One of my favorite subjects as Christmas approaches is the Pink Pig at Rich’s downtown Atlanta.

Those who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s recall the Pink Pig downtown. Many recall when the ride was a monorail that rode above the toy department, so that children got a good a look at all the toys available. Some remember an elevator that went upstairs to Santa’s igloo.

Before there was a Rich’s Pink Pig, the traditional “Lighting of the Great Tree” took place at the downtown Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta for the first time in 1948. A 70-foot live tree was placed on the roof of the store that year and the lighting took place on Thanksgiving night.

If you were in Atlanta in 1954, you could have seen White Christmas at the Fox Theatre. The film was based around the song by the same name, which Irving Berlin wrote for Bing Crosby in 1940. Holiday Inn (1942) was the first film featuring the song White Christmas and the song won the Academy Award Best Music/Original Song category that year.