The Christmas of the Bobsled Run
It snowed before Thanksgiving. For the
first time in many years, the annual Thanksgiving gathering was
cancelled. There were several more snows between Thanksgiving and
Christmas but by Christmas Eve, the major roads were dry and clear.
Our tradition at that time was to spend
Christmas Eve in Broadwater with Norm’s family. We were living in
Dawson County and had to start right after lunch to meet at the home
of two elderly aunts. There we would share supper and a gift
exchange. Then most of us would noisily walk the long block to the
candlelight service at the Lutheran church. After church we would
return to the Aunts’s house for cookies, coffee and ice cream bars.
Then the other families would return to
their homes and we would travel about 30 miles up the Broadwater road
to the home of my parents.
Even driving on the clear, dry
Interstate, we could see that the snow cover was deeper the farther
west we came however the secondary highways were also clear. We
talked to several people at church to make sure the Broadwater Road
was passable. We were assured that it was open all the way to
Alliance but that there were some one way stretches.
It was about 10:00 p.m. when we left
Broadwater. There were stars but no moon and our headlights cast a
narrow beam into the darkness. As we came to the end of the graded
road we encountered a “one way stretch.” The road was the width
of the snowplow and the snow was piled 6-9’ high on either side.
The rest of the way to my parents was a series of “one way
stretches.” Every two or three miles, usually at the end of a
ranch driveway, there was a wider area where two cars could pass.
Had we met anyone, someone would have had to back a considerable
distance so the two cars could pass.
The headlights created strange shadows
as we passed between the high piles of snow. The children began to
“see” images in the shadows. One thought he saw Santa, another
saw the reindeer. None of them fell asleep as they usually did. It
was a magical, beautiful drive.
It was later, after watching the Winter
Olympics, that our older, silver tongued daughter dubbed the drive
the Christmas of the bobsled run.
No comments:
Post a Comment