Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis - Bill O'Reilly on Christmas as a Kid

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

Bill talks about celebrating Christmas as a child in Levittown, New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So I was born in 1949, right? And about 1953, I'm in Levittown. That's where a lot of GIs went. My father is from Brooklyn. My mother is from Englewood, New Jersey. And they met in New England at Holy Cross College when my father was in the Navy, an officer training school, and my mother was a student at Boston University. and there was a social, that's what they used to call them that then, at Harvard.

And they met there. And they subsequently got married, of course. That's why I'm here. So they moved out to Levittown, and in 1951, I was two, and then my sister was born a short time later. I can remember Christmas when I was about three, and the vision. I have is I'm sitting on the stairs in my Leavitt home, and the Leavitt Homes are tiny. There were two bedrooms and a little kitchen, a little living room. That's it.

One bathroom. And the tree, excuse me, the tree was in the living room. And I was upstairs because my father had finished the upstairs and I had a little bedroom up there. So very early, I got up, just an urchin, about three or four. And I sat on this and I looked at the tree and all the presents. And that's my first recollection of Christmas. Of course, I believe in Santa Claus and this and that. Now, subsequently, Christmas in Levittown was a big deal.

There were carolers. We went out singing Christmas carol. I mean, give us a dollar, and we'd give the money to charity. and people would give us hot chocolate and cookies, and it was big. And it snowed more then than it does now. It said it was white Christmases and things like that. And there were Christmas parties, and we all had to go to church, very ethnic, Catholic and Jewish. But the Catholics obviously went to church on Christmas.

Churches were packed. They had all the carols. It was just majestic. It was a fabulous time. My parents didn't have a lot of money, but they did okay. I mean, I got Fort Apache, and I got Lionel trains, and I got little soldiers and cap pistols, and Davy Crockett hat. And I have a lot of this stuff today that I never threw it away. And it was just a great, great time.

And the spirit in Levittown for Christmas, you can feel it. And we're in controversies, it wasn't any of that, like, all right, you can't say Merry Christmas. You know, I feel of stupid stuff. I can't imagine a better Christmas atmosphere than Long Island Levittown. And I'm sure you have the same memories in your town. Now, I spend Christmas in Vienna, Austria. I spend Christmas in the West, out west. Colorado, a beautiful Christmas place.

I've been around. I spent Christmas in Florida. I know Florida, but always my memories are so vivid and it was such a positive for me, my sister, my parents, my friends, and I keep my friends from Levitown. You know, that's a trait of New Yorkers. They keep their childhood friends. You go out to L.A., I mean, your best friend is somebody who met two weeks ago. Not here. Not in Boston, not in Philly. You know, we have that Northeast thing. So I just want to impart that to you.

Maybe bring back a little nostalgia for you. I still listen to Johnny Mathis and Karen Carpenter and all of these great Christmas music, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra. So he'll do that. And I take time out. And I drive by my old house every Christmas Eve.