Christmas at The Cabin ~ Updated

Update January 8, 2020...Thought I'd update this old favorite post again...I know it's too late for Christmas already, but my mother's 103rd birthday was this week (Jan. 6), and she and my dad are celebrating in heaven...and I just had them on my mind and wanted to read this again.  I also posted a few new pictures at the end.  I kind of "dressed up" the Cabin for winter time, and thought you might enjoy seeing it come to life!!  So without further adieu, here is the story once again. 

Last update in 2017:

This story was originally written in 2008 for my Father's Christmas card, after my Mother had passed away in 2006.  In 2011, my Father joined my Mother in heaven, and the family home was sold and all the family belongings were dispersed to the four winds (and the four kids).  But the happy memories linger...and those can never be taken away. I originally posted this story in 2010, but just thought you'd enjoy reading it again.

"Christmas At The Cabin"

"The Cabin" drawn by my father, William F. Mursch, circa 1933
Story written by Pamela Mursch Steiner, for the Mursch Family Christmas Card, 2008

A long time ago in a land far away, a young man spent his summers and weekends helping his father build the family vacation home, better known as “The Cabin”. It was a rustic and quiet place, far from the black soot and noise of the big steel mills in the city. Oftentimes some of the gang from college would go up to “The Cabin” with the young man to spend the weekend in the woods, just having plain good fun away from their hard work at school.

Three Beautiful Girls...(front) (Dad Mursch's sisters:) Marion Mursch Ryder and
Ruth Mursch Gammie. (Back) Dorothea Tedlie Mursch (my mother)  This
was taken  at The Cabin either before or shortly after my parents were married.

On one such weekend the young man was looking forward to his trip to the cabin, for his sister had promised him a “surprise”. She was bringing up a friend from the city...a young lady who yearned for the fresh air of the country…

That weekend forever changed history in the life of this young man...for when he saw the beautiful girl with the dimpled knees coming across the field to meet him, his fate was sealed. His heart went out to her at first sight and he told his college friend beside him, “That’s the girl I’m going to marry!”

And so after a night of walking and talking with this beautiful maiden and singing in the moonlight together, her heart too reached out to his, and in a short time they became Man and Wife.

“The Cabin” became ever ingrained in their hearts as the beginning place of great joy and happy memories. Even when they lived on their own farm just a few miles away, they still spent many holidays with loved ones and friends at “The Cabin”.

As the years went by, the family moved south to find better opportunities, and “The Cabin” was sold to a new family. Our “couple” was now a family of six, and the young man built a new home, with the help of his retired father, working together side by side as once before. This new home was built of brick and mortar instead of logs and chinking. It soon became the place for all the family gatherings and times of making happy memories together.

Christmas at their home was always a very joyous time, with the whirring sounds of a toy locomotive running under the tree, a warm fire by which to hang our stockings with care, the aroma of Mom’s apple pies and sugar cookies baking in the oven, and the sounds of Santa’s sleigh bells ringing with a “Ho Ho Ho!” shouted from somewhere in the night stillness filling our minds with wonder and delight!

Now the once young man (at the time of the original writing in 2008)  has reached his ninetieth year, and his beautiful girl with the dimpled knees is running through the fields of glory, helping the angels build the new “Cabin” in heaven, as she looks forward to welcome him there someday. He sits by his fireside and remembers all the good times they had together, and reminisces about all the friends and loved ones who have gone on before him, and especially those idyllic days of yore spent at “The Cabin” with his beautiful girl.

Oh what happy memories! God so truly blessed this family with such a home! Only God knew what joy was in store for that young man and young lady on that day at The Cabin...for 64 years their time together was so precious! And that couple became a family of six, which added four “in-law” children, plus many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and the family traditions go on and on...The sons build their houses and the daughters bake the pies like their mother taught them. The grandchildren and great grandchildren play with the trains and the dolls and carry on the family traditions each in their own way.

Thank you, Lord, for these precious memories....

May Christmas at your "Cabin" be a time of joy and peace,

filled with happy memories for all!

 

"The Cabin" Birdhouse, built by my son Benton Steiner, circa 2010,

which now sits on our bookshelves to remind us of those pleasant memories every day.