If
Ina could have peered into the future from the vantage point of 1937 and seen
me in her living room in 1952, she would have been more than surprised.
In
1952, members of Ina’s extended family gathered at her farmhouse for a
Christmas reunion. The group included Aunt Lynn; Aunt Ethel, Shirley Jean and
her husband Dale, and their daughter Patty; Vance and Dorothy (my parents) and
me. Besides pleasing Ina (Do you think Ina looks pleased?), I’m sure they
wanted the little girls to experience an old-fashioned farmhouse “Christmas
with Ina.”
I suppose they lit the candles on the tree, but I don’t remember. I do remember
that the room was dark and shadowy, as it is when a kerosene lantern is the
light source. My gift was a doll with yellow hair that I promptly named “Corny,”
and a cardboard book of animal pictures with squeakers between the pages. It
was supposed to teach me animal sounds, but all the animals sounded alike, and
I knew that wasn’t right.
So,
for just being three years old, I remember a little about the occasion, as I’m
sure my parents hoped I would, and it’s a good memory.
The
photo here is a four-generation picture that my dad took at that gathering.
Patty Johnson sits on the floor surrounded by her grandmother, Ethel Dobson
Robinson; her mother, Shirley Jean Robinson Johnson; and her great-grandmother,
Ina Dickson Dobson. Shirley Jean and I are cousins, though she was a generation
older. I submitted this photo to the Lewiston Tribune’s “Blast from the Past”
and was told it would be published Christmas Day.
"Happy
Christmas to all, and to all a Goodnight!”
2 comments:
The dark days of winter would have been especially hard if all you had was candle and kerosene lamp light. I think I would have slept the months away!
Ina makes a few remarks to indicate the challenge of the short days. She said that she had to hurry to do all the little things that make the evening comfortable while she still had light. And she said that her niece came to help with the housework so that she could sew while she had daylight. And she said that she and Jack found much to keep them busy on the short days.
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