Franklin County, Nebraska

For Another Day

Haven’t we had wonderful winter weather?

Today, December 29, 1999, I heard the upcoming forecast for our area indicate there may be colder weather heading our way.

So, outside I went to take down a few Christmas lights. It was a spring-like day, as the temperature must have reached close to 65 degrees. As I unhooked the bright festive lights, I couldn’t get rid of the lump in my throat as I thought how many times I have done this chore. It’s work to take down the decorations, but such fun to adorn the yard with pretty lights in anticipation of another Christmas Holiday approaching. I leave the spotlights upon the huge cotton wood trees in our yard until almost spring, in hope of turning them on when a winter snowstorm is howling outside. There is something about the sight of the spotlights shining up from the ground onto the gray limbs as the snow falls down from above that prompt a wonderful winter scene. The light of the spotlights also looks pretty as it shines up through a cedar tree covered with snow. I have sorted and straightened the imitation greenery and made sure the lights work Christmas after Christmas. I always find myself adding a few more of the spotlights each year to brighten a tree or bush in the yard. I usually begin preparing for all this in late October. I know I’ve said I like snow and cold weather, but I really don’t like being out in it. So why should I wait till the last minute to get all this done? On the first warm day in mid-November, even before Thanksgiving, I can be found in the yard making ready for my favorite holiday. I usually put up the tree and decorate inside before Thanksgiving, since we go to Ruthie’s house for Turk-a-lurk day. Then, when we come home, I am ready to set the electrical timers for all the days of December. I measure my years on earth by the Christmas’s spent. I have loved the holiday season since childhood. My grandparents made it such a wonderful time for me. Therefore, I try to make it memorable for others. It’s such a close family time. The more family or adopted family here at our home, the better. Sometimes a little disappointment creeps in my door, but never does a Christmas season end without lots of good memories to write down in my journal.

As I made my many trips back and forth to our storage shed with armloads of decorations, I relive these memories and try to get rid of the lump in my throat. I feel an overwhelming warm ray of hope for the future every year on this day as I do this chore. Why, in just six weeks I will see the green sprouts of the crocus coming through the ground on the west side of our house and, in seven weeks, we should see the first of the Sand hill cranes going north. In eight weeks we will be ready to place six new Brittany puppies in the hands of awaiting patrons. So, on I go into the new year, ready to trod ahead into spring and summer and into the rest of my living days.

Guess what I saw out in the shed? It was my new water barrels ready to fill with water lilies and cattails. I have found a new kind of gardening and I love it. I will soon check the Gurney seed catalogue to see if they have any water plants.

Today was also the day I waved good-bye to my son as he drove off to Kansas. Up where the glares of the spotlights do not reach, up in the very tip-top of the cotton wood tree in the front yard, a robin chirped just for me. And I said loud enough for it to hear me as it flew to the south, “ Ah, don’t go, please don’t go.

Now… isn’t that little incident hope for the future?

Good Lord! It is a gracious boon for thought crazed wit like me to smell again these summer flowers beneath this summer tree! Anonymous.

For Another Day by Rena Donovan

Return to For Another Day main page

Return to Franklin County NEGenWeb Main Page