recalled of how her parents would display the same Santa every Christmas. “It was there every year for my entire life. It represents all the fun and wonderful years growing up.”
Now 68, the retired Sea Isle City elementary school teacher has a collection of Santa toys and figurines – treasured reminders of the old-fashioned Christmases she would celebrate with her now-deceased parents, Emma and Fred Fourqurean, and her brother, Dale.
Some of the special pieces from her Santa collection – including the toy given to her by her mother in 1954 – are on display as part of the vintage Christmas decorations at the Sea Isle City Historical Museum.
McKeefery hopes that the toy Santas, ornaments and other decorations she has sprinkled throughout the museum will remind visitors of the wonderful Christmases they had while growing up.
“It makes me happy that people can remember the good times in their lives,” said McKeefery, the museum curator.
Long before smartphones, laptops and virtual reality became all the rage, children would wake up on Christmas morning and find simple toys waiting for them under the tree.
Pin the tail on the donkey, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and Tiddlywinks were among the old-fashioned games that would amuse girls and boys in those days.
Some of those vintage toys and games are on display at Sea Isle’s museum for Christmas, giving visitors a glimpse of just how uncomplicated holidays used to be for many families.
“They recognize them and it takes them back to their childhood 100 percent. Their reaction is almost immediate. They say, ‘Oh, I had that toy, I had that Santa,’” said Abby Powell, president of the Sea Isle City Historical Society and Museum.
Powell, McKeefery and other museum members are anxious for the public to savor the vintage decorations for the holiday. The Christmas touches are blended in with the museum’s historic artifacts, some of which date to the 1800s.
For instance, one display includes a vintage Santa doll with a baby crib dating to 1875.
Another display arranged by McKeefery includes vintage Christmas greeting cards, gift tags, music boxes, dolls and old books.
McKeefery has been decorating the museum for Christmas for the past 10 years. She said it always brings back fond memories of holidays with her family.
“Christmas was, as for many people, a very big time in our family. There are great memories,” she said, smiling.
Normally, the Sea Isle City Historical Society holds its annual holiday open house at the museum this time of year. Ultimately, it was decided to cancel the open house as a safety precaution during the pandemic. But Powell said she is confident it will return in 2022.
“We are very, very sad that we couldn’t have our open house. But we will have it next year,” she said.
Visitors, though, are free to stroll through the museum over the holidays during regular business hours. Admission is free, although donations are accepted.
The quaint museum occupies a wing of the Cape May County Library at 4800 Central Ave. Vintage toys, old-fashioned ornaments, wreaths and poinsettia plants are among the holiday decorations adorning the exhibit areas.
The museum brims with thousands of historic keepsakes, some of them predating Sea Isle’s founding in 1882 by visionary real estate magnate Charles K. Landis.
Research material includes thousands of photographs, maps, books, pamphlets, and personal remembrances, plus collections on specialized subjects such as the monstrous 1962 coastal storm and the history of Sea Isle’s railroads.
More information is available by visiting www.seaislemuseum.com or calling the museum at (609) 263-2992.
