I think I first read the Little House on the Prairie series in the summer time, but it is the winter scenes that really stick with me still. Snow angels and sugaring snow, making pictures in the frost on the window, twisting hay and grinding wheat, Pa getting lost in a snow storm…Maybe because this was so different from my world and yet I felt a kinship with Laura. I had a sister too, and I loved to run around outside and sometimes it was so hard to be good.
Christmas plays a big role in many of the Little House books. In Little House in the Big Woods, several chapters are devoted to it, with the cousins visiting and staying the night, stockings and snow candy and presents–Laura’s rag doll Charlotte and Ma’s hand carved little shelf for her china shepherdess.
In Little House on the Prairie, Mary and Laura have resigned themselves to the fact that maybe there would be no Santa this year. Laura was worried he wouldn’t be able to find them in their new home, and Mary didn’t think Santa and his reindeer could go where there was no snow. Ma and Pa couldn’t do anything because it had been raining for days, and there was no way to get to town because the creek was overflowing and no one could get across. Mr. Edwards a bachelor homesteader has been invited to Christmas dinner but it is doubtful he can cross the creek either. But cross the creek he does, and he carries a package wrapped and tied on his head to keep it dry. In the package? Santa’s presents for the girls, for Mr. Edwards met him in Independence and walked back through the rain and flood to deliver their gifts.
In On the Banks of Plum Creek, there was Pa getting lost in a snow storm and ing shelter and eating all the oyster cracker crackers and Christmas candy, special Christmas horses and a beautiful tree filled with gifts and candy at church. Laura is so happy with her little fur muff, not the least because it is nicer than Nellie’s.
By the Shores of Silver Lake finds the Ingalls wintering in the Surveyor’s house. Everyone has secrets of presents made and hidden away, and the family is enjoying being warm and snug sharing company and song when the Boasts arrive half frozen from the cold and snow. Ma again works her magic, making wonderful meals to share and finding gifts for their new friends which she places on the Christmas breakfast table, which sounds just as lovely as hanging stockings.
The hard winter weather of The Long Winter made it hard to feel merry about much, but every time the weather broke and a train got through, it felt like Christmas–letters and papers from back east, a special Christmas barrel full of gifts for everyone, it didn’t matter what day it was. But the girls and Ma make Christmas special just the same–pooling pennies to buy a present, taking nice things they had made for themselves and giving them to others, Ma makes dinner from the last few cans of oysters from the general store, and Pa even has some Christmas candy to share.
What I take away from these scenes is the true spirit of Christmas, of having a generous soul, a loving heart, and being with family and friends. It makes me want to reread all the books for the I don’t know which time.
Bibliography: Wilder, Laura Ingalls. (1932). Little House in the Big Woods. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0061289804 (2007 75th Anniversary hardcover).
—-. (1935). Little House on the Prairie. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0064400022 (1994 paperback).
—-. (1937). On the Banks of Plum Creek. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0064400046 (1953 paperback).
—-. (1939). By the Shores of Silver Lake. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0060581848 (2004 paperback).
—-. (1940). The Long Winter. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0060581855 (2004 paperback).
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