When I woke up on a winter's morning, I could hear the wind whistling around the house.
If I looked out the window of my upstairs bedroom, I could see field after rolling field covered with pure, white snow. In the distance were our woods. Snow covered the pine trees and soft mounds of snow lay under each tree.
Everything looked white and clean. It was November and we already had lots of snow.
We always went to my Grandma Helene's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn't very far from our house, but the ride was cold.
Our car was old and it only had a little bit of heat in the front. I always rode in the back seat and there was no heat back there. Momma heated a couple of bricks in the big cook stove, wrapped them in a blanket and tucked them around my feet. She put a big wool blanket over the rest of me and off we went.
Momma would always start singing and Daddy and I would join in.
OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE WE GO
"Over the river and through the woods,
To Grandmother's house we go.
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,
Through the white and drifted snow.. Oh,
Over the river and through the woods,
Oh my how the wind does blow.
It stings our toes and bites our nose,
As over the ground we go."
Usually by the time we had sang that verse twice, we were at Grandma's house!