Christmas to Remember

The race meet in Ohio was over. Time to take the horses home to their owners for a rest and regroup for the following spring. We headed to Texas via Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. We needed a place to stay while we wintered in Texas and looked for fresh stock. Our old neighbors in Texas had an empty mobile home as they had built a new house. The mobile home had been advertised for sale for two years with no takers, so they offered to let us stay there. We would have to get rid of the skunk that had taken up residence under the trailer, and there had been roaches and mice as well. Old fashioned moth balls moved the skunk out and elbow grease took care of the rest.

Oh well, gotta live somewhere and Christmas was only a week away. The boys were hoping for an Atari under the tree. I helped hubby with horses in the morning, then headed to the mobile home to clean and disinfect. On Saturday I told my honey and the boys that we could move in, and bought a small artificial tree and a few decorations. We put the tree up before we unpacked much of anything. Christmas was now only 5 days away.

On Monday, the neighbor came home from work and immediately knocked on the door. She had some news - they had a buyer for the mobile home, and he would be coming after it on Dec. 26 - we had to move and quickly.

We checked the newspaper for rentals, but everyone wanted a one year lease, and we knew we wouldn't be in the area for more than 2 months. My husband's father had a small rent house he was remodeling and told us we could move in there. The toilet had a crack in it, the floors were plywood, and there were no kitchen appliances, but it was a roof. There was one small bedroom, a small kitchen, a living room, but there was room for our little tree. Once again, I put that tree up before anything else got done. Those boys were going to have a Christmas tree!!

We survived with an ice chest, a hot plate, and a little bottled gas camping stove. We had a tiny TV that an owner had given to us, so when Santa left one gift under the tree - the Atari - the boys were delighted.

When we ordered a pizza delivery, the cracked potty sitting on the front deck made it very easy to find the right address!

Thanksgiving the Hard Way

Trying to make a living on the race track with horses of questionable ability and two small boys makes you resourceful. We had purchased a used mobile home and moved it to the mobile home lot right next to the training track to save money. We could walk to work and the boys would always be close. We had water and electric, but no propane for the stove, and no money to buy an electric range. Along came Thanksgiving.

One of the jockeys liked to hunt and gave us a wild turkey, feathers and all. Fortunately, my dad was a hunter and had also been a meat cutter so I had watched him dress game many many times. The boys helped me dunk, pluck, and dress the turkey. We used it as an anatomy lesson. Then there was the rest of the meal. Potatoes, cranberries, dressing, and gravy, and, of course, a fruit salad and pumpkin pie with whipped topping were a must. I had a microwave, a crock pot, and a hot plate.

I cut up the turkey into pieces and cooked the legs, wings, and back in the crock pot as they fit, and then drained the stock and refrigerated the already cooked parts. Took the breast and stuffed it and put it in the crock pot. This was the hot part of the turkey meal that day. The potatoes were cooked on the hot plate, as was the gravy. The pie was a microwave miracle - you would be surprised what you can do with a microwave.

It probably took three times longer to fix the turkey, etc. by doing it on the installment method, but the family was happy and full, and to this date, the boys still enjoy Thanksgiving and the memories we all share.