These stories can also be heard on Sunday mornings around 10 am on WILD 102’s “Look Back in Time” program. Each week’s radio story will be posted here on our website.
Weekly radio stories are researched, compiled, and read by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member.
December 22, 2024
Today’s story comes from a 2008 Regional Ramblings free supplement to Roseau Times-Region compiled by Roseau Area Writers Workshop. The story was written by Ann Novacek from Greenbush, former Historical Society Board member and its Secretary for many years. Her story is titled “Going Home on Christmas Eve”.
After reading Marilyn Hagerty’s “On Christmas Eve, All Roads Lead Home” in the Grand Forks Herald several times through the years, I decided to put into words, the Christmas Eve visits I have made through memories of my childhood farm home.
As I drive into our yard, past the red barn and machine shed, I see the large, very long, three-story house. Above the screened porch is an open balcony with a white railing around it. The Delco lights shining through the windows make my home look like a dream.
As I enter the porch, the screen door, insulated with cardboard for the winter, bangs loudly behind me. Several steps to my left brings me to the white kitchen door; I can see my parents through the door’s window. Mom and Dad have just come in from the barn; they are washing up and getting ready for supper. Tonight’s supper will be a simple one, a traditional Norwegian meal: rice porridge, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and lots of cold milk to drink. My sister Loreen and I sit on the west side of the table while my brother Teddy sits across from us. Dad always sits at the head of the table and Mom across from him. We say grace together. Each of us draws a small card from a holder that looks like a small loaf of bread. Then, we read aloud the Bible verses printed on the cards. We talk of ordinary things. The conversation is in English, but Mom and Dad sometimes slip into Norwegian. When we finish eating, we clear the table and go into the living room to take our places, facing the Christmas tree standing in front of the west window. (Some years the tree has been in front of one of the other two windows.) There are lights on the tree, big bulbs of green and red. The tree sparkles with long silver tinsels draped on its branches. Additional decorations appear on the tree every year. Under the tree are five gifts, one for each of us. When we open our gifts, Loreen and I are delighted to find another doll to be a mommy to. We are eager to get them out of the boxes so we can really get the “feel” of them in our arms. This night, we will put them to bed with our older dolls. Teddy is playing with his new truck. He likes anything that makes a motor sound. Mom and Dad are talking and they have smiles on their faces.
For snacks, we munch nuts, oranges and apples. Later, Mom will take a variety of her homemade cookies from large red tin canisters and arrange them on a plate. Her Christmas baking includes spritz, sugar cookies, oatmeal and molasses; also Hartmark cookies, so named because they were a favorite of the pastor who married Mom and Dad. (He had lived with them for several months.) Mom also sets out plates of lefse and flat bread and pours another large glass of cold milk for each of us. Everything tastes so good that we eat enough to make another meal!
We stay up later on this special night, but get ready for bed before 10 o’clock because Mom and Dad must get up early to do the milking and chores. After morning chores are finished, we get ready to go to church this Christmas Day.
After worship services, we drive to Grandpa and Grandma Erickson’s home northeast of Greenbush for dinner. As we walk toward the house carrying gifts and food, we smell the delicious aroma of Grandma’s big turkey roasting in the oven. My five aunts have brought food, too. The table and counters are covered with food. My grandparents’ house smells like a festival is going on!
After dinner, the house is filled with music as relatives tune up their instruments to play Christmas carols and hymns. I can hear the bells that Mom is playing. The tree is almost hidden because of all the gifts underneath it. Once again, Grandma has given each of her children and grandchildren gifts. As we play with our cousins, the music floating from the living room into every room of the house sounds wonderful. The spirit of Christmas stirs inside of us.
Thanks to WILD 102 for this time to tell our county’s stories, and to Ann for writing that peaceful memory of her past Christmases and for letting us share it with you. By the way, the recipe for Hartmark Cookies is in the Museum’s 75th anniversary cookbook on page 120 if you’d like to try making them.
Thank you to 
for letting us share our county’s history with your listeners by donating air time, studio time, and production staff every week.