Whose got time for food with all the peanuts and candy to eat and presents to play with? Oh yeah, Grandma still has to cook up something special or she would have a fit. Usually a big bird or part of a dead pig or both.
Sad story time? Our oldest daughters first Christmas? She was born Dec 23. The nice doctors thought it would be okay to send them home from the nice warm hospital with those great cooks so they could spend Christmas at home with the family. Grandma one had planned to come to town to help out but got pneumonia and couldn't. Grandma two was all ready here but fell off her porch that morning, broke her arm and was in the hospital herself. So I not only had a brand new baby and a very sore wife to tend but 70 holstein milk cows and all their kith and kin to tend. Not to mention a mother still in the hospital and a Dad at his house needing help with the snow. And a blizzard was raging to boot. Got them home from the hospital, got a big fire going in the old coal range and headed out for 6 hours of chores. After chores had one hungry wife. Wife loved elk so threw a couple of elk steaks on to broil and wife about lost it. For whatever reason, the wild meat smell really got to her. So we packed up that 1 1/2 day old baby in the 4x4truck and headed out in a raging blizzard for the little cafe 1 mile down the road. Just got settled in with meals ordered and two of the local nurses came in. Boy did they read me the riot act for bringing wife and baby out in that storm. I really was afraid they would turn me in to social services for child abuse. But, when they heard the options, they settled down and all turned out well. That daughter still loves snow storms and winter, my wife got her taste back for elk and the cows continued to get milked on time.
