This is the third post in a series of three of memories of Christmas from my childhood.

We always tried to keep our Norwegian traditions alive on Christmas Eve. One of these was putting up a sheaf of wheat (we actually only had oats) that had been shaped for this purpose at the time of harvest, wrapped securely, and stacked in a safe place waiting for 3 PM on Christmas Eve.

That is the time that the church bells rang and at this same time the sheaf was secured high on a light pole. It was a special treat for the birds.

It seemed very special to be on a farm, filling mangers with hay, smelling the smells and hearing the sounds that baby Jesus would have heard.