A Sleigh Ride to Granny McDonald's, Calder neighbourhood, Edmonton, Christmas 1944, Gwen McDonald Halabisky

Christmas meant horse drawn sleigh-rides and family fun at Granny's for the McDonald's and the Surmon's during WWII and the post war years.
Date: 1940-1960
Including recollections of:
\r\nJackie (McDonald) Provost
\r\nJeanette (Surmon) Helmi

1944 was my first Christmas. Christmas then, as it is now, was family time. The Christmases of the forties and fifties found our extended family gathered at Granny's home. The Christmas of 1945 was probably the most joyous because Uncle Bill McDonald had survived the war and was heading home.


Our family, headed by John and Velma McDonald, lived in the Calder district of Edmonton, 130 th Ave. and 114 th St., close to the family of my Uncle Albert and Aunt Jesse (McDonald) Surmon and the family of my Aunt Ann and Uncle Jim McDonald.


The trip to Granny's would occur after breakfast and opening of presents. Our dad would walk the few blocks to Toner's farm and borrow a sleigh and a team of horses. When he arrived back home, the three families, of twelve children and six adults would gather in the wooden sleigh, along with straw, heated rocks, blankets, and quilts. We would leave for Granny's (11132 - 96 St.). We entertained the people we passed with our Christmas carols. Mom's fruitcake would be packed somewhere in the sleigh along with other food which would contribute to the family meal.


My cousin Jeannette remembers us being huddled together under the covers for warmth as the sleigh brought us along 97 th street toward the festivities. She remembers getting more and more excited as we crossed 118 th Ave. and she could see the Christmas lights on and in the houses lining the street. For her it was the Candy Cane Lane of the 40's.


When we arrived at Granny's our number added to the twenty or so people already there. Our coats were hung and piled in the front hallway under the moose head, across from the "wooden" phone. There was soon a crowded kitchen, as the ladies got busy with meal preparation. The men would visit and maybe have a Christmas drink, one shot of scotch "straight up". The kids would gather in the upstairs hall to play. For the meal, we were designated to certain tables: the adults at the dining room table with the small children beside them at the little red table and the bigger kids at the kitchen table.


With full tummies we would gather around the tree for our presents. My sister, Jackie, remembers the presents from Aunt Margaret being wrapped in brilliantly colored green or red tissue paper and covered with many stickers. The presents were simple, perhaps a pair of socks or a coloring book and crayons. The most important item in each package, though, was love, that unconditional love shared in extended families. We went home Christmas night, again huddled together for warmth, but also content and sleepy.


We continued going to Granny's for many years. In the fifties we would have our turkey dinner first and arrive by motor vehicle at Granny's full but with enough room for a hard candy (the ribbon candy if lucky) or some shortbread, Japanese oranges or chocolates. If the cream bottle was near empty one of the grandchildren would be "captured" by Granny and the bottle emptied into a mouth, which pretended to protest. As we grew and got spending money, it was time for us to sometimes buy presents. Cousin Bill remembers buying Uncle Pete and Uncle Mick "flat fifties", cigarettes in flat tin packages. These were a treat for the uncles as they usually rolled their own. The presents were put under the tree, which Bill remembers as always having bubble lights. After the gift opening there may be a little harmonica, jaw harp or fiddle playing or a bit of dancing. I remember Bill and I winning squat dances, not because we knew how to dance but being the youngest pair, we were the most agile.


After the dancing and more snacks, there were often card games, board games or checkers played and the children were included in the competition. Aunt Margaret would sometimes get out her Ouiji board and we would put our fingers lightly on the little wooden heart and let it point to our future, sometimes to the hoots of, "It's not moving on it's own, she's moving it." When it was my turn, I was never sure if it moved of its own volition or I imagined it moving. At the end of the evening the dads would go out and warm up the vehicles for our return trip home.


As we grew older, my cousins had cars, and the trips to Granny's would be more for the purpose of the Aunts and Uncles to visit and the cousins to pile into cars and go to government hill for toboggan rides. Jeanette remembers one of her rides ending over the riverbank and into the brush. After that accident, the older cousins were very protective of us, admonishing that we be careful and put on the brakes at the bottom of the hill. We would gather back at Granny's for hot chocolate and go home happy once again.


Granny's last Christmas was 1960. The tradition of gathering together, in such a large group, was not continued as we grew older, built careers and had families. However, in the late 1980's my cousins, the Surmons, started a new tradition in which my family has been included. Kelly's Tavern at Fort Edmonton Park is rented and we have a hay ride with a horse drawn wagon, a wonderful potluck supper, and play games in which the children are included. After Santa comes and hands out presents for the little ones, we clean up and go home well fed with a feeling of love in our hearts from our extended family.


Jeanette summed up the feeling with a word in Dutch, her husband's mother tongue. She said, "The Christmases at Granny's and at Fort Edmonton were and are "zo gezellig'". In English it means the Christmases were and are so enjoyable, pleasant, sociable, companionable, snug and cozy.


I have to agree. This year was special for me because my grandson Isaac was there to call me Granny.