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When
Children were Children
A Day of Family,
Love, Feasting & Playing
By Sharon Hopper
Oh Boy! It is almost Thanksgiving and I am so excited. I remember some
very interesting Thanksgivings when I was a child. We always had a big
dinner with lots of family around and of course that meant cousins to
play with. My aunt and uncle lived on several farms as my uncle was
often a worker for the owner and that meant we could play in the barns.
Sometimes we went to Grandma’s house but I loved the farmhouse a lot
more.
While the women were finishing the dinner and the men watching football
we would go out to play. (That part has not changed) We always had a
rope tied to one of the beams in the barn and some huge knots were tied
into the rope so you could get a foothold while swinging. We would
often swing from one hayloft to another and because we were cleaver
kids we would take a couple bales of straw and place them in the middle
of the floor under the rope swing in case we fell. I never did fall
into that straw but my cousin did and was really happy for that straw.
Sometimes we would just lie in the straw and talk about things. You
know (kid) things.
After eating a huge dinner we had to draw pieces of paper to see who
got the pleasure of cleaning up. On each paper would be a chore like
washing, drying, sweeping, or putting away. Everyone had the pleasure
of participating in the clean up process. It was called an (honor) by
our parents.
After a while we all went to the barn to help my uncle milk the cows. I
never did get the hang of that one. Sometimes it would even snow and we
would have a snowball fight. The snow was usually wet and packed well.
Hurt too. And then it was tradition for our moms to make butter and we
all brought home some fresh butter straight from the churn.
Thanksgiving was fun and it was not a shopping day, but a day of
family, love, and feasting and playing. Life was good.
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