Christmas in Oakland City, Indiana, after WWII was over.

 

Earl Rowe, red faced and smiling, brought the large green Christmas tree into the house.  All of us kids were so excited.  The whole family decorated the branches with colored balls and silver tinsel after Earl had strung all the lights on the tree. Christmas was nearly here! Charlotte and I would be lying on our tummies with our chins held in our hands, waiting and watching to see which bubble light would bubble first.  There were red, green, yellow and blue bubble lights.  Charlotte and I would pick our favorite to win. First one and then another would start up.  Giggles could be heard from us whenever our bubble light would start bubbling.   Entertainment was easy then.   For lack of store bought toys, our imaginations were deeper than the ocean and wider than the sky. Little things pleased us and made us happy.   The fireplace had a roaring fire in it to keep us toasty warm.   It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

 Dorothy, Earl’s wife, made a large, hot supper for all of us after our tree decorating.  We ate her wonderful home cooked meals often.  Dorothy and Earl had 4 children, Charlotte, Tommy, Earlene, and a baby named Becky. Dorothy had her hands full but never seemed tired.  She had a heart of gold.   The oldest child, Charlotte, was my age- 4 years old; Tommy was 3; and I’m not sure how old Earlene was.  She was a child with special needs.  She could only lie around and wait for someone to care for her.  I was too young to know what was wrong with her but accepted her because her whole family, including the children, doted on her.  She was not left out of the festivities as she lay there looking around; we hoped she could see the tree too. 

We lived in the house with Dorothy and Earl and their children.  It was our first place to live in Indiana that I can remember.  Mom said we lived in a place prior to that, perhaps with my Aunt and Uncle at the old farm house where my dad grew up.  Again, I don’t remember, and mom is not here to ask.  You think your parents will be here forever when you are little so as life goes on you fail to write things down.  Dorothy and Earl were like family to us.  They took mom, dad and me under their wings.  They were terrific people, now in heaven I presume.  Their house was a big old fashioned red brick house with a big front porch and an apartment on the back of the house where we lived, but mostly we were in the big part of the house because Dorothy always invited us over.  She knew my mom missed her family back in Texas.  One memory I have of my mom and her longing for Texas was when she was ironing our clothes.  She was bent over the ironing board, ironing away in our apartment and crying for Texas-for home.  I felt her sadness, it was palpable.  The wonderful Rowe’s did their best to keep us all content.  It was a wonderful place to be at Christmas, my first Christmas in Indiana. 

 

Written Christmas season 2013 by SGT