Christmas 1948 and Shirley is Born

 

By:  Lester Ann Hyde Jensen

In Rosemary, we lived on the Norman Granlin farm seven miles southeast of Rosemary for two years.  According to Dad, we made a living but never got very far ahead.  In the fall of 1946, this place was sold so we moved to the A. L. Gallup farm where we farmed for two more years. 

On December 19, 1948, Shirley Luella was born at the Brooks Hospital. 

I don’t remember what we got for Christmas, or what we had for dinner or any of the preparations.  By that time, I, was four years old.  I do, however, remember that Christmas and that on Christmas Eve, Santa came to visit us.  We heard someone ringing a bell and Ho Ho Ho-ing at our door.

We ran to let him in, and he gave Marvelle and me each a big red apple.  He told us to go to bed and go right to sleep so he could come back later and bring our presents.  We tried, but we were so excited.  It wasn’t just Christmas.  Our baby sister was coming home tomorrow. 

The next morning there were presents for all of us, but Dad said we needed to wait to open them until Mom and Shirley came home.  Dad helped Marvelle and me make breakfast, we had family prayer, and ate.

Then he went out to do his chores and some work on the farm.  He said he would come in for lunch and then he would go to Brooks to get Mom and our baby sister.  We were so excited.  They were coming home. 

We started making lunch as soon as Dad went to the barn, and when we were finished, we called him with our announcement. 

“LUNCH IS READY!”

He came to the house but said, “I’m not very hungry.  It’s just a half an hour since breakfast.”  He then decided he might as well wash up, change his clothes, and go to the hospital to get Mom and our brand-new baby sister.  He wasn’t going to get much work done that day. 

We were so excited when Dad came home with Mom and Shirley.  We each got to hold her.  Marvelle and I thought She was the prettiest baby we ever saw.

Then Dad, Marvelle and I, went to work making Christmas dinner.  We did not pay much attention to what we got for Christmas.  We were too excited about the best Christmas present ever.  Our brand-new baby sster, Shirley.