Back in the day--a memory of Christmas past by Mike Balluff

Christmas when I was a child was going to Grand parents for the whole family, probably 25 aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, etc. We lived in Northern Illinois where we got a lot of snow. Gramma's house was a farm near Byron, Il, about 20 miles from home for us. We would drive in the ice and snow to a bridge, stop, park, and Grandpa would come get us in a single horse drawn sleigh. It would hold 2 adults besides the driver. It was very cold, and Grandpa would wrap us in a very scratchy coarse wool blanket that I remember to this day. The rest of our journey was up a hill, about a mile to the farm. The hill was the reason for parking at the bottom.

Dinner was eaten there in the dining room, consisting of turkey, duck, goose, capon with many sides. The birds were all stuffed with a dressing that had OYSTERS in it. I wondered at the time what those things were, and was flabbergasted that I actually liked those slimy things. The house had no running water to wash dishes or to flush toilets. They brought in water from the well in a tub which was heated on a big wood stove. The toilet was an out house 50 ft from the back door. Much to our (the kids) dismay we couldn't open any of the many presents under the tree until all the dishes were done and food put away. 

Aahhh, those were the good old days. (Originally posted on Facebook; used with permission)