Posted: 12/13/05
ëWe were in awe of Christmasí
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Granted, it doesnít take much to get Margaret Goetzinger to smile.
But the 86-year-old Caledonia woman laughed out loud when she remembered her dad teaching her and her sister how to make potato soup.
What made the lesson funny, Margaret said, was that they made the soup on a wood-burning stove using tiny aluminum cookware and dishes that the girls had received as a Christmas gift from their motherís sister.
Those kind of gifts were not real common when Margaret was a girl, but her aunt could afford them because she made wages.
It must have been a funny scene in the old farm kitchen, Dad teaching the girls the finer points of soup making, and the girls soaking it up with their tiny dishes.
Margaret, whose maiden name is Koelsch, shared a few Christmas memories like that with The Argus on December 8. She sat in the living room in her Whispering Pines Apartment. A pile of square pieces of cloth lay on a table, soon be to turned into one of Margaretís famous quilts.
She grew up in Morrison County near Little Falls, Minnesota. Her Christmas centered around church, doing a program and learning songs. ìAnd looking forward to the Christmas bag from church with its apples, oranges, peanuts and whatever,î she said.
School Christmas programs took place too, followed by lunch and music by someone playing a fiddle, accordion, or organ. ìThen they would maybe dance a few rounds,î Margaret said.
Visiting her grandparents was important too, where a roasted goose or duck took center table. Turkey was a special treat. There was dressing too, and mashed potatoes and gravy, and sometimes homemade ice cream.
Transportation to such gatherings was in the Model T, if it would start. ìOtherwise a team of horses on a sled,î Margaret said. They would bundle up with blankets and a bear rug that her father had brought with him from his youth in northern Wisconsin.
Gifts were nothing special, although that could be disputed if you consider Margaretís fond memory of the little cooking set from 80 years ago. ìWe probably got one gift that was from Santa Claus,î she said. She and her sister might get a doll, and a ball that bounced, a set of dishes, and of course woolen socks and mittens knitted by their grandmother.
ìWe didnít have the Christmas tree until Christmas morning,î Margaret added. It would be decorated with candles. ìDad would put a pail of water right by the tree,î she said. They would cut the tree from the woods nearby, usually a white pine.
Margaret still has some decorations from those days. They are Christmas scenes made of heavy paper.
Margaret Koelsch carried a few of her traditions into her adult life when she married Arnold Goetzinger and they started raising all those Goetzingers: Vern, Elaine, Ron, Lyle, Russ, Les, Dan, Myron, and Maureen. At first she would go into the woods alone to find a tree, preferably a white pine like the good old days. Later she switched to red cedar, and would take along one or two of her children. ìThereís not tree smells nicer in the house than a cedar,î Margaret said.
Sometimes they would cut a tree for their church, Peace United Church of Christ in Crooked Creek Township, three miles east of their farm, where Dan and Jane now live.
They raised and ate geese and ducks too. ìOnce in a great while we had a turkey,î Margaret said. ìI always liked the goose better. I suppose because I grew up with that special for a holiday.î
Margaret is not a pessimistic person. Quite the contrary. But she sometimes thinks things are going downhill, at least when it comes to Christmas. ìPeople are not as satisfied I donít feel anymore as they used to be,î she said. ìWe were more in awe of Christmas and what gifts we got.î
Caledonia Argus
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507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com