Christmases Past – Orv & Louise Jeske: different but fond memories of that special time of year
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SLEDDING — Orv and Louise Jeske are pictured with Orv’s much
treasured sled that his sister Ida bought for him when he was around
7 years old. Ida saved her money from working at the Folding Box
Factory in Downing. —photo by Missy Klatt
By Missy Klatt
When recalling their childhood Christmases, Orville “Orv” and Louise Jeske have very different memories of that special time of year. Orv was the youngest of 12 children, “when they got it right they quit”, he quips. Louise chimes in that “they were getting worse and worse and they were afraid to have any more.” About Christmas, Orv comments “we didn’t have much, we were about as poor as church mice.”
One year when he was about seven years old, Orv really wanted a sled. At the time his dad and sister, Ida were working at the Folding Box Factory in Downing. “I told her [Ida] that I really wanted a sled, it probably cost three dollars back then which was a lot of money back then. On Christmas she bought me that sled, it was one of the biggest memories that I have. I still have that sled.”
Orv continues; “We’d go to church Christmas Eve and we all had to learn a piece and we’d go up front and recite your piece, each Sunday School class would go up there and you had a piece to recite and when you left you got a paper bag with an apple or orange and peanuts and candy. That was kind of nice.”
Another special Christmas present that Orv got when he was in high school was a sweater which he still has. And all though he showed me the sweater he wouldn’t model it for me.
The only other childhood memory that Orv has about Christmas is that they always had a tree.
Louise who is the youngest of six girls grew up on a farm in Eau Galle till she was nine before moving to Menomonie and has many happy memories of Christmas.
“One year there (on the farm), we had a living room that we never ever used, the door was always shut. So some time, I suppose we were at school. My mother would go in and she would have the tree decorated and presents under the tree. We all got one thing for Christmas and we got a bag with an apple and candy.” recalls Louise
“One year I got a buggy to go with my doll. But I think we even had the live candles on our tree. You had to be really careful with that because you could burn your house down.”
“We went to church Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.” Louise can’t remember if they opened their presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas day but her mom would open the living room door and there was the big reveal. “Christmas Eve was our big meal for Christmas and she [her mother] always made oyster stew. The only good thing about oyster stew is the crackers, I hated the oyster stew!” Louise emphatically states. Her mother also made a salad or something else to go with the stew for those that didn’t like the stew but Louise admits that she was probably the only one who didn’t like oyster stew.
When asked why they moved to Menomonie, Louise tells this story; “My dad was in the First World War and he was shot and had a hole in one lung so he only worked with one lung. He was doing hay in the fall and he fell out of the hay mow, 15 feet. He landed between two horses, luckily they didn’t step on him. He broke ribs and everything and that’s when we moved in to Menomonie. So he was never real healthy so he couldn’t do farm work anymore.”
“As we got older our mother always made something for us like nightgowns. Always made something, she was a sewer.” Louise remarks.
When asked if they had stockings to hang Orv said he was lucky if they had any to wear. Louise said they never had stockings to hang but she recalls having to wear long stockings to school in the winter. “We lived up on 10th St. and the high school was down on 1st St. In town we didn’t have bus service so I walked to school along the river bank and we had all that cold air coming up so mother always wanted me to wear long stocking but the minute I got out of the sight of our house, I’d roll them down because I didn’t want to wear long stockings. That just wasn’t a thing you did.”
“We always had a good Christmas.” Louise remembers. Later when Louise was still living at home she stated that on Christmas day they would go out to her sister Pat’s and have a big meal out there.
Orv & Louise have been married 64 years and for the past 61 they have lived in their current house on Elm Street in Glenwood City. With six kids: Butch (Arthur), Jeff, Randy, Cindy, Charlie & Laurie, 22 grandkids and 27 great grandkids, family is very important as evident with all the photos on the wall of their living room and hallway. All family members are represented, including the latest great grandchild who is only a few months old. Orv and Louise joke that they don’t need to paint the walls they just hang up the family pictures.
After Orv and Louise were married and had kids of their own, they started some of their own Christmas traditions.
Louise tells of Bill & Betty Forrest living across the street when the kids were little. They had nine kids of their own. When Louise and Orv would take their kids out on Christmas Eve to look at the Christmas lights, Betty would come over and dig out all the presents where Louise hid them and put them under the tree while they were gone so when they got back it looked like Santa had been there. And then Louise would do the same for them.
Louise goes on about their traditions; “Then when the kids got older we had Santa and Mrs. Claus come to the house and that was Johnny Peterson and his wife Darlene, they came for years. Which was really strange because our kids knew them and in fact Butch graduated with one of their daughters. The first year they came, I didn’t tell them they were doing this and they [the kids] did not know who they were. So that was a tradition, we did that for a long time.” Orv continues “we would set the bag of presents by the back door and John would come in, HO, HO, HO. And Darlene as Mrs. Claus with red cheeks and little round glasses and a wig on. The kids wanted to know where the sleigh was and Santa told them he couldn’t bring it into town so he parked it outside of town and drove a car in.”
Having Santa and Mrs. Claus come was a tradition that they kept up with the grandkids as well.
Louise did a lot of baking at Christmas time, pinwheel cookies, icebox cookies, sugar cookies (cut outs).
After the kids had their Christmas program at school in the first part of December they made cut out cookies and frosted and decorated them. “That was our special day.” Louise reminisced.
When the kids got older Orv would make gifts out of wood for them. That tradition has carried on to the grandkids and great grand kids. These gifts are cherished because Dad, Grandpa or Great Grandpa made them.
Orv and Louise used to have everybody over at Christmas but it got to be too much. So now Louise just fixes a lot of food and everybody stops by Christmas Eve or Christmas Day “we never know when they are coming.” Louise remarks.
