DAY 15 -- iNA AND SADIE'S EXCELLENT FARMHOUSE CHRISTMAS

We got up to about a foot of wet snow, so Dad hitched up the new team and hooked onto the car at the mailbox hill, and took them clear to the highway. He rode on the left fender hooking his right leg over the radiator cap. – Ina Dobson, January 1, 1938

Let’s give our farm family some snow. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas without snow.

Sadie awoke to the familiar aroma of bacon and coffee. And there was something else, too – the quietude that comes with . . . SNOW. In one movement she reached the window and raised the blind. There it was! – the world covered in white. Beautiful!

Of course, Aunt Shirley was worried about the trip back to town, but Sadie secretly hoped she could just stay at the farmhouse. Aunt Shirley was the greatest!

First of all, they would all go to church. Gramps had already hitching the horses to the sled. Bundled in their warmest coats, mittens, and hats, they climbed onto the sled and covered with blankets. June and Bertha also rode to the church with them, the sleigh bells ringing merrily.

The minister wasn’t scheduled to come until next Sunday, and some speculated that with this snow, he might not come even then, but of course, that’s for the future to decide. Today, Mrs. Boehm was in charge of the Sunday school lesson. She read the passage from Luke about the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks, how they were visited by the angel, and then went to Bethlehem to see the Christ child. She pointed out that we tend to give more thought to the Wisemen than to the shepherds, and she encouraged everyone to be a shepherd on the hill and keep watch in quietude. Sadie loved this lesson.

It was still snowing as they left the church. Henry said that he and Shirley should leave for town as soon as she could gather her things. Ina quickly packed some of the roast and vegetables for them, and Shirley left with Henry. Once they were back in town, she called to say they had made it safely. Everyone was relieved. KW

[As I look through my collection of vintage Christmas cards, I find many on the Wisemen and only the one on a shepherd theme, hence Mrs. Boehm's observation.]