OVER MY SHOULDER

We have enjoyed a ‘house full’ of company this past few days. It is always good when family and extended family can get together. Of course the ‘day after’ is always a busy day---there is a let down because the loved ones have gone back to their regular routine. We have bedding to laundry, beds to make, and a general rearrangement of furniture and items to get back into their regular place--- but we have the wonderful memories that remain after spending time with loved ones.

Our house has three bed rooms, a family room, kitchen, utility room, and a large living room-dining room, consisting of about 2,000 square feet of living space, thus there is adequate room for family gatherings. This Christmas, we spent one evening viewing slides of family gatherings when our children were quite small. As we viewed these slides, I could not help but wonder how our parents ‘put up’ with the entire clan when we all rushed home for Christmas or Thanksgiving. As with most young adults, we would spend part of our Christmas time at each of our parents home.

Each of our parents lived in a four room house about 24 feet square----Christine’s parent”s (Thelma and Brownie) house had a 10 x 24 shed roof closed in porch attached, in which there was a kitchen. However, when the ‘clan’ would gather, there would literally be ‘wall to wall’ people. Christine’s two brothers and their wives each have three children, and or course we had two boys---all of these children are within six years of each other. If you are counting that would be sixteen people to ‘overnight’ in a four room house. Like nearly everyone else in the neighborhood at that time, they had a wood or coal heating stove until later years, when they changed to a propane stove.

There was always a rush to see who could get there first, so as to ‘stake out’ the one extra bed in the spare bedroom----everyone else was relegated to the divan, cots, or the floor. Bedding every one down was quite a sight. First, everyone had to have some of Grandma’s fresh pop corn----she always had to pop several pans full of corn, and it was always the best corn that was made. Milk and cookies had to be left for Santa,---then there were the drinks, the night clothes, the good nights and deciding where everyone would sleep.

Once bedded down, it was quite a feat to find your way through the maze of bodies to get to the kitchen, or to the bathroom---which by the way was about 60 feet Northeast down a path. This path journey was quite an adventure to those of us who had progressed to “town with an indoor bathroom’---particularly with a cold North wind and snow 6 or 8 inches deep.

As in any family, there was always those little ones who needed a drink---to go the bathroom---had forgot their ‘teddy’----did not get to kiss grandma good night ---or anything to ‘put off’ having to go to bed. Then as they became older, there were the giggles, laughing, talking until the respective Dad or Mom threatened that ‘Santa’ would not come unless they went to sleep. This worked Christmas eve, but was not very effective on other evenings.

The “older folks” (Grandparents and parents) had to stay up to be available if Santa should need any help with presents or with the milk and cookies. They would catch up on what was going on with Thelma and Brownie, how each of the various families were doing, how the job was going, where Carrol would be moving to next, reminisce about ‘the old days-or childhood days’, play pitch (of course Brownie and I would always win --if they would let us play as partners), eat pop corn, drink coffee and tea until the kids were all asleep, and every one was too tired to stay up. Santa’s helpers would assist Santa and as needed each would make the trip down the path and find our way through sleeping kids to bed.

When the youngsters were quite small, there were of course the scheduled feeding that would interrupt the nights sleep,----but as they became a little older, they would sometimes sleep through the night---well almost, as grandson Kevin was an early riser, and felt that it was his life’s duty to see that the sun rose every morning----by the way he still does this. Of course once he started stirring, all of the other children would wake up and be ready to start the day.

While Grandma fixed ‘rabbit’ pancakes for the kids, Brownie and the Dads’ would do the ‘barn’ chores --- usually leaving the feeding until later in the morning. Rabbit pancakes were a tradition with the Grand kids at Grandma’s house---a tradition which Christine has carried on for any members of the family who visit us. Grand daughter’s -in-law have been known to be somewhat distressed when approaching their first breakfast at Grandma’s house having been told that they would be in for a real treat--’rabbit pancakes’---and greatly relieved when they discovered that rabbit pancakes were made of the tradition pancake scratch mix, fried in the shape of a rabbit.

After breakfast, there would be gift opening----everyone would gather in the living room around the tree and ‘patiently’ wait for the gifts to be distributed. Some years, Santa himself would appear to hand out the gifts----(Michael thought that it was strange that Santa ‘smelled’ a lot like Uncle Eldon, and left in Uncle Eldon’s pickup)-- however he did not complain, as Santa did give him gifts. Often, Thelma’s parents, (John and Susie), Aunt Velva, Uncle Eldon---who often did not get there until after Santa had been there--seems he had not gotten his chores done in time to come with everyone else), and sometimes Aunt Phyllis would spend the day ---- for dinner, gift opening and a general visiting.

The day would be spent playing with the kids playing with new toys and dolls, getting out to build a snow man, playing games in the snow, playing in the hay mow or exploring along the ‘branch’ South of the house. The adults would finish the chores, maybe some of them would go Quail hunting, playing with the kids in the snow, visiting, playing pitch, eating a big dinner, and maybe even dozing off in a chair for a while.

Sometimes, we would ‘impose’ on Thelma and Brownie for several days. We never seemed to notice or mind that we were somewhat crowded--- or that the bathroom was down a path, or that we ate in shifts, or that we slept wall to wall----- little things like that do not matter when you are with family, and loved ones. As we viewed slides this last weekend, our boys had a great time in remembering those fun things that they did during those visits. These family gathering are one of the things that create an important building block in a persons life.

I know now that we greatly disrupted Thelma and Brownie’s routine---but I also know that they loved every minute of it, ---looked forward to those gatherings, and were always sorry to see everyone leave------but they had to be relieved when the ‘mob’ left, and they could get back to their regular routine. LDC