Grandpa's 1889 Alaska Sourdough Story-Cookbook©

 Over 250 pages of Alaska stories and tasty sourdough recipes.  

(A portion of The Christmas Tree in the children’s section)

The Christmas Tree

“Where are we going to get the tree, Grandpa?” “I thought we’d go take a walk to the back forty.” “What is the bacfory, Grandpa?” “Back...forty, Sunshine. It’s that piece of land down by the stream.” “The place where the crayfish bite me, Grandpa?” “Yes, Sunshine.” “I don’t think I like it there berry much, Grandpa. Can we go to the front forty?” “There isn’t a front forty, Sunshine.” “Oh. Can we go to Bradley’s back forty? He doesn’t have crayfish.” Grandpa laughed. “It’s winter, Sunshine. The water will be almost frozen. The crayfish won’t bother you today. You won’t even see one of them.”

Grandpa stopped by the tool shed and retrieved a long toboggan, a couple lengths of rope, and a sharp ax. “Well, Sunshine? Are you ready?” “Yep! I’ll pull awhile and then can I ride on the sled the rest of the way, please, Grandpa?” “Okay, you pull for a bit and then you can climb on.” Sunshine pulled the sled for about twenty feet and stopped. Grandpa smiled as she climbed on board. He pulled on the rope and walked fast. Grandpa opened the gate to the pasture and pulled the sled through. He closed the gate and tied it. He walked at a swift pace pulling the sled behind him. This was fun!

 “Grandpa?” “Yes, Sunshine.” Will we be in the back forty soon?” “Soon, Sunshine.” She was eager to cut that tree. It would be fun decorating the tree with Grandma and Grandpa. Sunshine’s job was to string popcorn, make paper chains, and hang the glass balls on the last two rows around the bottom of the tree. It was then Grandpa would turn out the lamps and plug in the lights so they would see the beautiful Christmas tree.    

Grandpa started through a small stand of trees and stopped to look them over. “Is one of them good enough, Grandpa?” “Nope, not here. We will go a little further.” He continued to walk by two or three more groups of trees. He must have sized them up before they got to them because he never stopped to have a second look. Now they were closer to the stream and the nasty crayfish. Sunshine pulled the edge of her coat closer and tucked it under her legs. She didn’t want one of those nasty things getting her coat either. Grandpa stopped. “I think it is here we will find our tree, Sunshine. Just look at all the nice trees around here. Sunshine stood and looked all around the ground to make sure it was safe before stepping off the sled. “Sure are some nice trees ‘round here. I think we can get a tree from here. What do you think, Grandpa?” He took off his hat, scratched his head, and laughed. “Did I make a silly, Grandpa?” “No, Sunshine. You are just growing up too fast.”

Grandpa took her hand and led her towards a group of small trees. They weren’t much taller than her. “How does one of these look, Sunshine?” She raised her voice as high as she could get it....” These trees are toooooooo small.” “Hmmm.” They walked to another stand of trees. “How about these, Sunshine. Anything here meet your fancy?” Sunshine lowered her voice as deep as she could get it, “These are too BIG!” Grandpa laughed. They were too big. They were taller than him.

Grandpa and Sunshine walked a bit further. Standing in a clearing all by itself was the perfect tree. “Oh, Grandpa, isn’t it beautiful? That is MY Christmas tree!” “But it didn’t grow straight, Sunshine.” “Oh, Grandpa, it is just right. It grew all alone, just for me, just so I could find it! It is bigger than me and smaller than you. It has lots of cones on it! It has lots of branches on it! You can make it straight... can’t you Grandpa?” “If that’s the tree you want, then that’s the tree we’ll get. You stand back and I’ll chop it down.”

Grandpa cut the tree down with three whacks of his sharp ax. With the tree in tow with one hand and his other hand around Sunshine’s, they walked back to the sled. Grandpa laid the ropes out on the ground and put the tree on top of them. He rolled the tree and the ropes at the same time. When he had finished the tree was all trussed up and ready to head for home.

Grandpa loaded the tree on the sled. “Can you walk the long way back to the house or would you like to ride with the tree?” “Umm, I wanna walk for some time and ride for some time.” “That’s good enough for me. When you get tired you let me know, then you can ride.” They walked for what seemed to Sunshine like a very long time (ten minutes, more or less) when she began to tire. “Grandpa, my legs are getting shorter. Can I ride now?” Grandpa picked her up and plunked me down right on top of the tree. She hung on to the ropes so she wouldn’t fall off.

Sunshine felt her head nod forward and bounced off her chest. She had almost fallen asleep. Her head jerked up and her hand came loose. She fell face first in the snow. Grandpa hadn’t noticed she was gone. He kept right on walking.

“Grandpa!”, She cried; “Wait for me!” He turned and saw Sunshine lying in the snow. He walked back, brushed her off, and put here back on top of the tree. “You’d better hold on tight. It’s getting darker. We don’t have much further to go. We don’t want any crayfish to get you!” “Oh, Grandpa, they don’t come this far from the creek.” Grandpa laughed. It didn’t seem like any time at all before we were at the pasture gate, and then home.

Grandma met they at the door just as Grandpa untied the tree. “See the beautiful tree Sunshine picked out for us this year?” Grandma stood back with one hand covering her mouth and the other resting on her hip. She walked all around the tree. “That’s just lovely, Sunshine. I am sure Grandpa can make it stand straight.”

The story continues with decorating the tree with special ornaments… one for each child in the family………

There are Grandpa's bedtime stories for children and nine additional ones for the older crowd.

Each of the older stories is followed by one of Grandpa's recipes.

 From Sourdough Flapjacks to Sourdough chocolate cake, and

Sourdough fruitcake (for those of us who HATE fruitcake), plus

sourdough crepes to die for.

$16.95

Real Alaska sourdough, real Alaska stories.

Find out why there are the Northern lights!

Find out what Sunshine did to be more like her friend.

GREAT FOR GIFTS

Grandpa's Alaska Sourdough Story-Cookbook©

Written and illustrated with pen and ink drawings

Order by mail, just $16.95

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Wolf Painter
PO Box 60088
Fairbanks Alaska 99706

FAX (907)456-4385

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