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I grew up in southern Manitoba on the prairies of central Canada. Mom and dad would make it clear that 7 AM was early enough to get up on Christmas morning. Four days after the winter solstice 1968 and the days have started to lengthen. The sun peeks above the horizon around 8.30.
"Remember to plug the car in after breakfast" to warm the engine enough to start to bring Grandma out to the farm in the afternoon. It was calm and cold overnight. The trees and fences are elegantly decorated with the white lace of hoarfrost. By noon the sun rose to the height of my hand at arm's length above the horizon. The clouds are high and thin. Ice crystals form rainbow brackets around the sun. A temperature of minus 15 Celsius - a nice day.
Dad and one of one of us kids, younger sisters or older brother accompany dad to town to get Grandma. Scrape the frost off of all the car windows. It was calm last night, no snow drift behind the car to shovel out before leaving. The snow croaks and groans underfoot. It's old snow now, it fell soft, fluffy and silent two weeks ago.
Mom starts preparing for the evening meal - a large roast chicken - from those little chicks that we got in the spring. "Break up breadcrumbs for the stuffing, please." Frozen peas - we picked and shelled them in mid summer. Frozen corn - we husked that in late summer. The carrots were pulled and topped before the ground froze in mid November. They are stored in the cold room in the basement with the potatoes and onions. Dessert - I still have grandma's Christmas pudding recipe - served with a brown sugar sauce.
Ice forms on the lower edges of the house windows. The oil furnace runs most of the time as the temperature drops to the average minus twenties after dark. Taking Grandma back to town at the end of the festive day we notice the aurora borealis or northern lights - patches of faint pale green or yellow dancing across the northern sky. There is a breeze tonight and streams of drifting snow occasionally traverses the highway.
Last modified 14/06/2009