My all-time favorite Christmas moment in the Little House books has to be the Christmas-in-May at the end of The Long Winter. Not only does it add some much-needed relief to a story that could almost be too dreary, cold, and distraught, but it serves as a great reminder that just because something is deferred doesn’t mean it can’t have spirit, grace, and love. I love the contrast between the now-living world and the frozen-solid Christmas dinner. Somewhere in there, even in the darkest moment of the long winter, Christmas was waiting. It just happened to be stuck in a snowdrift along with a train full of good cheer.
Great job as usual, ladies! I love Beyond Little House.
Erin Blakemore
As a group, we have read the first four Little House Books. When asking all the participants what they thought was the best Christmas memory, one response dominated: The Horses the Ingalls got for Christmas in On the Banks of Plum Creek.
Horses meant a lot to them because they were not only gentle companions but also did a lot of the hard work. Now that everyone in our Book Club is an adult, we can appreciate how important the horses were to get instead of dolls or candy. We also really enjoyed Laura and Mary helping Ma make a button string for baby Carrie and it even inspired us to make button necklaces!
St. Lawrence NYSARC Book Club