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Harriett Carlson Terwilliger
Born in 1920
Dekalb, Illinois
Lived in southern Dekalb County
near Waterman and Shabbona as a child.
Her paternal grandparents
were from Sweden and settled just outside of DeKalb on a 160
acre farm.
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 From
the time I was a baby until I was fifteen we went to my Grandma
and Grandpa Carl son's farm for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
After my Grandma died, we didn't go anymore. We went every Sunday
to their house for dinner. One Saturday in the spring of 1935,
she had prepared all of the food, baked the cakes and had the
table set. She had to crawl under the house to catch a chicken
that was trying to escape her. She was 74 years old at that time.
We got a call in the morning that she had died in her sleep.
Anyway ... We lived on a farm ... my brother,
Howard, Mom and Dad and I. When Christmas came we always had
snow. In the late afternoon of Christmas Eve we would drive to
DeKalb. Sometimes the roads were really full of snow and on occasion
we would have to go with the horses and a bobsled. It was probably
10 to fifteen miles.
We would do our Christmas shopping that
afternoon. Grandpa had usually sold some oats for Christmas money.
We would go to my Aunt Till's house. Grandmas would wrap the
presents in the kitchen. Uncle guy was a candy maker. the house
would smell so good. He had two glass counters full of chocolates
in paper cups, red and green and chocolate cover taffy cut in
bars, peanut brittle. He would sell it from the porch. My brother
and I got to choose our favorites.
 Then
we would go to Grandma and Grandpa Carolsons, all the aunts and
uncle and cousins were there. A big angel food cake was on the
dining room table with a linen table cloth. The tree was in the
living room, which was separated from the dining room by double
doors. Everybody went in and sat down in the living room. There
was a piano and Aunt Hattie would play carols. On the tree were
little candles. You had to be careful or you would burn the house
down, so they weren't lit very long.
 We
could hear the Swedish sleigh bells and stamping on the back
door and a voice ... ho ho ho! And in would come Santa ... it
was really my Uncle Ralph Wendlund. We would all sit on the floor
around the tree and he would call out our names and give us presents
out of his big sack. It was pretty exciting. I can still hear
those bells.
The adults would have their exchange, all
of the kids would have lots of packages. Then we would have a
bidg dinner ... ludfiske, limpe bread, Swedish sausage, goose,
mashed potatoes. It was always a big fancy dinner. We would go
home late at night and would fall asleep in the car. When we
would get up in the morning and Mom and Dad would have presents
for us. We would drive back to the farm and grandma would have
a big dinner .. chicken, duck, lingenberries. One aunt lived
in Chicago, one lived in Aurora, so by mid-afternoon everyone
had to go back home. They had two uncles with them, so Grandma
and Grandpa weren't left alone.
DeKalb was a small town then. The streets
were full of people, the Salvation Army was playing on the streets,
the town was decorated and everyone knew each other and were
so friendly and happy, just like in the movies!
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