DAY 21

Well, I’m so bedeviled and bemused with everything around here that this evening I trimmed the Aladdin lamp on the library table, then finding no matches on the mantel went to the kitchen, took one, lit it, and carried it carefully to the living room. When I realized my foolishness, I was so tickled that I nearly blew out the lamp. I was laughing and I get silly every time I think of it. I mean all this Christmas packing, sorting, carding, lettering, mailing, etc., etc. – Ina

In case you didn’t catch on, instead of lighting the match in the living room, Ina struck it in the kitchen and carefully carried the burning match to the living room to light the lantern. She laughed at herself for being so foolish. It’s just a simple anecdote, and perhaps you had to be there to find it funny.

Well, these things happen. In my case, the other evening, Alexa announced that a shipment had been delivered. I checked at the front door and didn’t see a package, so I grabbed a flashlight and checked the mailbox. Nothing there either, nor at the back door. I was baffled but decided to fix supper before checking my orders. However, before long Alexa announced again that a shipment had been delivered, so I grabbed the flashlight and went out to look for it, this time checking the shrubbery. At this point, I was really concerned, so I checked my orders, and even then it took a moment to register that it was a gift delivered elsewhere. Mike and I chuckled, but I’m over it now. KW

DAY 20

Mrs. Cordell and Aunt helped in the kitchen. I got through just fine. Aunt helped me out by dressing a fat young rooster and bringing it ready for the roaster. She also insisted on making pies since I had my hands full – mince and pumpkin. One of each would be plenty, I said, but no – here came two each and ginger cookies frosted. She’d tried a new recipe. So, we had mince and pumpkin pie with whipped cream on it, ginger cookies, fruit cake and do-nuts, and fruit and whipped cream for that, coffee, oranges, nuts and candy besides the after-dinner mints.

Well, we just parceled out the leftovers. Mr. Boehm got half of each kind of pie. I believe Mrs. Cordell got a whole pie, some donuts, cookies, and buns. Mr. Boehm also got some of each. Aunt got the remains of the roast, buns and donuts, and this is how we do. It was a good day. – Ina

Dear Aunt Bertha! How she loved to cook – from roasted meats to baked goods and everything in between and heavy on the butter and cream. And yes, she liked to eat, too. Ina, on the other hand, was mindful of her weight and ate accordingly. She does say of the Christmas meal, though, “I ate my fill according to a previous promise to myself.”

Both Ina and Aunt Bertha made mincemeat with meat, the old-fashioned way. I like a fruit-based mincemeat, such as the Nonesuch brand, and in the past, I’ve made my own from green tomatoes. I had many green tomatoes this year, but they ripened before I could make the mincemeat, so we had stewed tomatoes instead.

And then I couldn’t find mincemeat locally and the price online was horrendous! So, I thought again about making some. What could I use instead of green tomatoes, I wondered, and I happened to think of the boxes of shredded zucchini in the freezer. So, yesterday I made zucchini mincemeat, simmering it in a Crock Pot. It was rather juicy, so I thickened it with cornstarch. “Very good!” as Ina would say. KW

DAY 19

 

Vance's rendering of the old living room fireplace

One late evening after the dishes were cleared away, Dad popped two kettlefuls of lovely corn and we sugared one and put taffy over the other. We heaped a large platter with balls till Dad said, “Oh, that’s enough,” for he wanted some left to eat. Well, I sent him off to the living room to eat and read. Then I prepared my dressing and sweet potatoes for the morrow and put my buns to rise, for I’d baked lite bread and roasted beef too. At last I repaired to my seat before the fire with a pan of sugared corn, nuts and candy and filled eleven little Christmas boxes for the tree.

Ah! Those last-minute preparations when we work late into the evening. In my mind’s eye, I can see Jack and Ina working together to make this popcorn treat for the guests who will come to their Christmas Eve gathering.

The popcorn was grown right there on the farm, and Grandpa Jack was in charge of popping it on the old wood range, and then Ina and Jack worked together to coat it with sugar and taffy.

I saw this process as I grew up. Coming from this tradition, my dad would occasionally make caramel corn. He popped the corn and then set to work to make the caramel coating in the heavy cast iron skillet. When the syrup was ready, he would call Mother, and working with two forks, Mother would turn the corn while Daddy steadily poured a stream of the hot syrup over it. It was really a two-person job because it was important to coat the pop-corn before the syrup hardened. (It didn't always happen either.)

It was a labor-intensive process from beginning to end, and I guess some part of me realized this because it didn’t transfer into my life. I never did it for my family, though the doing of it is now a treasured memory. KW

DAY 18

 

I got my letters and cards and boxes off in good season and had the last week mostly to make a dress for Ruth, my niece. They told me not to try to do it before Christmas, but I wanted to. It and the collar I made, unknown to them all, were my gifts to Ruth. She came down different days and did my work up so I’d have more daylight to sew. One day she did my washing besides. She’s a good girl and willing to help. – Ina

Here we are at the last week before Christmas in our imaginary 1931, the same as it is here in 2024. Ah! How wonderful to be ready for Christmas and have that last week for the little extras and to create surprises for loved ones. It does the heart good.

Actually, the dress for Ruth wasn’t the surprise. Ruth knew about the dress. The surprise was the collar that Ina fashioned for it. And I’m sure Ina made that collar without benefit of a pattern. Back in the day, people sewed without patterns. My other grandmother, my mother’s mother, prided herself in not using patterns, but my mother said the fit left something to be desired. And me? – I make nothing unless I have a pattern and instructions.

We approach the shortest day (or longest night) of the year, and daylight does make a difference, especially when you don’t have electricity. Lantern light just isn’t good enough for close work. KW

DAY 17

 

One night before Christmas a big bobsled load of us – nineteen in all and with a four-horse team – went up to the old schoolhouse to the school program and tree. It was lots of fun and I believe the last I went to the program was when I was in the program myself back in 1923! I got a great kick out of watching these various kids perform and make mistakes and more fun still to see them eating candy and popcorn balls up front while the tree was being ‘had.’ – Shirley Dobson

What a fun night! I can just imagine it. Magic was in the air.

“The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, Gave a luster of midday to objects below, . . .”

One of the farmers took the trouble to hitch his team of four to the bobsled that he seldom had occasion to use, gathered his own kin, and around to the various farmhouses they went, picking up those who wanted to attend the program at the schoolhouse – mostly the young adults, singles as well as couples. That farmer was a community-oriented person, willing to make the effort so that others could have some fun and also support the program at the school.

And Shirley did have fun. Perhaps Henry was there, too. 

I think there’s a Hallmark movie here, don’t you? KW

DAY 16

 

We intend to start a “Literary” after the holidays and Dorothy Johnson and Henry Shockley and I are already planning a short play for part of our program from down here. Later we hope to give a longer one. It would be fun if we could manage a three-act play later, but there aren’t so many young people here and it may be rather difficult, but we are talking of it. Tonight a sleigh load of us are going up to the upper schoolhouse for the program, the Millers and the teacher, Henry and Ed and myself probably will be all. – Shirley Dobson, 1932

[Just a reminder – we are celebrating Christmas with Ina Dobson and her family in the agricultural community of Gilbert, Idaho, on Russell Ridge south of Orofino in the early 1930s. The above quote is from a letter written by Ina’s daughter Shirley, a young adult.]

I admire the dedication of Miss Dorothy Johnson, the teacher at the one-room Dickson School at Gilbert. With just the little I’ve gleaned of her character from yesterday’s posted quote and the one above, I see her as willing to give of her time not only to her students but also to the enrichment and socialization of the young adults of this dwindling agricultural community. I suspect she was young herself.

Perhaps you noted in an earlier post that Ina gave Shirley “a pair of brushed wool gloves which she needs for going out these winter nights. Henry Shockley comes along and takes her to the singing bees, play practice, etc.” Miss Dorothy Johnson was the instigator of those activities. And perhaps we can thank her for providing the means by which Henry would court Shirley. They married in June 1937.

I once heard that another man, Jay Cordell, was interested in Shirley, and when Henry began to call on her, Jay backed off. Searching for Jay, I found that he was born in 1893, making him close to 40 in 1931, a good 17 years older than Shirley. If indeed he was interested in Shirley, the fact that he was not a member of the younger set might have deterred his interest as much as Henry’s involvement.

Jay Cordell died in Orofino in 1970. KW

DAY 15

 

The school teacher, Miss Dorothy Johnson, has organized a singing group, and we’ve been meeting at Miller’s to practice. We sang two Christmas anthems for church Sunday and they went very well. Oh, they could have gone better, but it helped the service anyway. – Shirley Dobson