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What special Laura Ingalls Wilder gift did you get for Christmas?

Posted on by Sarah Uthoff

Laura Ingalls Wilder has long been associated with Christmas. While the series was coming out, many children looked forward to getting the latest book in the series on Christmas morning. That tradition has continued with Laura fans today still getting special Christmas presents from loved ones.

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.

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Ink and Fairydust

Posted on by Rebecca Brammer

An e-magazine for teenage girls, Ink and Fairydust, featured Laura Ingalls Wilder as the theme for their December issue. Read it here!

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Presents for the Laura Fan in Your Life

Posted on by Sarah Uthoff

So you’re looking for an “eyes nearly popped right out of their head” present for the Laura Ingalls Wilder fan in your life? I’m going to assume that they don’t have a large Laura collection already. There are many more possibilities, but if you have no clue here are a few to get you started.

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 15th

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

/laurapallooza-liw-conference-in-minnesota-in-summer-2010/laurapalooza-merchandise/

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

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Thoughts on Little House Christmases

Posted on by Sandra Hume

I’ve been looking over the Christmas chapters of the Little House books in preparation for a post on them. As I’ve been reviewing them, something occurred to me: why post only what I think? What stays with me might not be what stays with you. I think fans are more interested in what we all think, don’t you?

We could just ask everyone to post in the comments, but why not make it something we can all wait for, like the Youth’s Companions? :) So we’re going to ask you email us.

For the next week, Beyond Little House will be collecting your impressions via email of the different Little House Christmas chapters. What scene meant the most to you? What line do you come back to again and again in your mind? What image is burned into your subconscious regarding holiday time with the Ingalls family? What Christmas scene do you think of differently now that you are an adult?

Share whatever you like. It can be a sentence or a paragraph; doesn’t matter. Next week, we’ll take the entire collection and put it up as a post, which we can all enjoy together.

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Less Than 10 Bucks Per CD!

Posted on by Sandra Hume

LauraPalooza attendees will recognize the name Dale Cockrell, a musicologist from Vanderbilt University who spoke in Mankato about Laura, Pa, and the music he played for their family. For the past few years, one of his main projects has been bringing to life the music Laura wrote about in her books. His company, Pa’s Fiddle Productions, has just released the third CD of Little House tunes.

So let me ask: Have you indulged your need for all things Laura by loading this music onto your iPod? Have you tapped your toe to “Captain Jinks”? (My daughter adores this.) Have you heard the full lyrics of Laura’s favorite “Gypsy King”?

If you have, hooray! You must love them as much as I do.

If you haven’t, why ever not, goosie?

Well, for the stragglers, here’s something to put on your Christmas list. Pa’s Fiddle is now offering both Happy Land (songs from the whole series) and The Arkansas Traveler (songs from solely Little House on the Prairie) plus the brand-new Charles Ingalls: American Fiddler — a collection of fiddle-only performances culled from the Little House books — for only $29. (It’s actually $27, but $2 shipping is added when you order.) And Charles Ingalls: American Fiddler isn’t officially available until January 19, 2011.

Order right on the Pa’s Fiddle web site.

I have to admit, some of these instrumentals are striking. Reading over the titles, I’m shocked to see how many I don’t instantly recognize. But there they are, mentioned in the text of Laura’s books … probably not etched in my memory because there were no lyrics to isolate.

My personal favorite right now? “The Devil’s Dream.”

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Patience, Products, and Passion

Posted on by Amy Lauters

Wow. Judging from the amount of email we’re getting about some of the products leftover from LauraPalooza, we’ve got some demand out there. We’ll be putting up a more permanent page (Note: page is now available!) on the site for these, but here I thought I’d show you what we’ve got left:

The quintessential LIWLRA pink T-shirt:

The hunter green Farmer Boy T-shirt

The totebag:

The lanyard: And the flour sack embroidery kit:

We also have assorted button string kits that include a variety of vintage buttons and the string to put them on–just like Carrie’s.

All funds raised go toward managing expenses for and from the conference and for web site maintenance, as well as to promote the mission of LIWLRA in supporting the work and research of scholars and volunteers at Little House sites.

Ordering and pricing information available here.

As always, LIWLRA members get 10 percent off!

All designs created by the amazing Kristina Sukalski.

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Michigan Wilder Exhibit Extended

Posted on by Sarah Uthoff

The Laura Ingalls Wilder exhibition, “Laura’s Enduring Tale,” has been extended for an additional weekend. The last day will be Sunday, Dec. 12 from noon until 5:00 p.m. The exhibition is located in the Berkowitz Gallery on the third floor of the library.

Also, the Wilder Homestead News reports they sent several artifacts including some textiles originally owned by Rose Wilder Lane. They also report the Almanzo documentary will be playing daily.

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

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Time to Think of Christmas

Posted on by Rebecca Brammer

“Then Thanksgiving was past and it was time to think of Christmas.”

~Laura Ingalls Wilder, in On the Banks of Plum Creek

I find it interesting that 130+ odd years ago, it was considered time to think of Christmas once Thanksgiving is past. I find it interesting because it doesn’t seem so very long ago that this was still true. For over one hundred years then, at least, the Christmas season began once Thanksgiving was past.

I’ve been disturbed in recent years to see the Christmas decorations going up right after Halloween, in homes and stores and towns alike. The trend is to start the Christmas season earlier and earlier, and I think it’s really taking away from the whole feeling of Christmas.

But this year, I was appalled to walk into stores in early October and see rows and rows of Christmas displays right alongside the Halloween ones! The kids were barely back in school, and the weather was still warm and nearly summer-like. Christmas hadn’t even entered my thoughts yet. And yet, there it is, almost three months before the holiday, greeting you in every store.

I know why it’s happening, of course. The earlier the retailers can get people thinking about Christmas — and buying for Christmas — the more people will end up buying and the more money they’ll make. But they’re spoiling Christmas, and we’re letting them. I try to ignore it. But I’ve seen neighbors hanging their Christmas lights, and friends putting up their Christmas trees, earlier and earlier, clearly driven to keep up with the stores.

It’s really bothered me because I just wasn’t ready for Christmas. We still needed to look forward to Thanksgiving. And with more and more stores open on Thanksgiving Day, and pushing Black Friday sales a day early, or starting late Thursday night instead of early Friday morning, Thanksgiving has now been completely overtaken by the retail business, as well.

I’m curious to see what others think about this. Is it only me that’s disturbed? Maybe you like an extended Christmas season. Maybe shopping on Thanksgiving is a fun new tradition you want to start.

Many say I’m an old-fashioned girl, and I’m okay with that. I like Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I like her notion that the Christmas season begins once Thanksgiving is past. And I plan to stick with that, no matter what everyone around me is doing.

But what do you think?  Does beginning the Christmas season early make it better for you? And how early is too early?

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Please pass the parched corn…

Posted on by Rebecca Brammer

Thanksgiving dinner was good. Pa had shot a wild goose for it. Ma had to stew the goose because there was no fireplace, and no oven in the little stove. But she made dumplings in the gravy. There were corn dodgers and mashed potatoes. There were butter, and milk, and stewed dried plums. And three grains of parched corn lay beside each tin plate.

At the first Thanksgiving dinner the poor Pilgrims had had nothing to eat but three parched grains of corn. Then the Indians came and brought them turkeys, so the Pilgrims were thankful.

Now, after they had eaten their good, big Thanksgiving dinner, Laura and Mary could eat their grains of corn and remember the Pilgrims.

Parched corn was good. It crackled and crunched, and its taste was sweet and brown.

~Laura Ingalls Wilder, On the Banks of Plum Creek

There are so many legends and myths surrounding the story of the first Thanksgiving that I wonder sometimes if anyone can possibly sort out truth from fiction. (Hmm, does that remind anyone of a series of books we all know and love!?) The “grains of corn” story apparently was a popular one during the nineteenth century, although typically the legend says it was five grains of corn, not three.

Does it really matter whether it was true or not that the poor Pilgrims were rationed nothing but a few grains of corn, or whether the Indians actually brought the Pilgrims turkeys? Though both are considered myths, isn’t it the spirit of the story, and the lesson in gratitude and sharing with those in need that it teaches, that matters? What a beautiful “Little House” tradition to incorporate into one’s Thanksgiving Day celebration.

So where do you get parched corn?

Add this recipe to your Thanksgiving meal preparation, and enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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Ask the Experts: Where Is This “Naughty” Quote From?

Posted on by Sandra Hume

Dear Beyond Little House:

“Once you begin being naughty, it is easier to go and on and on, and sooner or later something dreadful happens.” ~Laura Ingalls

I am trying to find the source of this quote by Laura Ingalls. Do you have any idea from where it is taken?

Thanks so much,

Gail A. Krahenbuhl

Hi Gail,

This is from On the Banks of Plum Creek. Laura, in fact, does not actually say it. At the end of the chapter “Strange Animal,” when Laura confesses to her parents that she started to go to the swimming hole but the badger stopped her, and then Laura has to be “watched” all the next day, Ma says this to Laura.

Incidentally, Melissa Gilbert quoted this recently in her book, A Prairie Tale.

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