If you have some time spend it with Laura Ingalls Wilder:

A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas

Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum adds on their Facebook page:
“We are planning on a “Christmas Open House” in the near future. Refreshments and pictures inside Laura’s home next to the Christmas Tree will be events that will be taking place. Keep on checking for updates on the upcoming Open House with dates and times. We hope to see you all there!!!!!!”

I really wish I could go. A photo of me in front of the Christmas Tree at Rocky Ridge, WOW! However, after getting caught in a blizzard last December on a Laura trip, and considering the way the birds have been tanking up on birdfeed, I’m not even going to try this time. If anybody else does, please report back.

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube and Blog Talk Radio
Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association, Vice-President and Membership Chair

3 Trees at Hoover

From all of us here at Beyond Little House to all of you, have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season.

Hoover Christmas Preview

Don’t forget to check out the video of my program from the opening.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas

And if you haven’t seen it yet, watch the video of the Hoover Presidential Library’s 1995 Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas exhibit.

Little House Legacy

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube and Blog Talk Radio http://tobtr.com/s/1423557

I’m expanding this program to continue doing it. If you have any suggestions of what else I should include, please comment.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas

Read more about the exhibit here:

http://hoover.archives.gov/programs/featuredprogram.html

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube and Blog Talk Radio http://tobtr.com/s/1423557

What was the most special or unique Laura Ingalls Wilder gift you ever got for Christmas?

Mine was probably the Christmas after my first trip with my family to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri. I had spent a long time in the gift shop, then located in the building that houses the bathrooms in the center of the parking lot, staring at the china shepherdess replicas. Christmas morning  there waiting for me was a china shepherdess. Somehow my mom had managed to get one purchased at the gift shop and in the car without me noticing, kept it out of sight the whole trip home, and didn’t spill a word until Christmas morning. It’s still one of the most special pieces in my collection.

That’s my story, what’s yours?

If you don’t have one yet, what present (that you could actually get – not in a museum or lost to time) would you like to get this year?

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube.

First up, do they have a complete set of the books yet? If not, a set of their own is a great place to start. The three most common editions currently available are hardback, full color illustration paperback, and pencil drawing illustration paperbacks. (Note that the full color illustrations do no have all the illustrations shown in the pencil illustration versions in the later books in the series.) They are also available as books on CD as read by Tony winning actress Cherry Jones.

Second, interest in Laura is wide spread enough to support many books about Laura and her life. Here are some suggestions.

Prairie Girl by William T. Anderson – an 80 page introduction to Laura’s life

Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography by William T. Anderson – a 256 page version of Laura’s life without footnotes, written at a jr. high/high school level, but very approachable for adults as well

Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder by John E. Miller – the best scholarly biography on Laura, “choked with facts” and a treat for any devoted Laura fan

Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer’s Life by Pamela Smith Hill – more of a literary analysis than biography this newest biography from the South Dakota State Historical Society provides an in depth analysis of Laura’s writing

Third, there are books that help you feel more a part of Laura’s world.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Country by William T. Anderson and Leslie Kelly – photographs of Laura Ingalls Wilder  homesites around the country

Laura Ingalls Wilder Songbook by Eugenia Garson – a collection of sheet music to songs in the “Little House” books with notations where they appear in the books

Little House Cookbook by Barbara Walker – a collection of historic recipes as made in the books

Fourth, get them a replica of something out of the books.

Many young Laura fans start a Laura collection with a bonnet or apron. Although you might be able to make your own or from a local source the homesite gift shops also sell them (see list below).

In a very memorable scene in the first book of the series, Little House in the Big Woods, Laura gets her first rag doll for Christmas. In the books, she is called Charlotte. Every homesite gift shop sells their own version.

Also, in that first book, Ma receives a china shepherdess figurine. In all of the rest of the books, a house truly becomes a home once Ma puts out the china shepherdess. There are three replica versions of this figurine available. Walnut Grove, Minnesota’s looks the most like the version used on the TV show, but it is made of resin, not china. The version sold at Mansfield, Missouri is designed by children’s book author/illustrator Cheryl Harness. The version sold at De Smet Memorial Society in South Dakota was designed by a local artist.

Ingalls Homestead tells me that their biggest seller is a tin cup. Laura and Mary each got a tin cup for Christmas the year they were in Independence, Kansas.

Laura’s faithful companion through the first half of the series is her faithful bulldog Jack. Most of the homesites have at least one (and in some cases many) stuffed versions of her faithful friend for you to cuddle with.

A final touch of the books might be a recording of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s voice. Laura Ingalls Wilder Speaks is a CD with the only known recording of Laura’s voice and Pa’s real fiddle playing music. Laura reads a thank-you letter to school children in California as an older woman, but it’s our Laura’s voice. There are a number of Laura music CDs brought out by different artists and groups. This is the only one with Pa’s real fiddle so that you can really hear it. Of all the Laura music CDs I own my other favorite is a Tribute to Charles “Pa” Ingalls. It also features Pa’s real fiddle accompanied by, apparently, the world’s first bluegrass symphony orchestra. Other fans prefer other recordings see them listed in the online stores.

Fifth, a gift that keeps on giving. If your Laura fan isn’t a member in the organizations that support Laura yet, each homesite has its own fan membership and the group that supports this website and the Laurapalooza conference is also offering gift memberships. (Most of the time I was growing up my mother bought me one life membership in a different Laura organization each year for Christmas.) A subscription to the Homesteader newsletter (the site independent newsletter – which I am a contributing editor for) or a set of back issues can also help her learn more.

Sources

While you can get many of these Laura based presents from multiple sources (unless otherwise noted), we urge you when possible to shop at Laura homesite museums. These museum dedicated to Laura get no regular backing from her estate and rely on admissions, donations, and gift shop sales to stay open for us to visit and preserve Laura’s legacy.

The following Laura Ingalls Wilder sites are still open and allowing you to order for Christmas. I’m listing the cut off date for Christmas orders to reach you before Christmas as given to me by the homesites.

Walnut Grove MN

Phone 1-800-528-7280

http://www.walnutgrove.org/store

Last Day for Priority Mail – December 16th

De Smet SD

Memorial Society

Phone 1-800-880-3383

http://www.liwms.com Click on Holiday Guide or Gift Shop

Last Day for Priority Mail – Aren’t listing one

Ingalls Homestead

Phone: 1-800-776-3594

http://www.ingallshomestead.com/giftshop.html

Last Day for Priority Mail – December 21st

Mansfield MO

Phone 1-877-924-7126 (Toll free)

http://www.lauraingallswilderhome.com/categories.php

Last Day for Priority Mail – December 20th

Malone NY

Phone (518) 483-1207

http://almanzowilderfarm.com/store.htm

Last Day for Priority Mail – December 15^th

Malone also says for their set up, online ordering has a quicker response.

And Don’t forget you can also get your Laura fan memories of Laurapalooza 2010

http://beyondlittlehouse.com/laurapallooza-liw-conference-in-minnesota-in-summer-2010/laurapalooza-merchandise/

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube.

A Little House Christmas
November 20 – January 2, 2011

Twenty trees decorated in the traditions of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family.

The brochure reads:

You are invited to a VIP Member Reception for the new Hoover Museum Exhibit.

A LITTLE HOUSE CHRISTMAS

Christmas trees decorated in the traditions of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family.

[Ed. Note - I've seen the prospective list, actually it would be more accurate to say decorated in accordance to themes from the life and writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder. ]

Hoover Library-Museum

West Branch, IA

Nov. 19, 2010

4:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Program from 5:30-5:50 pm

with Sarah Uthoff appearing as Laura Ingalls Wilder

Also hors d’oeuvres and wine tasting included.

Please RSVP by Nov. 15th

Back to the editor notes:

Not a member, find out how to become one at the link below. I joined in order to attend both days of a long ago Laura event and never looked back.

http://www.hooverassociation.org/association/join_renew.php

Call 1-800-828-0475 or e-mail info@hooverassociation.org

If you can’t make it the 19th, visit the exhibit anytime between November 20 – January 2, 2011.

Photos and video will be posted when available.

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube.

And yet so often it’s not, is it?

I’m having a stress-free Christmas this year. I’m not traveling. Not cooking. Not baking. I didn’t send Christmas cards. I only bought a handful of presents, and took care of that before Thanksgiving so as not to have to face the madness of Christmas crowds at the stores, or have that anxiety of not being able to find the right gift in time.

So really, the only “chore” I’ve had this entire Christmas season was that of decorating the tree.

And decorating my Christmas tree is for me a very Little Housey experience. Because nearly every ornament on my tree contains a Little House memory.

First, there are the ornaments purchased from the Little House sites themselves. Mansfield has a whole set, one representing each book, and there have been several others sold by various sites at different points in time that I’ve been able to pick up.

And then the classic iconic ornaments. A log cabin. A covered wagon. A fiddle. A lantern. A corncob doll.

And of course, we mustn’t forget the Little House Christmas gifts themselves. Peppermint sticks. Tin cups. A button string. And little red mittens.

And then there are those that require a little more thought to understand their Little House association.

The little brown bear, representative of “Two Big Bears” from the Big Woods.

Or how about this light shining in the kitchen window, reminding me of the Christmas Pa was lost in the blizzard on Plum Creek, when Ma set the lamp in the window but the blizzard was so fierce that Pa could not see it shining his way home.

Or the Currier & Ives sleigh ride ornament, not only reminding me of the winter courtship of Laura and Almanzo, but a print they themselves hung in Rocky Ridge.

Several weeks ago, I asked for ways that each of you give your families a Little House Christmas. For me, it’s the tree. It’s the reminder when I see that little light shining that Christmas is a time to give thanks for the health and safety of your family. It’s the reminder when I see that tin cup or those little red mittens that simple gifts really are sufficient, for it’s the love behind the gift that really matters. It’s the warmth I feel from seeing Pa’s fiddle and remembering how it brought joy to the Ingalls family even in the darkest of times.  It’s an ever-present reminder that the happiest Christmases come through the simplest things.

Have a very merry Little House Christmas!

So here’s my question to you — do you have any traditions, or are you hoping to start any new ones, that may give YOUR family a “Little House” Christmas? (It doesn’t have to be something directly related to Little House, although it certainly might be — but anything you’re including in your holiday celebrations to focus on simplicity, or on the true meaning of Christmas.)

I’m sure there are lots of wonderful ideas out there, and by sharing, maybe we’ll discover some new ideas we’d like to make part of our own Christmas!