ANOTHER SKIMPY CHRISTMAS -- DAY 23

The eve of Christmas Eve was upon our farm family, and it was another busy day. They finally settled down to making those gingerbread cookies from a new recipe Ina found. She rolled out the cookie dough and allowed Sadie to cut the gingerbread men and other shapes. As always, such activities were teaching occasions. The gingerbread men had to be cut so that none of the dough was wasted. Sadie secretly thought that it would be more fun if she could press the cookie cutter the way she wanted, but Ina was not a force to be reckoned with. It was best to do it Ina’s way.

While Ina worked with Sadie, Ethel made penuche (brown sugar fudge). That turned out well and would be a welcome addition to the goodies at the party. By the time they finished, it was mid-afternoon, and Ina turned from baking cookies to fixing supper.

In the evening, Jack brought out his old accordion and began to play Christmas carols. They all sang the familiar tunes, but Ethel and Sadie sang a duet when Jack played “Silent Night” – Sadie the melody and Ethel the harmony. Ina thought it so beautiful that it brought tears to her eyes.

Ethel and her "real" daughter, Shirley Jean

Tomorrow would be the busiest day of the year for the womenfolk as they prepared for the Christmas party, including decorating the house. 

[I remember Aunt Ethel harmonizing with me when I was a very little girl.]

ANOTHER SKIMPY CHRISTMAS -- DAY 22

 I almost wept when I saw the lovely tapers, silver table ornament and luscious holly! Those were the most beautiful holly I’ve ever seen, it seems to me – so full of berries, and how beautifully your blue boxes looked in among the silver sprays. It was a veritable treasure chest. -- Ethel Dobson Robinson, January 1937

Wouldn’t you know it! Tuesday was such a busy day that it slipped by without a post. The ironing, which was done in the kitchen because the irons were heated on the stove, had to be finished before they could cook or bake. Shirley ironed while Ethel and Ina did the breakfast dishes. Sadie was restless, so they sent her to the barn with Grandpa Jack.

There was always a stock pot of water heating on the wood range. As soon as some was used, it was filled again from the barrel on the porch. Water had to be hauled from a spring in the canyon. Jack would see to that today so that there would be plenty on hand for the Christmas celebration. A full kettle of water also remained on the stove in winter, and that was used to make tea or as an auxiliary to the water from the stock pot.

After lunch, Aunt Bertha telephoned and invited Ethel and Sadie to come for a visit. Ina had planned to bake cut-out gingerbread cookies, but she and Ethel thought it best that she accept Bertha's invitation so as to prevent hurting her feelings. To Sadie’s delight, Aunt Bertha served delicious frosted cookies and apple juice.

Jack brought more Christmas cards from the mailbox as well as a large package from Vance containing holly with beautiful red berries from the Washington coast, bright red candles, and a swag for the front door.

ANOTHER SKIMPY CHRISTMAS -- DAY 21

It’s the Monday before Christmas – wash day. The family followed through with this routine so that the laundry would be mostly out of the way for the holiday celebration. Ethel was good help and glad for Sadie to see how laundry was done on the farm. Electrification was changing the world, and Ethel knew that this way of life would disappear in Sadie’s lifetime.

The homemade gifts were all finished and mostly mailed. Shirley just had to add a little embroidery to some of the dress protectors she was making for those here at home. She would have to sneak off somehow to finish them. Perhaps Ethel could be persuaded to visit Aunt Bertha some afternoon soon. But not today. Today was washday at every household. One knew better than to call.

Sadie was a delight and the apple of her grandparents’ eyes. Oh, they didn’t spoil her. The rules of old-fashioned child-rearing were too engrained for that. But – the soft look of love in their eyes said it all, especially when Sadie was being good. And with Christmas coming, she was being as good as a five-year-old can be when Christmas is so near.

Sadie had visited the farm often in infancy until Ernest and Ethel moved away, but she didn’t remember those days, so this was her first experience at the farm, and she loved it. The only problem was that going outside or to the barn required a full snowsuit, so she couldn’t go on a whim.

After the noon meal, Aunt Shirley helped her “suit up” and they went out to make a snowman. It was just a little one, about Sadie’s height. They found gravel for eyes, and Ina provided a carrot for the nose.  They picked red berries off a bush at the pond for the mouth. Grandpa Jack found an old worn-out cap in the barn that he allowed them to put on the snowman’s head. They had lots of fun with Mr. Snowman, and there were no other kiddies to knock him down.

And then, Grandpa Jack saddled a horse and he and Sadie rode out to the mailbox. Today they had packages as well as Christmas cards. Jack tied the packages onto the saddle and tucked the cards into his jacket. Before they arrived at the farmhouse, Sadie was asleep.

[In reality, we have no snow here. It was actually a warm day – in the 50s. After all Mike's work on the snow plow, it looks like we'll have a “black Christmas.” This evening, Mike and I went out to look at Jupiter and Saturn in close proximity in the southwestern sky.]