The Christmas Snows

The Christmas Snows

As I look back into my life as a child on the old farm, in my minds eye, I can see bits and pieces of our way of life.  The old run-down log house with the extension on the front; the rusty looking tin roof over the kitchen. The old roof and washed out siding made the old place look....well, OLD!  

The Arkansas winters had a beauty that's hard for a kid to describe. The soft, fluffy snows were the best I can remember. I loved the way they covered the deep grass in the pasture. It's like a huge fluffy blanket was carefully laid on top of the drooping grass and resembling small, fluffy clouds!  I liked the way the snow fell from the sky on a calm, windless day. The large, fluffy snowflakes seemed to stick together with others as they slowly dropped from the sky. I loved the way the snow stacked up on the old fence posts, giving them a white top hat.  Tree branches and bushes would droop down as it snowed, bending ever lower under the growing weight of winter's snow. 

Without indoor plumbing, it was always hard to trudge through the fresh snow to the outhouse next to the barn and sit down on that cold, frosty seat!  It didn't take us long to do our duty and get back o the house!

We always had morning chores to do, no matter if it snowed, or not. The chickens, pigs and cows had to be fed and watered.  We milked the cows before sending them out to pasture, or letting them lounge around inside the dry barn. The fresh snow around the barn was welcome because it covered up all the yuck and muck produced by the cows. It made great fertilizer but still was no fun to step in!  The fresh blanket of snow covered the yucky mess and made you feel like you could walk on it!  But we KNEW better!

A few days before Christmas, and after chores and a hot breakfast, we bundled up and went out searching for the perfect Christmas Tree, oftentimes in the snow. Our sister, Mary, would usually stay indoors with Mom, fixing goodies for us to eat; baking pies, cakes, cookies, fudge and peanut brittle and all kinds of stuff!  Mary was 8 years older than me and I can't remember much interaction I had with her. 

The three of us boys, Arnold, me and Pat, bundled up in boots, warm hats, mittens and coats, headed out on the 360 acres looking for a Cedar Tree, just right to set up in one corner of the living room. We usually knew where to go because we began scouting the land for a Christmas Tree long before Thanksgiving arrived!

Arnold was the older brother; 6 years older than me, and 8 years older than Pat!  Charlie came along two years after Pat and accompanied us on tree excursions when he was 4 or 5. If the ground was snow covered,we would take turns dragging the tree back to the house. Sometimes it took two of us pulling together just to get it moving. 

We couldn't wait until Arnold cut some boards to make a cross and nail it to the bottom of the tree so it could stand upright in the corner. Mom would bring out decorations to trim the tree; colored lights, garland, foil icicles, shiny balls, an assortment of trinkets and a bright, shiny, silver star for the very top. 

Mom would pop corn to use for more garland. She would fix us up with a needle and long piece of thread to sew the popped popcorn together, making a garland that would later serve as a bird treat. We would hang it on the tree, drooping a little every few inches, as resembling heavy snows drooping Pine branches. At night, in the dark, with the colored lights on, our tree looked like something in a fairy tale book!  It was always the perfect tree!  

On Christmas morning, very early, still dark outside, we came into the living room and saw the brightly lit Christmas Tree inviting us to come closer. Presents filled the floor beneath the tree; there were always hidden presents within the branches, some hard to find....but we managed!  Leaning against one wall would be bags of Oranges and Apples. Sometimes, our Grandpa Hunter would send us a large toe sack full of English Walnuts from the farm he worked on in California. It would be leaning up against the wall, ready to sample!  

Mom and Dad slept in their bed in the other corner in the living room. We would carefully make enough noise in our mostly uncontrollable excitement to wake them up and tell them that Santa Claus had come!  (As if they didn't know). We always checked to see if Santa had found the cookies and milk we left for On the table for him. Those Christmas years that we had completely forgotten to leave cookies and milk for him were the saddest times of all. We just KNEW that we were causing Santa Claus to starve!

What was my favorite ever Christmas present??  The Red Ryder Daisy BB gun, of course!!  

...by Mike Thomas