When Christmas Joy Was Hand-Crafted

By Rhoda Amon | Staff Writer

SANTA BROUGHT no bagfuls of robotic pets or virtual reality games, but his simpler, often homemade offerings were not unappreciated on these Christmases long ago.

Photographer Charles Duprez captured the rapture of his sons, Frederick and Arthur, then 5 and 3, when they discovered treasures under the tree in their Elmhurst home in 1920. The family later moved to Bellerose and four more siblings joined the celebrations.

"They had the kind of house where everyone was welcome," says Frederick's widow, Eleanor Duprez of Hicksville. Frederick became a photographer like his father, who was known for his famous portrait of a grinning Theodore Roosevelt.

Back in 1910, Esther Hicks Emory, then 8, and her brother, Edwin, 4, seemed equally pleased with their sled made from a wooden Quaker Oats box, probably by their father, Henry. And they found something else to rejoice over: snow.

Edwin grew up to head both the Westbury Fuel Oil and Coal Co. and the Hicks Nurseries in Westbury. The nurseries were founded in 1853 by the Hicks family, Westbury settlers since the 1600s, according to Edwin's grandson, Stephen, the sixth generation to be involved in the family business. Edwin Hicks died in 1992. Esther Hicks Emory is preparing to celebrate her 98th Christmas.