DAY 23 -- INA AND SADIE'S EXCELLENT FARMHOUSE CHRISTMAS

The cabin in the 1930s -- no longer the family home

It snowed again overnight, and Ina was so grateful that only Myrtle was yet to arrive. She would leave Portland on the train bound for Lewiston after work this evening – safe enough – and their neighbor Ed would bring her on up the hill tomorrow.

Ernest questioned if Sadie should accompany them to get the Christmas tree due to the depth of the snow.

The cabin, 1920

“Oh sure!” said Jack. “Sadie can come. She’ll have to tramp through the snow, but it’s really not all that deep, nor is it all that far. She can do it, and the women will warm her up when we get back.

Mid-morning, the two men and the little girl, with Dick the Dog tagging along, set off down Stove Creek to cut the four-foot fir tree that Jack had chosen. Ethel watched them go, remembering days of old when she went with Dad to get the tree. Something in her suddenly felt a longing for those long-ago childhood days when they lived in the cramped but cozy little cabin, but she knew all the walking through the snow in the world would not bring back those days. Besides, Sadie would need her attention when they returned.

“Mama,” said Ethel as she turned from the window, a friend gave me a recipe for penuche. Would you mind if I tried to make some? I brought brown sugar, vanilla, and pecans. I’ll just need butter and milk.

“Pa-what-che?” asked Ina, who had never heard such a word.

“Penuche,” Ethel repeated. “It’s a brown sugar fudge. Ernest and I like it very much.”

Of course, it was fine with Ina. Though Ethel had an electric range in her own home, she was a master of the wood range, having been taught by her mother Ina.  

By the time the men and Sadie were back with the tree, Ethel had poured the penuche into a pan to set and Ina was preparing a light lunch. Ethel helped Sadie remove her wet snowsuit, wrapped her in a blanket, and sat her beside the stove with a cup of hot chocolate.

1952 -- the tree is much the same as 1935

After lunch, Jack set up the tree on the library table in the living room, and Sadie and Shirley decorated it while Ina and Ethel supervised. When they pronounced the decorations perfect, Ina clipped the candle holders to the branches and inserted fresh candles. Sadie asked if they could light them tonight, but no – Ina was firm. They would light the tree for the first time on Christmas Eve. (Her house, her rules.)

NOW it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.