Well, we had a great Christmas, and it helps to pass the winter. People can do things like this [somethings from nothings] if they want to. No use to let everything go because of hard times. – Ina
Just as in 1937, Gramma Clauses everywhere are getting ready for Christmas – decorating, sewing, baking. The workshop is abuzz with activity.
After the noon dishes were finished and the kitchen neat and
tidy, Ina sat down at the dining room table with her Christmas cards and a box
of stationery and began to write her Christmas messages. The post office had
pressed for early holiday mailing for 40 years, but it didn’t phase Ina. She
mailed her cards and boxes within a week of Christmas so that they would be delivered
for Christmas, not before. She finished the card to Reverend and Mrs. Shandling, inviting them to dinner after the service on the 26th, and handed it to Jack to take to the mailbox.
After writing several more notes, she felt a nap coming on and moved to her rocking chair where she commenced to reminisce again about that skimpy Christmas of ’32.
“We had a very pleasant and jolly Christmas. The Boehms and
June’s were here and the little boxes of treats were just the thing. Being
detained at home, June was the last to arrive. When he hove in sight, Shirley
lit the tree, and it was so very pretty. She had the rooms decorated very
nicely, too, with boughs. After the gifts were distributed and opened, I
dragged the cask from Myrtle to the center and we unloaded it. It held two
packages of fancy prunes, two packages of fancy raisins in cellophane, a
quantity of fine nuts, and six packages of gum. Imagine the crunching and
munching and general mussing of wrappings, etc.
“The moon shone in brightly, lighting the tree and everything else – a lovely sight.”
[I have to wonder if the candlelit Christmas tree in the darkened house wasn’t wasted on that old scrooge June. I hope Ina, Bertha, and the other women wrapped their shawls over their shoulders and went outside to admire the “lovely sight.”] KW
4 comments:
You are so fortunate to have those letters to take you back! They thoroughly enjoyed what they had and it's a reminder to us all.
I knew nothing about those letters until Mother handed them to me after Daddy's passing. I wouldn't know much about life on the farm, let alone Christmas, if I didn't have those letters. It's interesting that Daddy didn't want to go home for Christmas, but he kept Ina's descriptions. Christmas is not a great time to travel, and once one becomes accustomed to the modern amenities, it's also not easy to return to the discomforts of life without them.
I would be afraid to go outside to admire a tree inside with live candles on it, lest it should go up in flame.
Well -- they wouldn't all have to go out at once. I think the men would stay inside.
As dangerous as it was, they were careful in their way. Lighting the tree was special, and they only did it for a few minutes at a time.
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