REAL TIME: HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

December 2012 --

December 20 was Christmas Eve at the "Old Dobson Place," Gilbert, Idaho. The setting sun behind the house casts long shadows across the front yard looking eastward into a dark sky.

"All is calm, all is bright." The tree stands in quiet readiness, and once again I learned that the readiness of my heart is what's important, and that's not tied to any day.

Nellie sought the security of Hallie's lap during the opening of gifts on Christmas morning (December 21). Mike checks over something Santa left him.

Hallie and Nick gave Mike a retro phone handset compatible with the new iPhone he ordered with Hallie's assistance.

In the afternoon Mike took Nick and Nellie on a "strenuous" geocaching hike in the vicinity of Dworkshak Dam. They were "first to find" on two caches.

This morning (the day after Christmas for us), Nellie eagerly waited for Hallie and Nick at the stair door. Hallie always brings pig ears as a morning treat for Nellie, a loving gesture which earns Hallie Nellie's undying affection. KW

LITTLE GIRLS / BIG GIRLS

. . . I made a doll outfit for the rag doll Ethel is making Shirley Jean. We had great fun doing it and trying it onto Ethel’s old big doll who lives here.

Ina Dobson to her sister Mabel Montgomery, December 1933

December 1936

Now that everyone was nestled down for the night, Ina reviewed the events of the day as she was falling asleep. The family had arrived mid-afternoon. The supper of stewed chicken, biscuits and apple pie had been well-received. Afterwards Ina and Jack were content to sit “before the blazing fire” listening to Ernest converse. Now she looked forward to a private conversation with Ethel.

And -- Ina had to admit to herself that she was unprepared for the change in Shirley Jean, whose interests were no longer those of a little girl. Ina’s thoughts drifted back to Christmas 1933 – just three years ago – when Shirley Jean was but 8 years old. Ethel and Ernest couldn’t afford the store-bought doll that Shirley Jean wanted, so Ethel made a rag doll instead. Upon receiving the doll’s dimensions, Ina and Shirley flew to the scrap box to search for fabric pieces large enough for a doll dress. Ethel had left her childhood doll behind as daughters do when they move away, and they had used that doll as a model for the dress. It had been such fun! A happy memory.

No doll clothes for Shirley Jean this Christmas, though. At 11 years of age, she was now too old for dolls by her own admission. Ina was a practical person and readily approved this decision. Still, she would miss having the little girl to do for, and gifts for adolescents were always difficult.

[The record doesn’t show what Ina gave Shirley Jean that Christmas.]

December 2012 (real time)

Some things don’t change. Through the ages, mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts have found a satisfying creative outlet through sewing for a little girl’s doll.

As I announced earlier, this Christmas I am becoming a grandmother to an American Girl doll. I feel a little guilty that the doll is someone else’s gift – like I’m having fun on someone else’s dollar -- but since our daughter-in-law requested that I make clothes, I know I’m not intruding on the gift. And of course, I’m totally ready with patterns and fabric.  

Making doll clothes can be frustrating because of the narrow seam allowances and tight corners, but if one gets used to it, it is “great fun,” as Ina puts it. I make my fabric selections from remnant bins, not because it’s a savings (it’s not) but because it narrows the fabric field and keeps my fabric buying in check. I love to blend the fabrics to come up with combinations that are uniquely my own. Once I get started the outfits are plain or embellished according to my whim.

Naturally, my own American Girl “Kit,” whom I named “Shirley Anne, American Farm Girl,” was pleased to model the new pajamas and crocheted Santa hat before they were mailed off as Emmy’s Christmas gift. KW

"HERE THEY ARE!"

5:30 a.m. “Ethel and Shirley Jean will be here today,” thought Ina excitedly as she came awake. Being a phlegmatic sort, Ina kept her excitement in check, and she knew that Jack was doing the same. She didn’t believe in letting emotions show.

It was still dark. Ina waited in bed until she heard Jack stoking the fire in the old cook stove in the kitchen. When he left for the barn to do the chores, she took the clothes she had laid out the night before and went to the kitchen to dress in warmth by the stove.

The breeze of the night before had become a full-blown windstorm in the wee hours of the morning. As wonderful as it was to have this foursquare farmhouse, it was drafty for lack of insulation, and the wind made the house all that much colder. Ina pulled on her heaviest stockings and finished dressing by donning her old wool sweater.

Then, as she had for the last 45 years, she made a hearty breakfast, except that now she had to be careful about her weight. She fixed oatmeal and toast of “light bread” for herself, but Jack would have four slices of bacon, two eggs, two slices of toast with “Himalayan” or service berry jelly, and thick cream and sugar for his coffee – thank you very much! He had no difficulty keeping his weight down. In fact, she admitted to herself that he really needed the calories that were a problem for her.

The house was in readiness for company. Ina was a meticulous housekeeper, handing on or tossing out those things that would clutter. She dusted and mopped routinely, but those chores might be done less often in winter when the surrounding fields were damp and generated less dust. Good thing, too, because with short days she couldn’t do what she considered a full day’s work. Of course, the rain and snow would make the yard muddy if temperatures were above freezing, but Jack was careful to enter the utility room by the outside door and trade his muddy boots for house shoes. It was a great feature of this house. Yes, Ina thought, she had trained Jack and the children well, and it had paid off, too.

Ina had cleaned the kitchen after the noon meal and was just getting ready to make an apple pie when she heard Jack’s call – “Here they are!” The old car lumbered through the east gate and into the farmyard. KW 

[The setting is 1936 but the photos are 2012. Change is subtle over the years and the colors and effects that we observe today are much the same as Ina observed when she lived here.]

HOLIDAY FLEXIBILITY

December 1936

The only modern convenience in Ina’s home was the handsome wooden telephone on the wall in the dining room – the kind with the handle you cranked to ring central. I say “modern” but it was now obsolete when one considered the models used in the cities with their fancy dials and handsets. In the outlying rural areas, though, these wooden boxes on “party lines” were still in service [and would remain so at Gilbert for another 20 years].

As Ina was tidying the kitchen, she recognized their ring – one long and two shorts – and hurried to answer the telephone. It was probably just Bertha wanting to visit. She would have to tell her she didn’t have time. But no –it was Ethel calling from Ernest’s sister’s home in Spokane. She said they would arrive earlier than expected “to enjoy the holiday preparations.” In a way it was wonderful news. In another – well, Ina would have to think things through, re-plan, and re-write her lists. Ina was nearly enveloped in panic when it occurred to her that maybe some things wouldn’t get done. Never mind, she told herself. In the end, it wouldn’t matter.

Baking could be done during the visit. Yes, now that her pork cake was in the larder, other baking could be put off. However, the upstairs must be opened and warmed at once and tomorrow she would make the beds, dust and mop. Opening the stair door, Ina felt the rush of cold air. She stoked up the wood heater in the dining room, then went upstairs to light a fire in the wood heater in the large bedroom. Suddenly the house seemed warmer, brighter, alive with expectation, and Ina knew it had as much to do with the anticipated family visit as with the heat from the stoves.

She would finish writing her cards today, Ina decided, and tomorrow she would pack boxes for mailing. She had mailed Pearl’s to northern Alberta last week, but she still had the others to ship -- Earle’s to Idaho Falls, Myrtle’s to Portland, Vance’s to Raymond, and one to her sisters in Drain.

Yes, everything would work out. Besides, her daughter Ethel was a cheerful, capable worker and would help wherever needed. But of course, Ina expected to be mistress of her home, especially the kitchen. KW

CHRISTMAS REMINISCENCE

. . . the way you four Dobsons looked when we presented our trees was pay in plenty. Ida Jane Patchen, 1922

December 1936

Together with her daily chores, baking pork cake had been enough for one day. Ina was careful to pace herself. She could over-do and have an attack of “nerves.” She had learned to do less so that she might enjoy more.

As she rested before the fire this evening, Ina picked up the Good Housekeeping magazine once again. She liked to try new recipes, so she thought she might bake one of the cookie recipes tomorrow. However much the virtues of an electric mixer might be extolled, Ina knew she could mix any recipe with hand tools just as she always had. But a decision as to the recipe would have to wait, for she was too tired to read.

 

Instead, Ina closed her eyes and began to reminisce about the first Christmas here at Gilbert in 1896. The two Dobson families lived together in the very small original cabin in the gulch. Ina remembered it as a difficult time – living in the rough cabin with little ones. Her Earle and Bertha’s Ralph were just babies and the girls were two and four. But it was lovely to be working for themselves with the potential of owning their own farm and home. At that time, Pa and Ma and the Patchen family [her sister Ida] lived within a mile of them. They were all working hard but so happy to be together.

Anyway, Christmas was coming, and Ina just didn’t have much to do with or any reason to do it. It was winter and her living circumstances were little better than camping. She had her dreams, though, and she dreamt of a Christmas in the future when she might prepare a holiday for her family in a warm house with a floor. But sister Ida Jane, ever clever and capable, had secretly stepped up to the problem. Ina remembered what Idy had written back in ’22:

But, to come back to Christmas again – I think the best time I ever had working for that especial time was that very first Christmas “on the hill” [Gilbert / Russell Ridge] when those little evergreens inspired me to attempt another something out of nothing and I enlisted Mabel’s interests and we put in all those long, long afternoons and evenings that otherwise would have hung heavy on our hands into doing things for the little folks and you remember how it surprised you and Bee [Bertha] and how after we had come and gone tramping through the snow. Jack had you light the lamp again and together you inspected our handiwork. I think there were some funny-shaped eats in there, too, weren’t there? Well, anyway, it pleased all the biddies and the way you four Dobsons looked when we presented our trees was pay in plenty. And last but not least, you kept all those old Christmas things from the “gulch” time for some time. I want to see them.

Ina cherished this wonderful memory. Tonight she would rest. Tomorrow would be another busy day. KW 

[Doubtless one of Ina's children drew and colored the picture of the fireplace as a Christmas gift. 

The ad for a Hamilton Beach mixer is from the December 1936 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. 

The photo is of M. L. Dickson and his family at his home in Idaho. The quality is very poor, but because it's 110 years old it's precious. I can just make out the family (l to r): Bertha Dobson, Ida Patchen, Lucy and Lafe Dickson, our Ina, and the little sister, Mabel. Seated in front are Ben and Frank Dickson. 

The cabin is another old family picture, but I'm not sure it was the Dobson cabin. It might have been Ben Dickson's. But one-room rustic cabins look very similar.]