DAY 3 – INA AND SADIE’S EXCELLENT FARMHOUSE CHRISTMAS

The dog's collar says, "Watch."

In the evening, Ina and Sadie settled into the big blue rocking chair, snuggling together under one of Ina’s warm crazy quilts to read the little cookbook by the light of the Aladdin lamp. The pictures were delightful. Since they were drawn in the latter decades of the 19^th century, the images of the children and their toys reminded Ina of the years when she was a young mother.

“Santa’s Snack,” read little Sadie aloud from the cookbook. (Notice that Ina took advantage of Sadie’s interest in the cookbook to have her practice her reading skills.) “Make a sturdy sandwich of rye bread, cheese and ham, or whatever Mother has in the house,” continued Sadie.

“Gram, do we have any rye bread?” asked Sadie.

“No,” replied Ina, “only my nice farm bread.” Ina silently resolved that somehow she would have to prevent Sadie from making a sandwich for Santa on Christmas Eve. She hoped, as mothers and grandmothers often do, that the child would just forget about it.

“On a cold winter’s night, hot tea or mulled cider tastes good.” Sadie read on slowly as first-graders do. “Heat, but do not boil, apple juice or cider. Pour it in a mug. Add a clove and a cin . . . – and a cin . . .”

“cinnamon,” prompted Ina.

“cinnamon stick. Christmas cookies for dessert.”

And then, at the bottom of the page, the final sentence: “Maybe you’d better make two sandwiches.”

The NERVE of Santa to suggest two sandwiches, thought Ina to herself. Suspecting that Santa himself had been responsible for that suggestion, she was speechless. She knew for a fact that Mrs. Claus always packed a sandwich for his Christmas Eve flight, AND he enjoyed much generosity as he moved from house to house. Oh! He might tell you that he didn’t have time to eat, but after all, time meant nothing to Santa.  

As Ina was lost in thought, so, too, was Sadie. “Gram,” she said at last, “may I make sandwiches for Santa before I go to bed on Christmas Eve?”

Ina was a loving grandmother but also stern and not one to play to a child’s whim when it was out of line. “No,” she replied a little more emphatically than she really meant to. “The tradition in our family is to set out cookies and milk.”

Two sandwiches indeed! Hmmmph! 

From behind his newspaper, Jack stifled a laugh under a cough. KW