New Year's at the cabin: a path through the snow and a sip of wine

One time he wanted me to go for New Year's celebration down there into the cabin. Well, in wintertime, New Year's, you know, it's quite a bit of snow, and we have a snowplow man that comes and snow plows the roads.

Well, a couple of days before New Year's, he snowplowed the road very nicely. It was just like in a front room flog, you know. But I know that it was a big heap going from the snowplow. out into the woods like and so from the main road to the cabin there was this heap about oh I would say six feet you know that the snowplow pushed so I says well we won't go there and he comes over one day he had a vacation Christmas vacation he says grandma he says would you want to go and celebrate with you and me the cabin I says well

we don't go to the cabin until 15th of March because of the snow well he says we should go anyhow. He says, kind of get ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow's New Year's Day and we'll go. But he didn't tell me that he went there with a shovel, and he shoveled about 12 -inch path for me through this year's six -foot pile.

And then on the other side of the pile, it wasn't so deep, maybe 12 inches or so. And I had big high boots and stuff. I didn't care. Well, anyhow, he come New Year's afternoon, and he says, you're ready to go?

I said, I don't know if we should. I said, we'll never make it over the snow drift. Oh, come, anyhow, we can go for a walk. We gets down there, and he says, see, the path is all made for you.

We can go. And he went ahead of me to trap down the snow, so I don't get any over the big high boots and everything in. So when we got down there, we unlocked the door and we walked it.

And the surprise thing was that it wasn't cold inside at all. How it kept warm inside, I don't know. And so I had a little white bell out of China material, beautifully painted and everything. A gift to me from one of my nieces, Mrs.

Jim Thatcher, Rosie Chap, Thatcher from Toledo. And so I takes this little bell and I said, well, rang the New Year's and stuff, and he took it. Then we went and we took a little shot that we have a beautiful cut glass, little wine things or sake glasses to drink out of, you know.

And I kept that as a memento of my son being out there in Korea and bringing me these little things. So he went and he took two of them out of the box. I got 12, six of them up there.

He took two out and he rinsed them and then he poured little wine. into it, and it was a sweet wine nice, just, you know, homemade, somebody gave me. And he poured, I says, can we half full? I says, no, half full is plenty.

That's one good swallow, and that's all you're allowed, because your mother would never let you come to my cat, and if she knew that I gave you wine. Oh, he says, don't worry about that. But we still had only half a little shot, one little swallow each one of us.

And he says, now you hold it in your hand, And when I dance around the cabin once inside and sing and chant, and then I'll come to you, then we'll click our glasses and all that. So I says, okay, anything you want, so he's done it.

And he rang the bell and danced all around the inside of the cabin. And then he come to me, and he says, and now, Grandma, we are going to drink to the happiness and that we're going to go next year and be here again next year together, you and I to celebrate.

I said, okay. So then we clicked and we drank it. And I said, well, are you ready to go home? Well, I figured maybe you should sit down and rest a little while. It was quite a walk in the snow and all.

He says, rest a little while and then we'll go. See, the consideration he had for me. Other children wouldn't think of it. So anyhow, we sat down, we talked a little while, and we got up and locked the cabin and went home.

But it's something that it's pretty hard to forget. because the others never considered driven to think of anything like that, but he did, you know. And I think by me growing old, I kind of appreciate it more, I believe, or something, the tension I get from him.

So he is really a nice guy. I like him, yeah.