12/25/2024
On this Christmas Day of 2024, The Grand Valley Historical Society would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!
We would also like to share an excerpt from the late Carol Herwick Crawford McManus’s yet unpublished book, Decades of December. The book is a collection of Christmas stories told and written to Carol by Western Colorado natives and newcomers that span through the decades from 1900 to 2000.
Todays’ excerpt comes from the 1980’s, as written by Judith Hayward.
Carol: “While Western Colorado had begun to spin faster in the 1980’s decade there were some who cherished the old way of life we once had known and went to great effort to preserve that heritage. Such was the case of Lee and Judi Hayward. Whenever I think of Lee and Judi I think of the “Cowboy and the Lady.” Lee, a native-born son of Parachute, had lived most of his life in the area, sans the years he spent as a Navy Chief Petty Officer. After his father Claude’s death Lee inherited the old Kerlee homestead on Battlement Creek, South of Parachute, which he named the 96 Ranch. He conducted successful trail rides, fishing trips, overnight pack and hunting trips. Later he wrote a book about the Ranch and completed an audio tape of people he’d known through the years. He was a storyteller extraordinaire.
On the other hand, Judi was reared in Wisconsin, never having had the pleasure of cooking on a wood stove let alone building a fire. When she and Lee met in 1986 it seemed to be a match made in Heaven. She grew to love our part of the country, and she never tired of hearing his stories about what life was like on Battlement Mesa in the early part of this century or helping Lee with the work at the 96 Ranch. Judi writes about a very special holiday she and Lee spent at the cabin:
Judi: “It was Christmas Eve 1988. It had snowed earlier in the day and the road was solid white. The back end of the pickup was filled with winter items and groceries. Snapper, our dog was also tucked among all the boxes, as we did not go any place without him. This might be the last trip we could make with the pickup up to the cabin this year, so it was packed full. Lee was driving and I clutched a Christmas live flower arrangement so it would be safe from the bumping. We were on the way up to the 96 Ranch cabin South of Battlement Mesa in Western Colorado for the first Christmas we would spend there. The elevation is 8,000 feet at the cabin. It was not unusual for the snow to get three to four feet deep in the winter in this area. This cabin was our summer and fall home where we operated the Guide and Outfitting business called the 96 Ranch, but this year Lee wanted to spend all winter at the cabin. I was going to spend the Christmas holiday with him and then would be heading to our “town house” where I would continue to work my full-time job. We planned that I would come to the cabin with our friend Lawrence, via snowmobile, each Friday late afternoon and he would pick me up and take me back to town on Sunday afternoon.
The weekend before we’d scouted the area and had found just the right cabin Christmas tree down by the Hayward Creek. We had cut it and stuck it in a snowbank by the cabin. I had dug out the box with ornaments and lights and other decorations for the tree. That box was in the back of the pickup, too. We decided the porch would be the best place for a tree because the wood fires in the cabin would make it so very dry inside. There is a big window between the porch and the kitchen cooking area. There were two comfortable chairs for visiting and having a nice cup of hot coffee by the cook stove, and we knew we could do some viewing of the Christmas tree from this area, too.
The drive up the dirt road was rough and bumpy. It is six miles, almost all up. Just before the gate and property line, we had to stop and put the chains on all four tires. We knew the road just got steeper and there would be more snow depth the higher we went. If you have ever put chains on a big ¾ ton pickup, you know there are some tricks to getting them on. Lee always needed some help and so I put the flowers on the floor of the pickup and got out and helped. About a half hour later, with cold fingers and toes, we loaded back into the truck and headed up the last mile and half. The chains sure made a big difference on the traction, and we pulled into the cabin yard without any problem.
I took the flower arrangement into the cabin and noticed my fingers had deep indentations from the pressure of holding the container. But the flowers were in fine shape, and I was happy to have them for our Christmas dinner table. I realized I had been more nervous than I thought in the ride up the mountain. Snapper, our dog had a good romp in the snow and chased a few critters in the tack shed. Then he was ready for his usual warm spot by the cook stove.
The first thing we always did when we got to the cabin was get the fires built in the cook stove and stove in the bedroom. The cabin is over one hundred years old. It was built of hand hewed logs that are 8 to 10 inches thick. A steep pitched metal roof gives good protection from the heavy snows. There is an enclosed porch and an outside wrapped porch on the front. The cabin consists of two rooms. One room was the large kitchen and the other was a bedroom with some seating area plus a bathroom. Really “up town,” as Lee said. And there is electricity, too. The cabin has rustic and old but usable furniture for every need.
When it was decided to spend the winter at the cabin, there was quite a frenzy with getting enough wood cut and split and piled and two tons of coal stored in the wood house. We were not going to get cold. The outside porch was stacked five foot high on both the inside and outside and all was covered with plastic to keep the wood as dry as possible. This gave us ready access to wood. It was not necessary to go to the wood house every time when we needed more.
After the fires were built and we started to get warm, we trudged out to the pickup and began unloading the things. Box after box, trip upon trip we finally had everything in the cabin. Then Lee moved the pickup in the driveway and headed it down, so we would have a better chance of getting out, if we got more snow. Was there any doubt!! The sky was full of stars and the reflection on the pristine white snow was gorgeous. There was not a light in sight, except the stars, from our cabin.
I had all the groceries for our Christmas dinner as well as all the items off the long list for the rest of the winter. The freezer was already full of venison and lots of other items. The cupboards were full of can goods. We would not be going hungry. The Christmas dinner was going to consist of turkey and dressing, potatoes, fresh cooked vegetables, fruit salad, cranberries, dinner rolls and apple pie.
I heated up some soup and made some sandwiches and got a pot of coffee made for our evening dinner. Lee brought in the Christmas tree and put it in the stand on the porch. After our dinner, I began the decorating. He sat in his rocker and just enjoyed watching me put the ornaments on the tree. Each ornament had some “story” and he just drank his coffee and listened. We had Cowboy Christmas music playing on the radio. The Christmas gifts were placed under the tree as the final touch and then we headed off to bed.
The fires have to be “banked” before you go to bed. That means there needs to be lots of hot wood coals and some bigger pieces of wood and finally some chunks of coal and the dampers are almost closed so the fire will burn slowly but consistently. There were always two big pieces of wood placed by each of the stoves. In the middle of the night when a trip to the bathroom is necessary, one of the logs would be placed in the stoves and the second one was for the morning when you got up. It was so important that the fires would never go out. The cold can really move in, and it takes a long time to get warm again.
Christmas morning started with hearing the automatic coffee pot making coffee. Lee got the wood chunks on the stoves and then brought us “coffee” in bed. That was one of our traditions at the cabin. We always talked about what was going to happen that day. Today was no different, only it was going to be a special day for us.
It was snowing while I made a light breakfast, and it looked like it could snow all day. Lee did chores and made sure all the paths on the porch to the wood and the paths to the cabin gate and wood house were shoveled. That was a never-ending job.
I started the turkey, dressing and the pie for our Christmas dinner. The process of cooking in a wood stove oven is a lot different than the regular electric or gas stove. You need to keep the fire hot enough to cook and at the same time the stove really heats up the house, so you would have to open a window or door, because it was too hot for you. After a couple of hours, all the major oven cooking was complete. I could then use the lower fire to cook the vegetables and potatoes on top of the stove. This process does not need the hotter fire, like the oven requires.
The snow stopped for a while in the afternoon. The world was a white fairy land and the smells in the house really started to get our appetite juices flowing. We talked and talked about Christmas’s in our pasts while I got the final items cooked and the table set for our Christmas dinner. Lee and I had both loved to share our family history with each other. His reminisces always kept me enthralled for hours. He was an excellent storyteller and enjoyed sharing his history to anyone who wanted to listen. I never got my fill of his stories. After the table was set, Lee insisted we take pictures. He said this may be the one and only Christmas at the cabin. And we had our lovely live flower arrangement with lit candles, too.
The dinner was outstanding and after full stomachs we settled down by the cook stove to open our presents. It had started to snow again. Lee had bought me a gorgeous Indian fe**sh necklace and a new sweater. He had also wrapped two oranges for me. He said when he was a youngster, it was tradition to get an orange for Christmas. I gave Lee a new watch and some nice warm flannel shirts. Snapper got a new bone. We all settled down by the warm cook stove to just enjoy the pure and simple pleasures of being together at Christmas.
The next morning, we knew we had to make an attempt at getting the pickup down the road or maybe we would not get it out until Spring. The first thing that happened was that one of the chains broke. And that was not good because you need four-wheel traction to move through deep snow. So we dug and dug and finally found the chain and with some baling wire we got it put on. Hours of driving a ways and then shoveling and then driving a short distance farther and then more shoveling we finally made it out to the road. Some friends had come up on their snowmobile, to see what had taken us so long. We all headed down the road and to the town house. I was sad our Christmas was over for this year but knew that many more adventures were ahead for us. This was just one special Christmas that would never be forgotten.” Judith Hayward
Carol: As I read Judi’s story, I was impressed with her pleasure about sharing the old-fashioned Christmas with her husband, a circumstance that many accepted as just a way of life so few years before. We human beings are always awed by the new and unusual. Most housewives of sixty years ago would have been delighted to trade in their coal stove and heater for a nice, forced air furnace that didn’t require constant feeding or emptying the ashes. How far We’ve come.
The Grand Valley Historical Society Thanks Carol’s daughter, Debra Crawford Robers, for gifting the rights to Carol’s book, Decades of December, to the Society, so we could share Judi’s story. Thank you Deb, and Merry Christmas!
There are 11 other story tellers and writers in Carol’s book: Yvonne Evers Peterson, Gene and Emma Gene West, Jan Smith, Hazel Parker Herwick, Jan Fedrizzi, David B. Crawford, Zelda Herwick Montoya, David L. Crawford, Vivian Koch Habliston, Louise Walker and Alice Eames Allan.
In addition, Carol conducted personal interviews with Bill Orr, Gene Rozelle, Jimm and Ann Seaney, Sue Whitney, Esther Duplice Hoffman, Wilma Tucker Stanford, Ricci and Gail Santarelli, Harry and Jean Roatcap, Mary and Harry Odgers, Bud and Phyllis Bradbury, C.V. Wagner, T. Michael Holmes, Norrine Holland, Nola VanHorn Miller, John Wix, Charles and Donna Roth and Mildred Waddell.
The Society is considering having this book published, so please let us know if you would like to see Christmas stories from these Western Colorado folks from Carol Crawford McManus’s book, “Decades of December.”
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
