Christmas Memories . . . .

I wish these pictures were better. They are 63 years old and color film was not the best then. I posted them to show the large area of frozen pasture we were skating on. It is a very small portion of the frozen pastures that were our arena. This one is the first pasture on the right side as you are leaving Panaca traveling toward the Y.

These are the beautiful skating outfits mom made for Delores and I that I wrote about in my Christmas Memories. The other girls pictured are our twin cousins, Joyce and Janice Mathews. They received their figure skates and red and white outfits that Christmas, also. They were our favorite skating partners.

One of my earliest vivid memories of Christmas was the year David, Delores and I actually saw Santa Claus in our home. I don't know for sure how old we were, but from my memories of where we were sleeping, I think David would have been six, me four, and Delores two. We were living in the "Castle". The downstairs bedroom was mom and dad's and the three of us were sleeping in the little half room connected to it. We came home from the Christmas Eve program at the church, hung our stockings and snuggled into our beds. The Christmas tree was in the dining room. You could see it from our little room. We lay there too excited to go to sleep, watching the bubble lights that I loved so much, bubbling merrily away. I don't know if we ever went to sleep, but sometime later David came to my bed and told me Santa Claus was out there. Sure enough, we could see his shadow as he was placing gifts under the tree. David had asked for a red wagon and we watched with bated breath as Santa pulled a wagon, we were sure was red, over to the tree. We could see something in the wagon. He took it out and sat it under the tree and I was positive it was the doll I had asked for. Then he sat a big, colorful spinning top under the tree and made it spin around and around. We watched him fill our stockings that were hanging on the mantel and then he left. When we got up in the morning, there under the tree was David's red wagon, my doll, and the big spinning top that Delores had wanted. Even today, when people say there is no Santa Claus, I tell them there "Certainly is. I know because I actually saw him."

Christmas was special when I was growing up. It was full of traditions; making Gingerbread Houses, decorating sugar cookies, mother making candy, pine nuts, suet pudding, tarts, and her famous fruit cake.

The Christmas Eve program at the church was very special. We always hoped for snow. It was so beautiful to walk through softly falling snow to the church. The presentation of the Nativity was always special and very often I had a part in it. The singing of our traditional Christmas carol, "See The Camels Coming From Afar" by my cousins Bruce and Rulon Wadsworth, always followed the Nativity. I can still feel the excitement and the anticipation that built with unbearable sweetness as we sang "Up On The Housetops" and then as we sang "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", Santa would burst through the door and we could hear sleigh bells ringing. As he brushed the snow from his beard, we would form a line for our turn to sit on his lap and tell him what we wanted for Christmas. I can still hear his jolly "Ho, Ho, Ho" as he handed us our bag of candy. Then, we would walk home through the snow and find the longest stocking we had to hang on the fireplace mantel. We would leave cookies and milk for Santa and go to bed. We would snuggle in our beds with the warm stove lid wrapped in cloth to keep us warm and watch the lighted angel on the top of the tree and the bubble lights as they softly glowed and merrily bubbled. We would be up way before it was light and the first thing we would do is look out the window to see if our lights were the first on the street to go on. We thought it was hilarious if they were. Then, we would run in to see what Santa had left for us. There was always an apple or an orange in the toe of the stocking, some nuts and candy; always a crystal candy Santa, reindeer, Christmas tree or angel, in red, green, or gold. Because we hung one of the long stockings we wore in Panaca's cold winter (and this was the only time we were happy about having to wear them), there was room left in the top for something special that mom always managed to find for us. It was a traditions for us to receive a book each Christmas. Usually one of the classic children's literature; Little Women, Little Men, Freckles, The Girl Of The Limberlost, The Call Of The Wild, A Tale Of Two Cities, and as Delores and I got older, a Nancy Drew Mystery.

We always received the one present of our dreams; the special doll was always there. When I got older, I remember my first pair of gold hoop earrings. There came the time when I began to know that mom and dad were paying for these things and I was amazed and touched that our Christmas could be so perfect when there was a large family and very little money. I realized that it was made possible by a mother who made dolls, doll clothes, stuffed animals, and designed and sewed the most beautiful clothes for us.

A favorite tradition that followed the opening of our gifts was a Christmas Concert by our dad. We would bring him his harmonica and he would play for us Christmas songs and several hymns and then he would end with a rousing and foot tapping rendition of "The Irish Washerwoman". He could really play that harmonica! Sometimes, Leo played along with him on the Jew's Harp. After that, we would don our jackets, gloves and hats, and those who played musical instruments would take the lead as we formed our Wadsworth Family Marching Band. We would meet Uncle Frank's family in front of our house, march the block to Uncle Lafe's home where they would join us, and then the several blocks to Uncle Earl's home (Aunt Dora), to be joined by their family. From there, we would make a circle around town, singing and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. It was great fun and a tradition that continued until World WarII when so many of our family members went to fight in the war.

Ice Skating was a favorite winter activity for the children and young adults of Panaca. It had been for as long as the town had been there. We had the perfect skating arena. The pastures on the west side of town would all freeze over. We used to laugh and say we could skate the entire 15 miles from Panaca to Caliente without ever having to leave the ice except to cross the highway several times. The biggest challenge was having to occasionally climb over a pasture fence, often with barbed wire on top. Crack the whip was a favorite sport we played while skating. We would build a bonfire on the ice in the center of a particular large frozen expanse. We would skate around and around and one by one, grab hold of the hand of the last person in line, making a long line, or "Whip". The oldest and biggest boys were always at the head of the line. The trick was to avoid being the last two or three at the end of the whip. It could get very wicked as the long line was cracked back and forth and the last two or three on the whip would be sent flying. I remember a couple of broken arms and a broken clavicle, a few chipped teeth and cuts and bruises. Our parents always told us, "No crack the whip", but we couldn't resist the excitement and didn't want to be labeled "chicken". Looking back today, I am amazed that nothing more serious happened.

We wore the ice skates that clamped onto your shoes. They were usually black. When I was 14, my dream was to have a pair of white figure skates, the boots with a toe pick on the end of the blade. I didn't think it could be possible as David and Delores also wanted them. Still, that Christmas I told mom that if I could just have a pair of those skates, I didn't need one other thing, not even candy. In faith, that night when I went to bed, I didn't hang my stocking. Christmas morning, I saw that my stocking hung on the mantel with the others and on top of the traditional candy and nuts, was a beautiful pair of white angora gloves, warm red stockings, and a red, blue, and yellow scarf. I was in heaven when I opened my gift and found a beautiful pair of white figure skates. It was perfect, I was ready to go skating! Then, Mom handed Delores and I each a beautifully wrapped box. I could not believe what was in it! Mom had made ice skating outfits for us. She had chosen a plush, brushed velour corduroy material. There was a short circular skirt with matching "panties" to wear under it, in red, and a fitted, long sleeved military styled jacket in a deep, almost navy, blue. They fit to perfection! We could hardly wait to go skating that day. Many of our friends were there with the new skates they had received for Christmas, but none of them had such beautiful skating outfits sewn so lovingly by their mother. It was a wondrous Christmas and I felt loved and very blessed.