—Lancaster Farmin;
92
A farm
By JERRY WEBB
University of Delaware
Christmas on the farm is
something a farm boy never
forgets. He may be years
and miles away from those
boyhood remembrances,
but the first snow of
December or the sound of
the first Christmas carol will
take him back in time to a
special Christmas-or maybe
it’s a lot of Christmases all
merged into one great
Yulebde that can be relived
with each new season.
An old memory gets a little
fuzzy but Christmas on the
farm seemed bigger and
better than those since.
Perhaps it’s the open space
that is part of rural living
that adds a special dimen
sion to Christmas. There’s
room and time to reflect on
its true meaning without the
harshness of neon Ughts, city
traffic, or barling com
mercialism.
A walk to the top of a hill
on a snowy night before
Christinas can leave a
Acorn man graduated
STEVENS POINT, Wis. -
Robert Guhl, Pennsylvania
district manager for Acom
Automated Agri-Systems
recently completed four
days of training m the
company’s service school,
here, according to a com
pany news spokesman.
Guhl, who makes his home
at 123 Wellington Road,
Lancaster, reports that the
training sessions mcluded
the actual assembly of
Acorn products.
The training program
covers all aspects of the
installation and main
tenance of the Acom line of
bam equipment, ventilation
systems, silo unloaders,
manure and feed handling
systems.
In addition to routine
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boy never forgets Christmas on the farm
memory that will last a
small boy a lifetime. As you
look down at the farmstead,
you see the Christmas tree
lights in the window, smell
the wood smoke from the
fireplace and feel the
quietness of a snow-covered
countryside. Maybe a cow is
mooing in the stable and far
away you hear a dog howl,
and for miles m any direc
tion all you see are snowy
fields, an occasional light
from a neighboring farm
house, a sky full of stars and
a blue-white moon with a
strange glowing mg around
it. You start to feel what that
first Christmas must have
been like.
Fireplace seemed bigger
back then, and perhaps they
were. The Christmas tree
cut from the farm woodlot
and dragged to the house
behind a horse-seemed
bigger also, and maybe it
was. That old farm house
had 10 to 12 feet ceilings and
the rooms were large enough
for a big tree. Even then, the
tree seemed to fill half the
maintenance, preventive
maintenance and trouble
shooting were covered in
depth.
Meeting set
HUMMELSTOWN - The
January meeting of the
Lower Dauphin Young
Farmers organization will
be held January 2, 1978 at
7:30 p.m. in the agriculture
room at the Lower Dauphin
High School.
Dieter Kneg, editor of
Lancaster Farming will be
the guest speaker. His topic
will be the 1978 outlook for
agriculture.
The members of the Lower
Dauphin Young Farmers
mvite the public to attend
this meeting.
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room. The greenery started
right at the floor and went all
the way to the ceiling.
Decorations weren’t as
plentiful or gaudy as they
are today; maybe a couple of
sets of hghts and lots of
popcorn strings, paper mgs
and lanterns made at school.
Christmas gifts on the
farm weren’t fapcy either,
usually warm clothes, new
mittens, a pair of boots. A
cowboy six-shooter was a big
deal and a genuine cowboy
lasso was the ultimate gift.
There was always plenty
of food at Christmastime.
Maybe it just seemed that
way because so much time
was spent in the kitchen, but
Grandmother was forever
cooking something. And
Mom was always shooing
people out of it. There was
peanut brittle and
homemade doughnuts, and
good boys got to eat the
artin
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centers that resulted from
the doughnut cutter. Min
cemeat and pumpkin pies
were important and an
enormous turkey was
standard fare.
Farm kids hung then
stockings “with care” even
if they didn’t believe in
Santa. It was a tradition.
After a long night,oftrying to
listen to what was going on
downstairs, get a little sleep
and still be up by at least 5
a.ra., the stuffed stockings
were a real joy. They’d be
filled with nuts and hard
candy, and maybe a
tangerine. And way down in
the toe would be a Barlow
knife or some other
valuable.
Christmas day meant city
relatives would visit-sissy
cousins who were afraid to
go up in the barn loft. It also
meant second tables for the
kids, and that stuffed feeling
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that comes with too much
turkey, pumpkin pie, hard
candy and pecans.
It’s easy to save a
Christmas like that for a lot
of years and relive it as you
prepare for your own family
Christmas.
You can’t help wishing
everyone could climb a hill
somewhere in rural America
this Christmas Eve and try
to grasp the feeling of a farm
Christmas. Or maybe they
should sit around a farm
kitchen with the fireplace
blazing and mince pies in the
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oven and talk to farm people
about Christinas in the
country.
Things have changed
during the 30 years since a
lot of farm boys experienced
their last farm Christmas.
But the traditions and their
memories live on. And
wherever they are, the
reminders of Christmas will
take them.back to those hills
and farm houses of their
boyhood. Life will seem a
little brighter to them after
they make that mental
journey.