by Herb Goering
We always looked forward to Christmas with great expectations. There were three major events, School Christmas program, Church Christmas program and the Christmas morning event at home. At school we had a gift exchange at which gifts costing about 25 cents were exchanged. Santa showed up with sacks of nuts, candies and an apple or orange. After the Christmas program at church, we again received sacks with nuts, candies and apples or oranges. I remember very delicious oranges. These events were very important. In anticipation we marked the days off on the December calendar with x’s.
The years run together in my memory, but I think it was in 1932 when one evening, where folks were not at home, someone knew that some Christmas presents were hidden somewhere in folk’s bedroom. Al, Bill, Dan and I began our search. Soon our attention was focused on the closet. I remember Al standing on a chair examining the stuff on the top shelf. An exclamation of joy as he produced a box with a picture of a caterpillar on it. The box was about six inches long by 4 inches wide and about the same depth. Inside was a beautiful yellow windup caterpillar. Every effort was made to cover our tracks, the caterpillar was replaced on the shelf exactly as we found it, we thought.
On Christmas morning there was under the tree, on toy caterpillar for us four boys. That was it. We were unhappy and made it known. “That is what you get for peeking,” we were told. We never knew how they knew we had peeked. If there is a lesson in that it is “your sins will find you out.”
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I am fairly sure about the year of this incident — 1933. It was after some of the New Deal programs had been activated. Things were bad, very bad, difficult, bleak and Christmas was coming. Dad along with other farmers were given the opportunity to work on one of the “make work” projects. I don’t know if it was WPA, PWA, NRA or what. The farmers were put to work hauling sand from a sand pit near Burton to a county road. The farmers furnished teams, horses or mules, a wagon and themselves.
I don’t know how long Dad worked on this project, perhaps several weeks. A check was expected from the Government for his work and everyone hoped it would come soon as Christmas was rapidly approaching. The check arrived, I think, on the last shopping day before Christmas. It wasn’t long until several happy family members were on their way to Hutchinson in the good old Nash for some last minute shopping. Christmas wasn’t so bleak after all.