Musings About Eibands

When I was growing up in the 1950s, Eibands was a magnificent, impressive department store in Galveston, Texas. As a child of 8-12 everything looked larger and sounded more wonderful than it was to a grownup. I imagined that the store stretched from one end of the block to the other. That's the way Eibands was to me, especially the days before Christmas. I can still hear those sounds of Christmas music in my head from the speakers above the sidewalk.

My mom and dad took us three kids downtown each Christmas to watch and listen to the colorful animated store displays. The movements were intricate, and the sounds of the Christmas songs were piped out to the spectators on the sidewalk. There was an excitement in the air as I watched the figures rotate their eyes, heads, and arms slowly from left to right, and right to left again. My face pressed against the glass, as if to think I could get closer to the figures. The music was twinkly and bell-like, as though the sounds were coming down from heaven.

The individual displays were larger than life in my mind and filled most of the front glass windows of the store. There was a religious display with the Nativity scene of Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus, and the animals in the stable; a display of Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and their elves making toys; and, a display of children dancing and opening their presents around a Christmas tree. It was a special event that I looked forward to visiting for several years, and the memories of wanting to repeat the experience were in my head long before the time came to visit Eibands again.

It is important now to travel forty years in the future to the Bell County Museum in Belton, Texas where my family visited the Christmas exhibits in the 1990s. Lo, and behold, there were the same displays that I enjoyed so much in my childhood as I stood in front of Eibands in Galveston. It was an out of body experience, a deja vu. My eyes blinked. My face did a double take, wondering, "Were those the ones? Could those be the same figures I enjoyed so many years ago?" As it turned out, they were the same, and I was so totally amazed and awed.

I can still dream and hear those magical sounds and see the seemingly real-life movements of the figures in the displays of the storefront windows from long ago. It is amazing how our memory can trigger such joyous and pleasurable occasions from the past. I never want to lose the ability to retrieve those precious moments in time.

Eibands is no longer a four-story department store in Galveston, but the building on Post Office Street in the Strand Historic District still stands. It has been resurrected to lead a new life as condominiums for people who wish to call Eibands their new home. Perhaps you can go there someday and relive the memories of the past.