DAY 1 -- INA AND SADIE'S EXCELLENT HOLIDAY FARMHOUSE

We'll all be children and have a lot of fun out of it. Ina Dobson, December 1932

Ina stood at the wood range in her kitchen, slicing onions and carrots into the chicken broth while Jack took the stewed meat off the bones. The soup, served with farm bread and butter, would make for several tasty suppers. Little granddaughter Sadie was sitting at the dining room table building puzzles. Soon Ina would have her put the puzzles away and set the table.

Yes, Sadie was visiting again, while her parents, Ethel and Ernest, were moving house. They would come for Christmas and then she would have to leave with them, but for now, Sadie looked forward to getting ready for a farm Christmas with her Grandma Ina.

Sadie and Ina had already made a plan and resolved that every day they would celebrate Christmas in some way. Gram didn’t decorate until Christmas Eve – or maybe the day before – but they would do other things to prepare, Gram said. She suggested that they could look through her basketful of old Christmas cards, but she wouldn’t say more. Gram was keeping secrets, and Sadie squirmed with delight just to think of how much fun it was going to be.

Just then Sadie thought of the little cubby closet in her room – the magic closet under the eaves where Christmas things would sometimes appear. She jumped off her chair and announced, “Gram, I’m going upstairs to check the magic closet before it gets too dark.” And before Ina could answer, Sadie was flying up the stairs.

“Oh dear,” Ina muttered, “I didn’t think to put anything in the closet for her to find.”

“Maybe the elves took care of it,” replied Jack.

Sure enough – Sadie was soon back carrying a little booklet entitled A Child’s Christmas Cookbook.

“Gram, Gram,” called Sadie excitedly, “look what I found – a little cookbook. Can we read it? Can we read it?”

“Wherever did this come from,” wondered Ina aloud. “Yes, we’ll look it over, but now it’s time for you to set the table.”

[A Child’s Christmas Cookbook was “published in conjunction with the exhibition, Once Upon a Christmas, at the Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, December, 1964. The exhibition and the cookbook, sponsored by the Denver Art Museum Volunteers, are dedicated to the warm, nostalgic memory of an old-fashioned Victorian Christmas.” The booklet was written by Betty Chancellor and designed by Kay Obering. The illustrations are from Thomas Nast.]