Christmas Eve Day
What a busy day this always was! There was so much to be done that it didn't seem as if we'd ever get through with everything. The house had to be cleaned, baking finished, and clothes all in order, because the next day was Christmas.
The most important job of all was to get the tree and have it all ready for Santa Claus to trim at night after we were all in bed. The children were not to see the tree trimmed until Christmas morning. Getting the tree was no small job for Dad, as the trees in our woods that were suitable for Christmas trees were getting more and more scarce every year.
Mother was never satisfied with less than a perfect tree. Since there were no perfect trees in the woods, ours had to be made perfect. Dad brought extra branches along, and holes had to be bored in the trunk of the tree where these could be inserted. Often as many as six or seven branches had to be added before Mother was happy with the tree. This took a good deal of cutting, whittling, and boring. After a good deal of arguing and sputtering, the tree was finally satisfactory and ready for the trimming.
Since the Children's Christmas Service was held in church on Christmas Eve, preparations had to be made for that too. It would be very cold riding for four miles in the horse drawn sleigh on a cold winter evening. Therefore, late in the afternoon, bricks were heated in the oven of the wood-burning stove. They would be placed in strategic places by our feet, and would help keep us warm on the way as we huddled under a wool quilt. This, together with straw spread in the bottom of the box, covered by a horse blanket, would make for a fairly comfortable ride.
After arriving at the church, Dad would put the horses in the horse barn, while we children would assemble in the school building. Here we would line up in readiness for our program. As our church was small and there was no room to put our coats, we had to leave them in the school, which was a considerable distance from the church. We would then walk single file from the school to the church without our coats, shivering all the way, as many times it was a cold, blustery night.
When the service was finally over, Dad hitched up the impatient horses and we were ready for the long, cold ride home. Our bricks were no longer warm by this time, and the ride home was often not too pleasant. If our feet got too cold, we would have to get out of the sleigh and run along behind it until we got warmed up again.
It had been a long day, so we were tired and ready for bed. However, "Santa" still had all the work of trimming the tree after we were all asleep. It was not always easy to get to sleep after all the excitement, and one night some of us decided to peek through the floor register, and watch "Santa" as he trimmed the tree. To our surprise, Mother and Dad were doing the trimming. Sometime later, we relieved them of their job at this late hour, as by then we all had discovered who Santa Claus really was.
Although the tree got dry very fast because of the bored in branches, Mother always kept it up until January 13, which is my birthday. I have kept up this custom all these years, even though I no longer bore branches into my tree. I sometimes have a strange feeling about this, because the custom has changed by now. Trees in our neighborhood are trimmed and up a week or two before Christmas, and are taken down right after Christmas or New Year's Day. I have, however, not succumbed to the new custom, but do not always turn on the lights until January 13, after which date my tree goes out.