INA'S CHRISTMAS MEMORIES, DAY 15

 

It is so beautiful here. A picture everywhere you look. -- Ina

Ina sat in her living room before the blazing fire, trying to remember the Christmas of ’35. Ah, yes! Things had moved right along in 1935. Shirley did not find long-term work in Idaho Falls and so returned home in the spring. As luck would have it, she found a job in Orofino as a nurse for Dr. Robertson. The doctor and his previous nurse had trained her, and while the surgeries had been difficult for her at first, she had gotten used to it.

 

Though nothing had been said, Ina was quite certain that Shirley had missed Henry and had returned so that they might resume their courtship and plans for their eventual marriage.

Christmas had been much as usual except that Ina again had to prepare without Shirley’s able assistance. Ina chuckled to herself as she remembered how bedeviled and bemused she had been. One night before Christmas, when she found no matches on the mantel with which to light the Aladdin lamp on the library table, she went to the kitchen, took a match, lit it, and carried it carefully to the lamp in the living room. When she realized how foolish she had been to carry a lit match to the lamp, she started laughing, and to this day she still laughs when she thinks of it. I mean, she was stressed with all the packing, sorting, carding, lettering, mailing, etc., etc. – all in the name of Christmas preparations. So much to do!

 

As usual, Ina had treats on the tree for all, mostly sugared popcorn as they all voted it best for before dinner consumption. Of course, candy and nuts were served after dinner. 

Their neighbors, Mr. Boehm and the Cordells, were their guests for Christmas Eve, since they had no family nearby with which to share the occasion. Mrs. Boehm had died in 1933, and now Mr. Boehm was “a poor lonely soul.” KW