A Skating Rink for Christmas

Living in Minnesota as a child was great, in the winter we would ice skate on the roads, running into the ice banks the snow plows made when they cleaned the streets. Then in the summer months we went swimming in the lakes, hiking in the woods for berries, fresh water fishing from a small row boat. One year my step-father talked the town council into taking a small vacant lot near the lake and making an ice rink out of it. It was just the right size and close to the lake so getting water from the lake to the lot would be fairly easy. A few of the men got together pulling their resources together and created a terrific skating rink for the children of the town. Every year after it was built right before the first freeze someone in town made sure that the ground was weed free and plain dirt, ready for the water and freeze. The skate rink was a secret from the children, at least it was suppose to be, the men put up a fence and did their best to keep us out. Stories were told by parents to the children about making a community garden, which did not make sense considering the time of year and it was getting very cold.

In a small town it is very difficult to keep such a large secret as this but somehow the children in town never really figured out what the adults were up to, the whispers ran about how the adults going to create a garden. Every day each of us would sneak over to the fence and try our best to look over, or through the knot holes, cracks, climbing on each other's shoulder to get a look inside the fence. None of us were ever tall enough and looking through knot holes was not a great way to get a look at what was going on inside the fence. The gate was always locked and when it was not, the adults that were there would not let us near enough to see.

That was the biggest surprise any of us ever shared on Christmas morning, under the tree was a new pair of skates for each of us at my house. Later I discovered that all most every child in town received a new pair of skates. Before breakfast my step-father helped each of us lace up and get dressed to go out in the freezing cold. We skated and walked, following him up the road and towards the wooden fence we had tried so many times to look over. Almost all of the children in town that wanted to skate were there and as if this was the biggest event ever and so much fanfare our dads opened the gate and sent us in to skate. It was the greatest gift, there was not a day that went by there was not a dozen plus children in the rink. As soon as I could get home, do my chores and homework it was on with the skates and off to skate. No matter how many times I ran into the fence or fell on my bottom I could not get enough of skating. Coming home to stand by the stove with my fingers and toes almost touching it because I nearly froze them off, a huge smile on my face, listening to mom lecture me again about staying out for so long and letting my hands and feet get that cold. I cannot remember a word she said only her tone of voice as she scolded me, knowing I would be back out there again as soon as I could. There has yet to be a Christmas to beat this one, our family was closer that year as was the entire town, just because a rink was built for the children and the town pulled together to make it happen.