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Children's Stories by Grandma Dee Dee

Balboa Press

A Story about My Mom

I have to tell you that I have the most special mom in the world!

I'm only 3 years old, and my mother's name is Maureen. From the time I was very little, she took care of me because my dad and mom weren't married. She always looks after me and makes me happy.

I worry about her because she has to go to work early in the morning and take me to the babysitter's. Bundling me up in warm clothes, she hauls me off when I'm still half asleep. Sometimes I'm very crabby, and I don't like to be awakened so early in the morning.

She dresses me in my snowsuit in the middle of winter. We have hats, and we have gloves. We have overshoes. She puts all of those things on me before she takes me to my babysitter and goes off to work.

She always picks me up at night, takes me home, and feeds me. After dinner, she reads me stories.

I just have to worry about her sometimes. I think, Gee, I have a young, beautiful mother. She works so hard. Someday, everything will turn out fine for her, and she'll have someone to help her.

I don't know how to tell her, but I think my mother is very special. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. She looks after me very well, takes me to fun things, and is a very good cook. She even reads books to me.

Helping Kids Be Happy

I think I'm very lucky to have such a special mother. The reason I know she is a good mom is because I have gone to several of my friends' houses. Their mothers hardly pay any attention to them, even though their mothers stay home all day. Their mothers seem to ignore them.

Although my mom works very hard, she pays special attention to me and always makes me feel that I am very, very special. She always loves me a lot and gives me a lot of hugs.

I am so lucky to have such a neat mom!

A Trip to the Farm

I like to take a trip to the farm. This happens when Mom gets a message, and, all of a sudden, she says, "Nicole, we're going to the farm." Then we pack a lunch and put it in a large wicker basket.

It's a long way to the farm. We have to drive, drive, and drive. We drive through the city, and then we drive through the countryside.

As we go through the country, we see a lot of green trees and green grass. The beautiful sky is filled with beautiful clouds. We go by the St. Croix River and then come into the little town of Amery, Wisconsin.

Amery is where my great-grandfather lives. We arrive at the farm and get out of the car. There is Grandma! She kisses and hugs us like she hasn't seen us for years. This particular grandmother is Grandma Olson. She has a hunched back and wheezes because she has asthma. In the front yard are rows and rows of beautiful dahlias and zinnias because Grandma likes to garden.

Grandpa has black hair that is about to turn gray. He has a happy face and cheery brown eyes and is very handsome — much more so than Grandma. Grandma has a different kind of personality. She knits a lot of pretty sweaters for winter and sews all of those nice aprons we wear when cooking.

Hopscotch in the Living Room and Kittens in the Barn

After the hugs and kisses are over, we go into the large white farmhouse. The living room floor has big black and white squares. We hop across it and have so much fun playing on it. Grandma doesn't mind because she doesn't have any carpeting, and she's not the best housekeeper.

In the kitchen, we have milk from the farm. Before we drink it, they put the fresh milk in a big metal separator. It whirls around and separates the cream from the rest of the milk, so we end up with cream and milk. After it's separated, they put it in the refrigerator, and she gives us big glasses of ice-cold milk.

Grandma also has these great big batches of dough for sugar cookies. We help her roll out the dough. This is a great deal of fun. Sugar cookies are the best: large white cookies with sugar sprinkles over them. They're sweet and yummy, and once you start eating them, you want another and another.

Some of our cousins are there. They've arrived just ahead of us. We're all happy to see each other! We decide to go out to the barn because it's late in the evening. This means it's time to milk the cows. They're black and white and are called Holsteins.

This is before milking machines were used, so we go out to the barn and watch Grandpa squeeze all of the cows' milk out of their udders by hand.

It takes several hours to milk this way, as it is all done by hand. After the milking is finished, they separate the milk and bring it into the house to Grandma.

All kinds of kittens live in the barn. They love to have some of the cows' milk. The cats are good hunters and keep the barn free of mice. Some of them are kind of wild, but a couple of the kitties are very tame and let us pet them. They have their own personalities. George Mac, a frisky black-and-white cat, loves to have Grandpa squirt milk from the cow into his mouth. Sally is a soft brown color and is timid until she gets to know you.

Sometimes Grandma lets us bring them into the house for a bit. Kitties are so warm and friendly and make great pets. These kitties do a good job of keeping the barn and cattle feed free of mice.

Strawberry Shortcake and Cock-a-Doodle-Doo

When the barn chores are done, we dash into the house and find that Grandma has made baked chicken for dinner. It's really delicious. It's from homegrown chickens called organic now.

The aroma as we come into the kitchen is heavenly. The chicken is cut up and washed many times. Grandma soaks it in ice-cold water for a few hours. Then she dips it in flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, and browns it in a large iron skillet with lots of lard.

When it's crispy, she puts it into a roaster and lets it bake for about one and a half hours at 325 degrees. It comes out very tender. She then makes rich gravy, and we pour it over freshly mashed potatoes that are also grown on the farm.

It's strawberry season, so we have fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert. Grandma makes her strawberry shortcake with baking powder biscuits. She puts fresh smashed strawberries, sweetened with sugar, over the biscuits, and then she tops all this with homemade whipped cream.

When strawberries are out of season, she serves ice cream, made with a hand-cranked freezer. It takes a while, and we all take turns putting crushed ice and salt around the freezer and turn the crank until the ice cream is thick.

After dinner, we wash all of the dishes by hand. We did not have a dishwasher because they were rare and considered a luxury. We tell bedtime stories, and Grandpa listens to the radio. Television was just being invented, only in black and white and rather fuzzy.

Grandma then hustles us upstairs to the bedrooms where we're to sleep. We cuddle up under large homemade quilts. The cousins then begin to tell spooky ghost stories until Grandma warns us to be quiet, or we will get a spanking for staying up all night. (Yes, then you could get a spank on the butt.) She yells up, "Remember the rooster is going to get you up at six o'clock in the morning with his cock-a-doodle-doo!"

We finally settle down and go to sleep. Before we know it, we hear cock-a-doodle-doo, and it's time to milk the cows again. This time, we stay in bed — we just can't make it out to the barn that early. We tell Grandpa we're just too tired because we talked too much. He understands, but we still feel a little guilty.

A Special Kind of Eggs

After a while, we get up and go downstairs. We have a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, fresh milk, homemade bread, and homemade strawberry jam. The breakfast is cooked on Grandma's old-fashioned wood stove, so it tastes really good.

Sometimes she makes us pancakes on the wood stove too. These are made on a big iron grill placed on top of the stove. They're very good, and she has maple syrup from her maple trees to pour over the pancakes. We eat a big breakfast and are excited to go see the farm animals.

After we do the dishes and sweep up all the crumbs on the floor, we go out to the barn to see the kittens again. Then we decide to go see the horses. We head for the horse barn and take turns riding the horses. One is very old, so he doesn't go very fast. But he's still a lot of fun. Then we go to the pens where there are all kinds of rabbits. There is a really pretty white rabbit, and we pet him. There's also a gray rabbit. The rabbits are nice and soft and look very fluffy.

Soon we hear Grandma calling us to come and get a pail to gather eggs in the chicken coop. We get the pail and go into the chicken coop. We're afraid in there because we have to reach under the chickens to get the eggs. We're afraid they will peck us, but actually we are brave enough to get most of them. They are very special eggs. Some are white, and some are brown.

We gather all the eggs, which taste delicious when they're fresh. You don't get fresh eggs at the store, and these are very fresh eggs! It's fun to gather them. Sometimes a hen will be sitting on eggs to hatch baby chicks, so we leave them for her to guard. She keeps them warm until the chicks hatch. They're really cute when they're a few days old and can hardly walk on wiggly legs. They remind me of Easter. We can pick them up, as long as we're careful with them.

Pigs and a Wagon Ride to the Creek

There are lots of other animals on the farm besides cows, horses, rabbits, and chickens. There's a goose or two and some pigs. We decide to go to the pig pen out behind the barn.

The pigs are very fat. They love to play in the mud and slop around and get dirty. Ugh! They are so big and ugly and grunt and grunt when they're eating. We had bacon this morning for breakfast, which came from parts of the pigs. Also, pork roasts come from parts of the pigs.

Grandpa has decided to load up the wagon. After he hitches up the horses, he will give us a ride in the wagon. The horses are very tall. Grandpa is going to take us down a path. Actually, he's going to take us down in the meadow alongside the cornfield, so we can look at the stalks and see how big the corn is getting to be.

If we're lucky, he'll continue the ride down by the stream that runs through the farm. We'll go fishing there tomorrow, he promises.

Grandpa is a very excellent farmer. In the fall, the fields are stripped down of stalks and grow only grass the next year. Then the fields are planted with some other crop. This is called field rotation, and it helps to conserve the nutrients in the soil.

Surprise! Grandpa circles around the creek again. He says because it's such a hot day, we can go wading in the creek. We think this is wonderful because we are all very hot and sweaty by this time. We have shorts on, so we don't need to worry about getting our clothes wet.

We pick a shallow part of the creek where we can just walk across. We wade and splash each other and yell and scream. So much for not getting wet! We are completely soaked from head to foot.

Grandpa says, "Hope you don't get into trouble for getting so wet. But if you do, remind Grandma she used to do the same thing." He was laughing, so we figured we were pretty safe. He would put in a good word for us with Grandma and Mother also.

Back in the Fall

The sun is going down, so Grandpa helps us into the hay wagon and takes us back to the farmyard. Soon we must leave, but what a wonderful time we had with Grandpa and Grandma and our cousins. Grandpa and Grandma invite us back again in the fall when it's time to harvest the corn and gourds.

The farm is very beautiful in the fall. It's the time when the leaves turn all different colors: bright red, brilliant orange, and golden yellow. Grandma promises we can each pick a pumpkin for a jack-o-lantern. We'll have sweet corn, homemade pumpkin pie, and fresh apple pie in the fall. Since they have apple trees we help pick the apples.

Grandma promises us blueberry muffins and blueberry jam from the blueberries she's picked in the woods. It's a hard job to pick blueberries, as the mosquitoes are usually thick where berries grow. Grandpa and Grandma say that we should come back and help them later in the fall, and we'll have a great feast. My favorite is when we make a bonfire and roast wieners.

We give them a big hug, hop in our station wagon, and off we go back to the city. We are all fast asleep in the car because we're so tired from the fresh air and the wonderful time. I think my mother likes it when we sleep on the way home. She says it gives her some peace.

We get home, and Grandpa calls and asks when we're coming to see them. We laugh because we just left, but it does make us feel very good that he wants us to come back so soon.

And we are really looking forward to it.

Christmas Story by Grandma Dee Dee

This is a story about a little eight-year-old girl. It was the night before Christmas, and everybody was sleeping very soundly. Of course the girl was having trouble sleeping because she hadn't opened her presents on Christmas Eve.

The family was waiting until Christmas morning when Grandma and Grandpa would be coming in from out of town. Normally, they opened their presents on Christmas Eve, and she was very curious after seeing all the packages: silver, with a big red satin bow, blue, with snowflakes and a green bow, and a small, long, and narrow package with Santa wrapping on it.

One package had reindeer on it, and another rattled when she shook it. She was waiting to see if she was going to receive her favorite doll from Aunt Pauline — the one with black hair, red dress, and red shoes. She'd seen it at Dayton's Department Store, and she was hoping she'd get that doll!

On this night, the little girl was sleeping upstairs because her parents were sleeping downstairs with the new baby. They wanted to be sure to hear the baby if he cried. She heard a terrible noise in the kitchen, so she sneaked out of her cozy warm bed and tiptoed down the long winding staircase.

She peeked around the corner and thought, My goodness, what could be happening in the kitchen? It was a terrible racket!

Eggs and Potatoes and Lollipops Dancing

The open kitchen was next to the living room where the Christmas tree was standing. She crept carefully around the refrigerator. My goodness! What did she see? She saw one of the little white eggs dancing with the baked potato! They were dancing up and down the orange countertop, having a very, very good time.

Dancing and winding and twirling around and then doing the splits; they were having a good time, dancing to rock and roll! Since her mother hadn't cleaned up very well, they slipped in the gravy, and the gravy went splish-splash. There was gravy on the counter, and the baked potato almost went over the edge and became a smashed potato. The egg grabbed hold of the potato and pulled it back on the counter, and they began to dance again.

Pretty soon, the little girl heard another ruckus. All the lollipops had jumped out of their bowl (where her mother had put them). They all started to do a little dance, swinging their legs and doing steps like you see in Hollywood movies. They were swinging back and forth — one, two, and three.

One, two, three — skip!

One, two, three — kick!

One, two, three — kick!

One, two, three — hop!

One, two, three — hop!

A yellow lollipop, an orange one, a chocolate-mint one, a raspberry one, and a strawberry one too. They were circling and circling around and having the best time.

Cookies and Angels and a Rocking Horse All Prancing

Pretty soon, she looked to the right, and off came the cookie jar lid. All the chocolate chip cookies jumped out and started to swing and dance! They were having an extremely fun time, swinging and laughing.

The Christmas tree was glowing brightly. Suddenly, the angel light on the top of the tree came on and lit up all the decorations. Then they jumped off the tree! The little rocking horse jumped down and began to rock. A little mouse hopped down and jumped on the back of the rocking horse. A small kitten ornament jumped down too, but she decided she didn't want to dance, so she curled up with her big fuzzy tail right under the Christmas tree.

Then, all of the ornaments with pretty bulbs formed a line, and they began to dance: a bright gold ornament, a silver one, and another silver one with pink stripes. The tinsel began to glisten as all sorts of decorations began to dance.

A dancing teddy bear hopped off the tree and danced with its momma teddy bear. A little stuffed stocking jumped down, and everything popped out of the stocking!

Kittens and Piggies and Popcorn on Strings

A ball rolled out. Another kitten rolled out and went to lie down with the first kitten. The tiny bells on the tree were all jingling. When she looked over at the chimney where the stockings were hung, the little girl saw all of them singing and dancing. One stocking held a jack-in-the-box, and it popped open.

Another stocking had a little piggy in it that said, "Oink, oink!" The entire living room was alive with dancing! All of a sudden, she went back into the kitchen where she found some scrambled eggs left in the frying pan. The scrambled eggs turned into a little ball and jumped out of the pan. They began to dance on little legs and wore little hats made from chips of eggshell. They were all having a really fun time!

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Excerpted from Children's Stories by Grandma Dee Dee by Delores (Dee) Ray. Copyright © 2016 Delores (Dee) Ray. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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