Christmas Surprise

It was Christmas morning. The stockings were emptied, The cows were milked and fed, the chores were done, the presents were opened, the wrapping paper was cleaned up and all in that order. The Henning children were in the kitchen taking turns preparing their flavored oatmeal and hot chocolate and preparing for a relaxing day of Christmas movies and family fellowship. Or so they thought. 

“Hey guys,” Christa called to her children. “It looks like there's one more present for you guys under the tree.”

A chorus of whats, reallys, and are you sures rang out from the kitchen as the kids grabbed their respective mugs and bowls and made their way into the living room. Dale was sitting in his reclining section of the family couch, sipping his black coffee. Christa was pulling a medium, rectangular box from the back side of the tree. 

“Who's it for?” nine-year-old Luke inquired of his mother.

“It's a family present,” Christa replied, with a gleeful smile on her face. “It's for all five of you.”

She handed it to Caleb, who, at the age of fourteen, was the oldest of the five. He glanced at his brothers and sisters and proceeded to tear the wrapping off of the festive package. He pulled off the lid and reached into the box. He removed a half sheet of paper and read...

Last but not least,

A penny-wise feast.

To get to this fellow,

You look in the jello.

“What?” twelve-year-old Scott asked in confusion. “Jello? What is this?”

Scott's look of confusion was matched by all of his siblings as they looked from the paper to their parents to each other. This cycle was interrupted by their mother who softly interjected with a suggestion.

“Maybe you five should go look in the jello jar.”

The children silently agreed with a collective nod and launched from their places on the floor. They took off towards the kitchen and made a beeline towards the counter on the far side of the refrigerator. A clear glass cookie jar sat on the counter up against the white, textured surface of the refrigerator. The jar had been re-purposed to hold jello because Christa had switched from boxed jello to bulk jello. The lid of the cookie jar sealed and kept the humidity from effecting the contents of the jar. 

Ten-year-old Kelsey was the first to reach he jar. She pulled the lid from it's place and reached inside and pulled a white offering envelope from the jar that contained a strip of paper that read...

This could take a while,

You need energy for this part.

You might walk a mile,

Better pop over and get a tart.

“Pop over for a tart,” she paraphrased to her siblings. “Do you think they mean pop-tart?”

“Yes!” they responded together as they scurried to the trash closet.

The trash closet was where the family kept their trash can, but all of the breakfast cereal and toaster pastries were kept on shelves above the trash can. They crowded around the open closet door as Luke grabbed the first open box of Aldi brand pop tarts he could find. He shuffled through the plastic wrapped pastry pairs until he found it: a white offering envelope from their church containing a piece of paper that read...

The next place you go,

Is out in the snow.

The cold might get your goat,

If you don't take your coat.

“But where are we going?” eight-year-old Kerry puzzled.

“To get our coats, I suppose,” Caleb suggested. “Maybe there's a clue there.”

The children turned on their heels and headed back through the kitchen doorway to the basement door. They opened the door and took turns grabbing their coats from the hooks that lined the basement stairwell. 

“Might as well grab our boots too,” Scott suggested. “It said we're going out in the snow.”

His brothers and sisters followed his lead and grabbed their black, rubber muck boots off of the shelf on the left side of the stairway. They set their boots on the linoleum floor and began shuffling through their pockets. They all stopped when Kerry squealed with delight at finding a white offering envelope in her coat pocket...

I was wondering, if you were the hose,

That carried the milk out when it goes,

From our tank to the truck,

How would you go so you wouldn't get stuck?

“The hose door!” she yelled with too much excitement and the five children scrambled to put their coats on and slip their feet into their barn boots.

“Make sure you zip up your coats!” Christa hollered as the five frantic children scrambled through the back porch door.

The kids gingerly ran down the sidewalk and across the snowy yard. The gravel and the salt on the driveway crunched as they speed-walked across to the milk house. The milk house was an addition on the front side of the old family bank barn. It's white, steel exterior stood in direct contrast to the faded, red barn siding. The door on the east end was sheltered by a continuation of the milk house roof. A Honda, three-wheeled ATV was parked in the gravel next to a cement slab. Directly to the left of the fiberglass man door was an eight inch by eight inch door that hinged on the top. Scott opened the door and reached in to find an envelope just like the others. He opened it up and pulled out a slip of paper and read the contents to his siblings.

Most days we must look here,

But this week, not today or the first.

We get cards with Christmas cheer,

But watch the road or expect the worst.

“Pretty sure we're supposed to go to the mail box next,” Scott correctly surmised. “That's a pretty long walk. I think mom and dad just wanted to get some time alone for once.”

“You might have something there,” Caleb agreed with a chuckle. “Oh well, you could use the exercise.”

Scott might have taken offense to that comment were it not for the general sense of joviality in the group. He just smiled as he patted his roundish midsection and the five children began their pilgrimage down the long driveway. They walked in two lines in the tire treads of the vehicles that had passed up and down the driveway in previous days. Their dad usually kept the drive pretty clear of snow, but he had let the snow get ahead of him. The middle of the drive had a four to five inch snow covering while the tire tread path on either side provided a hard packed surface on which to walk... and slide. The children took turns getting a running start and sliding as far as their balances would allow. This entertainment made the trip to the end of the driveway go fairly quick. The Henning clan made their way up the hill at the end of the drive and looked both ways before crossing State Route 172 to the family's mailbox. 

Caleb pulled open the plastic door of the mailbox and pulled a lone envelope from the plastic receptacle. He broke the seal and read from the slip of paper inside.

I was just thinking of a wedge,

And where it goes when hit by sledge.

We don't do it this way now,

but why not check there anyhow.

“What do you think, guys?” Caleb asked, not wanting to sound bossy.

“Probably around the firewood chute, maybe?” Kelsey suggested.

“Yeah, we split wood there whenever we don't split it at the woods,” Scott agreed. “You don't think they'd sent us all the way to the woods, do you?”

“No way!” Luke exclaimed. “Let's check by the house.”

“Yeah,” Kerry agreed. “If it's not there, we can go to the woods next.”

With that, the Henning entourage crossed the road and slid down the hill to begin the trip back towards the house. The trip back was somewhat slower than the trip to the mailbox. This was due partially to the decreased energy of the scavenger hunters, but the general uphill slope of the driveway might have also been a factor. The field to the left stood vacant with remnants of the previous season's corn crop poking up through the crisp snow. The tan cornstalk stubs broke the surface of the white covering like the five o'clock shadow on their father's face. 

The children came to a place on the driveway where they could branch off to the left and walk up to the back side of the house. The downside to this option was that the path had been unused up to that point and was covered with seven or eight inches of snow. The children contemplated their options for a moment and took the road less traveled. Caleb motioned to his youngest sister to climb onto his back before he led the way. The rest of the Kids fell in line in the order of age and in this manner, four out of five kids trekked through the snow to the woodpile. Upon their arrival, Kerry slid to the ground and all five scoured the pile of un-split wood for the tell-tail envelope. Luke found it underneath the heavy head of the splitting ax on top of the splitting block.

“Here it is,” he stated as he opened the envelope to read it's contents.

When you get back, you can bet,

Your little ordeal is not done yet.

Walk farther north yet if you could,

To the place where we keep the 8-foot wood.

“I think he is sending us to the lumber barn,” Caleb volunteered. “That's where we keep all the lumber.”

His brothers and sisters agreed. Luke pocketed the clue as they took to the top drive and made their way towards the lumber barn. The lumber barn was built as a heifer barn, but hadn't been used for that purpose for most of the youngsters' lifetimes. It's primary purpose was to house the family's supply of home sawn lumber.

The snow began to fall gently as the children walked, lingering on their heads and shoulders before melting or being whisked away by a brisk winter breeze. The children watched as a large section of snow slid off the steep roof of the red bank barn and crashed violently on the pavement of the barnyard below. The top doors of the barn and the shop were closed against the winter weather. As the group passed the sugar camp, they looked over the bank into the pasture below. The clean surface was deceptive. The children knew that just beneath the cover of snow and ice was marshy, muddy ground that threatened to keep their their boots should they venture from the relative safety of the snow covered, gravel drive. They made their way past the pile of slab wood that lay against the side of the single story structure to the open doorway in the center of the building. The children walked in and turned to the pile directly to the right, inside the building. Sure enough, slipped in between the sticked layers of wood, a white envelope was patiently awaiting them

.

Caleb pulled it cleanly from it's resting place and gave it to Kerry to read the note aloud...

Well, you finally made it, I hope you laughed,

At things I said 'cause all that's left,

is go back to the barn and look in the loft,

At the blue thing you find there-just lift.

“The bank barn!” all five exclaimed in unison

.

Eager to see this adventure to it's end, the five children jogged all the way back to the red bank barn. Scott picked up the push-pull that stood propped against the barn door as Caleb pushed the door open. (The push-pull was a six foot length of three inch steel pipe with hitch ends on both ends so that it could be used to push a wagon into the barn backwards while being steered by hand from the other end.) Kelsey, Luke, and Kerry stepped over the straw bales that were used to fill the foot and a half of space between the bottom of the door and the barn floor. Caleb and Scott followed closely behind. 

The five children walked into the barn and glanced around. It wasn't immediately obvious which mow they were to check. The south mow was used mostly for equipment storage. The square baler was parked there. The kids turned towards the north mow which was stocked with square bales. About one third of the bales had been used so far, which left part of the barn floor exposed, with the exception of some loose hay and a blue tarp.

“Hey,” Kelsey wondered out loud. “Where did that tarp come from?”

The five kids looked at each other and approached the mystery tarp with some hesitation.

“That's it, kids,” their father stated from the doorway. “Go ahead. Move the tarp.”

The kids took a moment to recover from the surprise of having Dale sneak up on them and grabbed the tarp. They removed the tarp to reveal a number of items laid out on the barn floor. The children looked towards their father who had since been joined by Christa.

“Well,” their mother prodded. “Their all labeled. Find the one with your names.”

The kids started examining the items on the floor. One by one they found their names and exclaimed with glee.

“A new computer desk!” Caleb exclaimed as he examined the box with his name in it.

“Check it out,” Scott said with his voice thick with excitement. “It's a sander!”

“I got a huge tub of Legos!” Luke exclaimed ecstatically. 

“We both got brand new baby dolls!” Kelsey spoke for her and her sister as she held up a doll that peered through the plastic window of her card board box. “Porcelain!” She clarified.

The kids took turns hugging their parents before grabbing their gifts and marching towards the farm house.

“I hope we can do this every year,” Kelsey stated with enthusiasm. “It'll be our new tradition.”

“I hope they don't get their hopes too high,” Dale remarked to his wife. “That was a lot of work for me.”

“Yeah,” Christa replied, smiling. “But I think it was worth it.”

Dale nodded as they watched their clan of five trot joyously into the house.