16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, December 19, 1911: Fixed up some for Christmas although I guess no one is coming. I like to have things seem like it ought to. Jimmie is so anxious to know what I got your highness.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I can almost feel Grandma’s pain when she wrote this entry. I wonder why no one was coming—but it makes it feel proud that Grandma did some decorating so that things “looked like they ought to.”
Throughout most of December the diary entries indicated that Grandma was looking forward to Christmas.
What could have possibly been wrong? The diary provides no clues.
Was someone ill? . . . .Had there been a disagreement with someone in the extended family?
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Jimmie was Grandma’s 6-year-old brother. I think that “your highness” refers to their older sister Ruth. In the diary when Grandma was annoyed with Ruth she used other terms and nicknames (such as Rufus) for her sister.
Indeed,this entry had a sad feel to it. Guess we will have to wait 6 more days to see how Christmas turns out.