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| The Old Dobson Place, 1930s |
Today begins our annual advent story in which my paternal grandmother, Ina Dobson, prepares for Christmas. The factual setting is Gilbert, not a town but a remote agricultural community on a ridge above the Clearwater River in north central Idaho, Of course, the story is a figment of my imagination, what I call fictionalized family history. Some names have been changed to protect the author (me) from the unsuspecting.
The
year is 1930, and the place in 2020 looks eerily the same as it did then. Ina sat
at her kitchen table sipping a cup of hot coffee and nibbling a gingerbread
cookie as she planned her “skimpy” Christmas. Ina’s Christmas wasn’t about
satisfying wants and wishes but providing somethings out of her nothings for
everyone on her list. Her gifts came straight from her heart, and the process of
giving – and let’s face it, receiving – was deeply satisfying for her.
Ina
and husband Jack (nickname for Julian) began here as homesteaders 35 years ago,
and they had worked hard to build their small family farm. Their closest
neighbors were Jack’s twin brother June (short for Junius), whose wife Bertha
was Ina’s sister. Jack and Ina’s six children were grown and gone – all except
the youngest, Shirley, who was visiting her sister Myrtle in Portland for a few
weeks. She would be home on Saturday.
Jack
and Ina were cash poor and the future looked bleak, what with the Depression
and all. However, they had a good roof over their heads, kerosene for the
lamps, wood for the cookstove and the fireplace, and plenty to eat. Ina knew
that many others the world over had far less, and she expressed silent gratitude
for her blessings. She and Bertha would host their traditional Christmas Eve gathering
and invite those neighbors who would otherwise be alone. They would all be
children and have a lot of fun out of it, thought Ina to herself. She loved Christmas.
Ina’s spirits lifted as she thought of her conversation with daughter Ethel on Thanksgiving Day. Ernest’s work was taking him from home over the holidays, but Ethel and their five-year-old daughter Sadie would come to the farm for Christmas. Having a child in the house would make Christmas all the more special. Again, Ina’s heart soared. Oh, the cookies they would bake, the stories they would tell, the carols they would sing. And maybe there would be snow. What fun it would be!
Just one thing worried Ina . . . [to be continued]
4 comments:
What did they do with the cows? For milk and eating? There are quite a few in that photo. And I spy Jack in the background.
They had dairy cows. A visitor recently explained to Mike that the barn is a dairy barn. So yes, they milked and they also beefed (if that's the word for it).
Thanks for pointing out Jack. I confess that heretofore I had not seen him.
Okay for a photo, but having cows in the front yard would stink!
The yard was fenced in those days, and the cows are beyond it -- probably pretty close to the property line. And of course, it did smell.Farm families probably got used to it.
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