The Spirit of Christmas Past

Lorraine McClain tells Country Woman about holiday hospitality and nostalgia on her guest ranch in Nebraska.

Hearkening back to an old-fashioned holiday is easy at Lorraine McClain’s guest ranch. Kids learn to decorate cookies with food coloring and feathers, and gather eggs for Christmas breakfast. Lorraine is a great holiday hostess.

Families who visit experience 1900s traditions—from hanging stockings to stringing popcorn trimmings. Decked out in farm fashions from the era, Lorraine and daughter Vicky harmonize on Christmas carols. Carrying a two-person hand saw, guests set out on a hunting excursion in search of the perfect tree.

CW: How did your ranch become a tourist destination?

Lorraine: Many family ranches like ours need a supplemental income. A couple of years ago, I took a class on agritourism, and this seemed to be the ideal side business for us.

Now, we put together vacation packages that let people experience life on Buffalo Chip Ranch, our crop farm and cattle operation near Republican City. Folks learn where their food comes from, and I get to do what I love best—entertaining guests.

CW: What special rural getaways do you offer at holidaytime?

Lorraine: From November through January, we invite guests to our 1900s Family Christmas Adventure. Groups of up to eight come for a long weekend, staying in our farmhouse.

We take them back in time and re-create an old-fashioned holiday on the farm. Every activity is family-oriented, with grandparents to toddlers having fun together.

CW: How do you make guests feel as if they’re living a century ago?

Lorraine: To start, we add to our home’s traditional Western décor with antiques from the 1800s and early 1900s. Our house is lit with kerosene lanterns, and there are no computers or TVs in sight.

When guests arrive, we ask them to leave iPods, laptops, watches and cell phones in the car. There’s plenty to do around here without them.

CW: Is it true you actually put folks to work doing chores?

Lorraine: Most of our guests ask if they can help. They do everything from collecting eggs and feeding sheep to chopping fuel for our woodstove. There’s no central heating.

For authenticity, we even use turn-of-the-century hand tools, like pitchforks and axes.

CW: What Christmas activities do you plan for guests?

Lorraine: On Saturday morning, we make cookies to hang on the tree. Kids love decorating them the old-time way. We use chicken feathers to paint on natural food coloring we make from fruits, vegetables and spices.

After lunch, we all head to our woods to choose and cut a Christmas tree. Later, we decorate it with homemade trimmings—popcorn and cranberry garlands, pinecones, cookies and ribbons.

Sunday begins with a wake-up call from Santa. The kids check their stockings and find rag dolls, nuts, oranges and toy horses made of corncobs. We also provide transportation to services at our country church down the road.

CW: Who prepares the Christmas dinner?

Lorraine: Everyone pitches in. Some guests help me make pies from scratch. Others explore our root cellar and bring up potatoes and other fruits and veggies for side dishes. These cooking sessions have been so popular, I’m planning to start canning weekends for women who want to learn to put up their own food.

CW: How do your family members help with hosting?

Lorraine: My husband, Jerry, and our grown sons Matt and Josh run our farm and ranch together. They tell guests who are helping with chores about the work involved in our cow/calf operation, and how we go about planting and harvesting our grain crops.

Our daughter, Vicky, helps get visitors in the holiday spirit. In the evening, she and I dress in period costumes to lead carol singing and play classic board games with guests by lantern light.

CW: Do you offer other vacation packages the rest of the year?

Lorraine: Spring through fall, people can stay in an 1876 log cabin we restored and tour sites around our property where Native Americans, the cavalry and even Buffalo Bill used to travel. During our cowboy stays, families eat out of a chuck wagon, fix fences, chop thistle and learn the basics of roping.

We also host and outfit turkey, deer, pheasant and quail hunting trips.

CW: When do you take a vacation?

Lorraine: Well, we seem to be working at some part of our business all the time. But to us, it feels like one long vacation. What better way to live than doing what we love to do as family?

Editor’s Note: To find out more about farm stays with the McClains, E-mail for details at buffalochipranch @yahoo.com.