Christmas 1932, memoir excerpt

The continuation of Alice Anderson's remembrance of a Christmas long past.

Christmas 1932, Part 3

In between all of the preparations, we practiced our Christmas recitations for the Sunday school program at the Swedish Mission church in town. Our clothes for that occasion were new, though often they were made over from the city cousins’ castoffs. New shoes were a must. The money for them came from the proceeds from the bean patch behind the barn.

So the month’s preparations continued. No mention was made about company for Christmas Eve. Then one Saturday morning at the breakfast table, the subject was brought up.

“This year we can’t go to Seattle at Christmas, and they aren’t able to come here, so Papa and I have decided to invite some of the neighbors.” Mama was interrupted by her inquisitive children. “Who?” Some would be out of the question. Imagine inviting the Russian family with all those kids, or some of the others who wouldn’t think of eating lutefisk.

“We’re going to ask the old folks Torgersons, and Rodney Stevens, and Jimmy Trotter.” Mama spoke definitely and Papa concurred. Not a kid among them! What kind of a Christmas Eve was this going to be!

“You can walk with Papa this morning to invite them.” This was Mama’s last word as we got ready to call on our neighbors.

Comment from the coach: Here, Alice returns to the problem—a Christmas her family must spend apart from loved ones—and presents the solution…which in turn presents a new problem, at least for young Alice. A Christmas without kids! Again, the author doesn’t dwell on her emotional reaction to this turn of events but allows her spare retelling to capture the conflict.