1950's Winters in the Country, as a Child

They say it might be a REALLY COLD and SNOWY winter this year... If only I had a house with a nice woodburning stove to cook on and sit by, I wouldn't care how cold and snowy it got ... I remember being little and living in our big old farmhouse and sitting by the woodburning cookstove in the kitchen all day when it was really REALLY cold, and during blizzards. . Yes we had a furnace.... a coal burning furnace, but my mother felt it best to save the coal for when we were going to bed and through the night. We'd sit there and watch the fire flicker and color in coloring books and play games and many times, we'd bake with her. The crackling of the fire and the smell of the wood burning was so comforting... relaxing... especially on those days when the winds were whipping 50 to 70 mph and the snow was building drifts over the top of our two-story house, on the north side.

After it ended (usually the next day, when we had snow days off... and in those days the snow was so deep and the plows had to work overtime, we could be off almost all week) we'd go out and play in the snow as soon as we had breakfast or lunch.. and we'd go in and out every half an hour for 3 to 4 hours, usually... while Mom dried our gloves and gave us another pair, and warmed our shoes and boots by the stove before putting them on. In those days, getting ready to go out took TIME to get ready

... two pairs of socks, the regular ones and men's woolen ones, flannel lined corduroys, a T-shirt, a shirt and a sweater and then the snow pants that were flannel lined with cotton batting for added warmth, and made of wool, with straps to keep them up. They were a real chore to get over the pants.... and it was always a big giggle fest when Mom had to reach up our pant legs to pull legs on the corduroys down, and reach up our arms to pull the sweater sleeves down. She must have gotten quite a work-out doing that for 3 kids. Then there was the hat ( the ear lapper kind) and a scarf wrapped around our necks and covering our mouths. ... and finally pulling the rubber boots with the clips on the over the sneekers .... and trying not to scratch... as the wool chaffed around the neck and face... and the finishing touch was the mittens... which we had several pairs of, and when they were all on the rack drying, we resorted to using socks... two or three pairs at a time... including Dad's lol

When we'd had enough (4 hours or so usually) and our feet were about to get frostbite, we came in and stripped down to undies and bathrobes and put our feet in a tub of warm water ... and talked and dreamed and recounted the highlights of our adventures for the day

Then came cookies, or cinnamon toast, and cocoa while coloring in coloring books, working on plastic models, or reading comic books and resting, or napping for a while, sitting by the stove, with with our heads on the table... til lunch, or suppertime

At night we always had a bath before bedtime, but when it was really cold, we'd get into our PJs, slippers and bathrobes, and go down to the kitchen for a snack before bed, and to grab the brick wrapped in a towel that Mom had heated for each of us to put under the layers of blankets, by our feet... and she'd make the rounds, and read us each a little golden book before tucking us in, kissing us good-night, and turning out the light... and then we'd say our prayers, and round s of good nights, and go to sleep... ZZZZZzzzzZzzZzzzzz