When Laura traded her beloved horse for her mother to have a new cooking stove. It was just beautiful!  I will always love Little House on the Prairie!

~Mary Lou

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That concludes our favorite Christmas moments — and just in time to enjoy your own sweet Christmas, relive old traditions, and make new memories.

If you’re an avid reader of the Little House books but have not become so well acquainted with the television series, you may be scratching your head right now, wondering just which book the above Christmas moment was in and how you could have missed it all these years!

But this memory is a television storyline, and not taken from Laura’s real life or her books. It was “Christmas at Plum Creek,” an episode from the first season, with a sweet storyline that although entirely fictional is at least in line with the spirit of the Little House books — generosity, love of family, and a significance in simple things. (Not that a  stove is a simple thing… but I’m thinking of Carrie’s joy in buying the Christmas tree star for Baby Jesus.)

This is an episode my family watches every Christmas, along with Earl Hamner’s movie, The Homecoming, which was the pilot for the television series, “The Waltons.”

So since it’s Christmas Eve, and all of your televisions are tuned to your favorite Christmas movies, tell us — what does your family watch every Christmas?

Have you “liked” our facebook page yet? Didn’t know we had one?  Now you do! The following Christmas moments were some of those shared on our facebook page:

Definitely when Mr. Edwards traveled in the freezing cold to bring Mary and Laura tin cups and candy, as well as sweet potatoes to Ma. Sure made me appreciate all I have in my own life.

~By Kris

My favorite “Christmas” is the one in The Long Winter when the barrel came on the train to De Smet months late full of clothes, periodicals, and that frozen turkey! They had a Christmas with much thanks and joy that they had survived to have that “Christmas.”

~By Barbara

I have four that come to mind:

In Little House in the Big Woods when the aunts, uncles, and cousins all come to visit. I always liked the image of young Laura breathing on the glass in the cabin to make frost and how she admired the patterns it made, playing in the snow, and how she received Charlotte for a present.

The second is Little House On The Prairie. I think most people would say that is one of their favorite Christmas chapters. How can one not love how Mr. Edwards went to Independence and met Santa? And how happy they were to receive cookies, a penny, a tin cup and a stick of peppermint? In this day and age of $200 video game systems, Ipods and cell phones that do everything but make your bed, the simplicity strikes a chord with me.

The third is On The Banks of Plum Creek where Laura sees a Christmas tree for the first time at church. The description of the tree, and the awe it created in her is marvelous. I also love the fact that she gets a fur cape and muff that she can rub in Nellie Oleson’s face! Take THAT, town girl!!!

The fourth, and the one that had the greatest impact on me, is in The Long Winter when they survive the blizzards and the trains finally get through in May and they receive the long awaited Christmas barrel, sparking the idea of having a Christmas celebration. They finally had plenty of supplies and were able to see and spend time with their dear friends, the Boasts. The winter had kept people pretty much to themselves because of fear of the blizzards popping up at a moment’s notice. So not only was their hunger for food satisfied, their hunger for being able to spend time with people outside their family was satisfied as well. I love how Pa said it in seven words- “Lord,we thank thee for thy bounty.” Simple, yet powerful.

Donna Shaw at littlecottageinthecountry.blogspot.com