Christmas on the Circle C

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Andi’s Journal

December 1882, five months after the events in Thick as Thieves

Right after Thanksgiving (President Lincoln proclaimed the fourth Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving back in 1863), Mother gets after the boys to go up in the mountains and find some fir branches to decorate the house. and to cut down a tree, of course. I always wanted to go along, but I was never big enough. 
I finally got to go along when I turned nine back in 1877, and that was a Christmas tree adventure I never want again . . . unless I’m much, much older. (Which I am now at age fourteen.) A freak snowstorm came up back then, and Justin, Chad, Mitch, and I were stranded overnight. It was so cold! The tree we went after stayed behind, but Mitch found another. It was not as beautiful as the one I picked out, but once we loaded it down with all the decorations, nobody could tell some of the branches were broken and the top was cut off.

Last year and this year, I went with the boys and not one scary thing happened. Chad, Mitch, and I went up into the mountains, chopped down a beautiful red fir, and came home, all in the same day. It wasn’t as tall as I’d like, but it was awfully pretty, so I agreed to go along with it (like, I had a choice?).

Anyway, Chad and Mitch also always bring home enough branches to make the whole house smell like a pine forest, even though the ranch house is in the valley, where it hardly ever snows. See how beautifully we decorate Mother’s fancy parlor?

For the next two weeks, Mother, Luisa, Nila, Melinda, and I make all kinds of Christmas goodies. Sometimes Aunt Rebecca comes to help. I’ve finally gotten used to that and I just try to stay out of her way.

We visited Justin and Lucy’s small house in town this December, after they were married in September 1882. Lucy showed off their itsy-bitsy Christmas tree. It sat up on a table in their little sitting room. It was fun to visit and see what they did to the house to decorate it, but honestly, our family could never all fit inside their parlor, so I’m glad big brother and Lucy were invited out to the ranch for Christmas day.

We usually string popcorn and cranberries on Christmas Eve day and add these treats to the tree. Nila cooks hard sugar cookies that we decorate and hang from ribbons. Mother brings out all the fine, glass ornaments from long ago. And the branches have candles on them, but we have to watch to make sure they don’t set the tree on fire. Underneath are the presents. 

Later, on Christmas Eve, we gather around the piano (that I can’t play), and Melinda plays Christmas carols and we all sing. Then we attend Christmas service at church much later on Christmas Eve. That is the best time . . . the whole church is lit up with hundreds of candles and everybody is singing. We all sound like the angels in Luke 2 when they gave glory to God about the newborn King!

By the time we get back to the ranch, it’s close to midnight. We always go to bed that night with great anticipation for the Christmas Day festivities. The next morning is Christmas! Mother likes to get all fancy on Christmas Day. Nila and Luisa outdo themselves polishing the silver and setting the table. Many families have goose for dinner and plum pudding. But we’re all-American and have turkey. We also celebrate with our Mexican ranch hands and their families. Tamales are a traditional Christmas food, and Luisa and Nila make the best tamales north of the border!

What do you all do for the Christmas holidays?