Memory Lane Country Christmas
Written by : Jeffrey R Hilton
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Christmas day and New years day on the farm was always so fun, festive and the biggest social even of the year for our family. It was rare that we ever had a green Christmas.
My grandparents had a long rectangular room about 40 ft X 10 as somewhat seen in the old picture below. All along the middle of the room there were tables from one end to the other of the room with 30 chairs around it and every one was filled at Christmas and New Years.
When the table cloths were on, it looked like one long table. Fancy trays and dishes lined the table laden ed with baking, sweets,fruit and nuts. A white marble fireplace (pictured) stood centered on the wall on one side of the room and opposite there sat an upright piano that my grandmother would play sometimes.I would often play it when no one was around.
A big window stood at one end of the room and there was a second window on the opposite wall. At this end of the room the Christmas tree was always placed in the corner between the two windows. After everyone arrived the tree was piled so high with gifts all around it, that only the top 2 feet were visible,and this sight always got me excited at the prospect of how many were for me and what they might be.
People poured onto the farm from all over Ontario.At least one or two snowmobiles showed up and were used for the rest of the day to ride through the fields surrounding the farm. It was usually a matter of patience to get a ride as everyone wanted one it seemed.
Food was brought in by everyone and there was already lots there.There was always 3 to 4 turkeys cooked. Cranberries.A succulent moose roast and sometimes deer.
A few hams.Way more vegetables than I ever wanted to see at once, including the dreaded turnip that I so hated.
Every kind of pie imaginable. Dressing to die for and one of my Aunts Ambrosia's and boxes of chocolates flying around.
The older men squared off against each other in grandmothers parlor for poker games.All the women helped in the kitchen.
Us younger kids played games or sat in the library by the other fireplace and fired up grandpa's old Victrola with a few 78 rpm records and had a laugh at how stupid we thought the music sounded.
When everyone had eaten, the men were back from a few more hands of poker and the ladies finished ganging up on the momentous task of dish-washing,Everyone converged on the dining hall again. All but one older relative who would don the Santa suit and sneak outside with his sack and a few gifts from the tree in it.
The youngsters would start to get excited as parents reported that it was possible that Santa had just been spotted looking for the farm and would be along shortly. Pretty soon he would tap on a window from outside and peer in causing more excitement.
He would come in and start calling names and you would go and get the present and have a little chat with Santa.This was largely well received by the children.
When I acquired a little sister later on, she would start screaming when her name was called and hid under the table as there was no way she was going near that guy in the weird looking suit and beard.
Grandpa always seemed to get bottles of sherry ,port, wine, whiskey or brandy. This puzzled me as I had never seen my Grandpa take more than a shot, until I went into his room one day and discovered he had a side table in there that looked like a well stocked bar,mostly unopened bottles.this is not to mention the twenty boxes of chocolates in there.
The party lasted usually until 11:30 pm before the last person left.
The Grandparents I speak of here were Swedish immigrants that adopted my father when he was three years old after his real mother died leaving his father with 6 kids just down the road from the farm. This even though they had 12 children of their own. That is the kind of people they were, Olaf and Ruby. There was a lot of history on that farm long before I was born in 1958.
I always remember growing up there with fondness and held a reverence for the farm and the land it was on.
As time passed and people to, things changed and the farm wound down like an old tired machine.
Surviving relatives there sold off all but a small lot and built a new house at the side road and the old house was torn down at approximately 135 years old.
I went back a few years ago and walked the property locating where the house stood and tried to find some kind of souvenir to take home but found none.It almost felt sad to see a few factories encroached on what used to be our fields and the one time well manicured lawns and grounds looked like a jungle had taken over.The barn and all outbuildings were gone. This land couldn't be developed as it was still in probate,which was why it stood in this state.
Memories flooded back to me as I stood there in the enveloping silence.I had paid my respects.
I do have many fond memories though and I'm grateful I got to live that kind of life until I was 15.
Do have a good day and a good Christmas my friends. Remember that family is the heart of Christmas.
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Do Have A Good Day.
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Jeffrey R Hilton
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