A CHRISTMAS EVE STORY

Grandma with her "feather tree".

One of my favourite Christmas Eve stories is taken from "The Frontiersmen" published in 1967.  It is a story of my grandparents, Hans and Bertha Haaland, and their eight children:  Morris, John, Camilla, Marie, Helma, Herb, Hulda (my mother) and Ruth.

" During the hungry thirties a Christmas Eve will always be remembered, especially by the younger members of the family.  Dad had warned us  that there would be no money for treats, not even lutefisk. Christmas without lutefisk, lefse, oranges, nuts and candy didn't seem right although we knew that this was not the reason to celebrate this event when the birth of Christ brought joy to all the world, rich or poor.  Even so, we were disappointed.

The morning of Christmas Eve was a lovely day.  Just after breakfast there was a familiar knock on the door.  It was Morris, who lived nearby, bringing our mail.  Dad opened a letter containing an unexpected cheque of $33.00, which seemed quite a sum.  It wasn't long until we had our grocery list ready and Dad and Herb were on the way to town in the Model T.  They were to stop at the Moen's and Olson's, the married sisters, to invite them for supper.  Morris hurried home to tell the good news to his wife and little son.

What a busy household we were that day!  Mother made lefse, we helped her bake it on top of the "Fireco" range.  John kalsomined the rooms.  How fresh they looked in their coat of pale green.   We scrubbed the wooden floors and put clean braided rugs here and there.  It was fun to clean that day!  The tea-tinted lace curtains didn't look so bad either, nor the patchwork quilts on the beds.  Someday we'd get bedspreads.

The little artificial tree was trimmed with home-made ornaments and candles. (Sandra has that tree in her home and it will be on display this Christmas Eve.  She remembers trimming the tree for Grandma Haaland)  The Coleman gasoline lamp provided a bright light and the little kerosene lamp lit up the bedroom for this special occasion.

Mother didn't have a gift for Helma so we stamped a lunch cloth with roses in each corner.  With colourful threads to embroider it, we wrapped the last gift. Every girl was taught to sew as soon as she could hold a needle.  Brown wrapping paper decorated with cut-outs was used when we were out of fancy paper.

Dad didn't waste much time in town that day, he never did for that matter, and brought home every item on the list and extra things as well.  What $33.00 didn't buy in those days!

The married sisters and their families arrived.  How we enjoyed the little nieces and nephews as we piled gifts on the kitchen couch.

A happy family sat down to supper around the big round oak table.  Never had lefse and lutefisk tasted so good!  When the Christmas story had been read and the carols sung, we opened our gifts and what fun it was.

There was a warm sweater for Mother, colourful aprons for the girls, peanut dolls in gay print dresses, home-made candies and gifts for everyone, a cushion for Dad made of bright velvet scraps.  It didn't even matter if we spilled nut shells on the floor that evening!  We didn't realize that this happy evening would be the last Christmas Eve that we would all spend together."

Sandra with the "feather tree".