DAY 6 -- INA AND SADIE'S EXCELLENT FARMHOUSE CHRISTMAS

It was evening again. Ina and Sadie snuggled under the quilt in the big rocking chair, looking through Ina’s collection of old Christmas cards.

“Gram, what was your first Christmas here at the farm like,” asked Sadie.

“Well,” began Ina, “it was 40 years ago. Your mother wasn’t born yet. We shared a makeshift cabin with Uncle June and Aunt Bertha down in the gulch. We had two little girls who were dreaming of Santa, and Irl was just a baby. Since we had no chimney, no stockings were hung, but visions of sugarplums were dancing in Pearl and Myrtle’s heads nevertheless. We were prepared for a disappointment.

It was cold outside and the cabin wasn’t much protection, so we went to bed early and settled down for a long winter’s nap. I tied a kerchief over my head and Grandpa wore his cap.” (Sadie laughed at Ina’s attempt to parody “The Night Before Christmas.”)

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,

Gave the luster of midday to objects below.

“Truly, it was a beautiful moonlit night – the kind that’s full of enchantment and expectation. Your grandpa and I were just nodding off, when we were startled by footfalls coming closer and closer, crunching through the snow. The children slept on, but we four adults were suddenly awake and alert. Who – or what – could it possibly be?

“No, it wasn’t Santa, but it might as well have been. My sisters, your great-aunts Ida and Mabel, appeared at the door, carrying treats for our Christmas. They had potted two young evergreens, and then they spent the long December afternoons and evenings, making things for the little ones. They even baked cookies and cakes as best they could.

“Well, Santa never lingers in one place too long, you know, and my sisters left the gifts, wished us a merry Christmas, and went on their way home. We of the cabin settled back down under the warm covers, and I guess we were sort of spellbound. Did this visit really happen or had we imagined it. Your grandpa asked me to light the lantern, and we four adults marveled over those clever gifts again. Oh, they were just silly little things, but Ida’s thoughtfulness touched us deeply.

“Ida says the memory of that Christmas is one of her favorites. She says the way we four Dobsons looked when she and Mabel presented their trees was pay in plenty.”

Ina concluded her account by reminding Sadie that we are happiest when we make others happy. KW