NOW IT REALLY SEEMS LIKE CHRISTMAS

Shirley came home Wednesday evening and from then on it seemed really like Christmas to me. Ina to Vance, 1936

December 1936

This afternoon the youngest daughter Shirley breezed through the door, earlier than expected. With her presence came a festive atmosphere – everything that was Christmas – good cheer, energy, secrets, the smell of oranges, etc. Ina marveled that just one person can make all the difference, and it was Shirley.

Right now it was quiet. Jack was working in the barn, Shirley had quietly slipped upstairs with a box of gifts to wrap, and the Robinson family had gone to visit Aunt Bertha and Uncle June. Ina continued to roll out pie crust in the pantry where western exposure took advantage of every bit of afternoon light.

Ina felt a little guilty about not sharing the Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchange with “the June’s”* this year, breaking a tradition of many years standing.  Ina had broached the subject with Bertha by saying that opening gifts together would be too much hubbub for the space at hand (which was true enough) and that it would save Bertha the expense of buying gifts for everyone (also true), and Bertha had reluctantly agreed. But Ina suspected that Bertha had guessed the truth – she wanted to savor this time with just her own family.

Yes, as she thought it through again, Ina was sure she had made the right decision about the Christmas Eve celebration. Instead, they would share dinner on Christmas Day, and it would be just fine. Yes – just fine. . .

After all, Ina’s thoughts led on, life was changing. It wasn’t just that the Robinsons anticipated a move that would take them clear across the country. And it wasn’t just that Shirley and Henry planned to marry in June and who knew where life would take them. No, it was more than that. The Robinsons had come for the old-fashioned country Christmas at the home place, and Ina didn’t want this special experience overwhelmed by too many people. Ina had lived here forty years with no water source, no electricity, no furnace, and this way of life was no longer acceptable. Her children all lived in a world of modern conveniences, and those conveniences were setting a new standard of living for the country.

“No use to think of these things, though,” said Ina to herself. She wouldn’t let her concern for the future dampen her spirits on this lovely holiday. KW

Update 2012

. . . and Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap, had just settled down for a long winter’s nap . . .

“Our own dear Hallie,” as my dad (Vance) would call her, and her husband Nick arrived at 12:30 a.m. A late start from Seattle, slow traffic over the pass, a stop for supper and another to pick up the mail at the town house pushed their arrival time back by several hours. Mike and I had gone to bed to wait and doze. Clueless Nellie was asleep in her house.

 

“When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter.” Well, not really a clatter. More of a low rumble. But there was commotion as an elated Nellie sprang from her bed “to see what was the matter.” She knows who it is that comes in the middle of the night – her “dear girl” Hallie and yeah -- that fella “what’s his name.”

We were soon all in bed and not a creature stirred for quite a few hours. Today the Christmas festivities will begin. Yes, no “last chance for two-day delivery” here. This is it – Christmas 2012.

*-“The Junes” were Junius and Bertha Dobson, Jack’s twin brother and Ina’s sister, who lived on the adjacent homestead. 

[The photo is of Henry and Shirley Shockley on their wedding day, June 1937.]