Forgot to say that Bertha 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. -- Ina
Please forgive the tardiness of this post. In real time, Mike, Bess, and I went
to the farm today, where the landscape remains largely the same as it appears in
our fictional story of 80+ years ago. And without snow, we see how bleak
it is at this time of year. We were grateful that today we didn’t travel in
snow, but it IS muddy there.
Back in the 1934 of our story, Sadie awoke
and stretched. She could hear
the sound of Gram cooking breakfast and smell the coffee and
bacon. She knew she should get up but decided to stay in the nice warm bed awhile and think
about last night.
The play had been so much fun! Eight
little children danced over the platform in gingerbread boy costumes, telling the story of the
King of Jalapomp who punished his cook for not using baking
powder in his baked goods.
“But this is not true of the cooks
of Gilbert,” called out the gingerbread characters in unison. And Sadie
continued, “We gingerbread boys and girls are ever so plump and tasty because
the good cooks of Gilbert know about Royal Baking Powder!” And this brought
cheers and laughter from the audience.
There was only one mishap. Little
Johnny Smith, a first grader, fell off the platform. He wasn’t hurt, and he
bounced right back up, so it just looked like part of the play. In fact, it
added to the fun.
As the play concluded, everyone sang
those familiar traditional songs:
“Up on the housetop,” “Jolly Old St.
Nicholas,” and finally, “We wish you a merry Christmas.” Then sleigh bells
announced the arrival of Santa, who gave all the children a sack of candy and nuts with
an apple or orange and a popcorn ball. And everyone received one of the frosted
gingerbread cookies that decorated the tree.
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| Note: "British Manufacturer" |
A variety of gingerbread refreshments lined a long table at the back of the room. Children munched gingerbread boys while adults sampled cakes and pies as they visited. And you know how it is – slowly people began to leave. As the crowd thinned, Bertha quietly parceled out the leftovers to certain families she knew could use extra food during the holidays. The Dobson party was among the last to leave, making sure that Miss Johnson was properly escorted to her home.
Sadie was asleep by the time they arrived
at the farmhouse, so Ernest carried her right to bed. After all, the costumes
were drop-seat pajamas, meant to be useful when the play was over. KW
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