DAY 9 -- ANOTHER SKIMPY CHRISTMAS WITH INA

Well, you see, our Christmas has cost next to nothing for what we bought was necessary anyway, but we’ve had a big time this hard times Christmas. So we’re going to have a very merry Christmas. -- Ina

Today was church day. Ina considered herself a Methodist, but many worshiped at the little church regardless of affiliation. The minister wasn't there today, so it was just Sunday school taught by several members of the congregation, which was just as good, in Sadie’s opinion, or maybe even better. Today, she was in her Great-Aunt Bertha’s class, and the lesson was the story of the Christ child's birth in Bethlehem. “I love to tell this story,” Aunt Bertha had said. “You just can’t ponder it often enough.” The congregation sang, "I love to tell the story" and "O little town of Bethlehem," as well as other hymns.

After church, they had a big mid-afternoon dinner. Gram knew how to set the fire in the cookstove so that it would burn just right and slowly cook the pot roast while they were in church. The house smelled wonderful when they arrived back home, and the kitchen was nicely warm. The meal was delicious, and they had farm bread and a nice cherry pie for dessert.

Ethel and Sadie did the dinner dishes, which took the better part of an hour. Ina sat down at the dining room table and began writing her Christmas notes and letters. Jack and Ernest read and dozed. When the dishes were done, Sadie took her tablet (remember when “tablet” meant a pad of paper?) and pencil and sat at the dining room table. She couldn’t write very fast (she was only in second grade, though she could recite times tables with the fourth graders), so soon she asked Ethel to help her make the story about the gingerbread boy into a play. Ethel was happy to oblige, and the two of them worked quietly for several hours. Tomorrow Ethel would present these ideas to Miss Johnson, the teacher. KW