Jump to content

Little House in the Big Woods Recap: Christmas


Maggie Mae

1,982 views

Christmas

Here's a list of things I enjoy about this book: 

  • It is apolitical. Trump does not exist. 
  • It is pleasant to read. 
  • There is no comment section full of people yelling at each other about things that have nothing to do with the article. 
  • The illustrations are perfect. They fit the theme and aren't too modern, yet still nice too look at. 
  • I enjoy the setting & it's a picture perfect view of a time when things were likely not picture perfect. 
  • Trump hasn't even been born yet. World War I and II haven't happened. It's just Mary and Laura and Ma and Pa. 

Things I dislike: 

  • Casual racism.
  • Bullet making.
  • Trapping. 

Anyway, so Christmas is coming and Wisconsin is full of snow. I love snow. I love our hoarfrost. I especially love talking about the hoarfrost with young teenagers who get excited that they are allowed to say "whore" and their dumb jokes. 

Pa makes Ma an intricate shelf, which Ma puts a "china woman" on.  I'm guessing it's some sort of porcelain doll? Or is it actually a Chinese doll? I have no idea.  I am inspired by Pa's woodworking skills though. 

Ma cooks for Christmas - "rye'n'Injun" bread, Swedish crackers, baked beans, salt pork, molasses. Vinegar pies, dried apple pies, and cookies. Okay, I know what Swedish crackers, baked beans, salt pork, and molasses are. No idea on the Vinegar pies or rye'n'injun bread. I feel weird typing out the rye bread name. 

  For Christmas, extended family visits! All of the kids run around shouting, and get yelled at. There are no ages listed, but Laura is obviously younger than Peter and Alice and Ella. They flop around in the snow for a bit, and get so excited they can't sleep. See, olden days people are just like us, but without the internet. Or automobiles. Or Beat Saber. 

Uncle Peter and Aunt Eliza tell a story that Laura eavesdrops in on. It involves their family dog protecting them from a panther. Man, there must have been a lot of big cats back in the day. 

Ma realizes the kids are all awake and tells Pa to play fiddle for them. 

Then it's Christmas! They all wake up and get their stockings! They all got candy and mittens. Laura gets a rag doll. The other girls are not jealous because Laura is the littlest, other than Carrie and Dolly Varden (OMG that's a fish). The dolls name is Charlotte. 

Peter jokes about no one getting only a switch. I wonder if that's like the "you'll get only coal" that some parents threaten now? 

Then they do chores because life during westward expansion and homestead isn't easy. They eat pancakes and now I want pancakes.  It's too cold to be outside (ha!) and so they look at the bible and Laura holds her doll, and they eat candy. 

They are served dinner and we are reminded that children should be seen and not heard, which is so weird. And their aunt and uncle and cousins leave. 

Not a lot happens but it's just a nice story. Definitely for kids. Very nice distraction from the very stable genius. 

  • Upvote 9

4 Comments


Recommended Comments

fransalley

Posted

The "china shepherdess" is a figurine that traveled from place to place with the Ingalls family.

Right now I'm starting a re-read of The Long Winter.  I have certain books I go to when I need a shot in the arm.  I call  them my "courage books".

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
formergothardite

Posted

The Christmas chapters for the Little House books are always my favorite. 

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Posts

    • theotherelise

      Posted

      I agree, Shiloh being in the room alone struck me as isolation. 

      The boys bunk has Simon, Ezra, honor, and Theo. Shiloh is in the little bedroom alone  

      The girls bunk has Della, Nola, and Evie. 

      Toby and Titus are in the closet nursery. 

      The boys hangout room could be Simon and Ezra’s with the middle three in the bunk and the twins in the little room. Brother dad could still be in place for helping all of them in that arrangement. 

       

      • Upvote 1
      • I Agree 2
      • Thank You 1
    • ptm6114

      Posted

      16 minutes ago, Cults-r-us said:

      So now we know from where duck biologist Botkin got his 200-year family plan theology. It must have been pervasive thinking in their little corner of the world.

      “The blessing given by Liberty Phillips to her sister Jubilee on her wedding day to her groom Adam:

      ’Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.’ Genesis 24:60”

      What in the actual psychopathy, backwoods-brainwashing do these people think they’re doing?! 🥴🤯😂

      • Upvote 4
    • thoughtful

      Posted (edited)

      On the evening of Sunday, March 10, some members of the pastor's family sang a special - God Wants to Hear You Sing. It opens with the lyrics:

      Quote

      Their chains were fastened tight
      Down at the jail that night
      Still Paul and Silas would not be dismayed

      According to the captions, the chains:

      Spoiler

      image.thumb.png.31d479b80ca43b6bf72173fd72f59e55.png

      Nothing worse than fuzzing chains.

      Baker announces the winners of the March Madness competitions from the last two weeks:

       - most tracts handed out: "Dad Baker." Dave's father, maybe?

      - most people led to Christ - a young woman who isn't there because she's in the nursery.

      In case you want to guess what their prize is before I tell you, I'll put it under a spoiler.

      Spoiler

      A gift card for Chik-fil-a.

      Baker reminds them that this is much better than three-pointers and anything else in that other March Madness.

      "Blessings neat special good encouraging?"

      A man is called on, and begins to weep as he talks about his son (who is 23) telling him he felt lost. He says he told his son to beg God to give him a purpose, and to make it so obvious that it can't be missed.

      This just breaks my heart. First of all, just because this man really sounds frightened for his son - regardless of the reason, I'd feel for him. But the idea that one's "purpose" has to come from a supernatural source just burns my hide. Their religious teachings make the already difficult experience of being a young adult and choosing your path even harder, burdening their kids with a sense that other people have gotten a message from God, and wondering why theirs hasn't come.

      This is something I hear a lot listening to religious apologists talk to non-believers; "How do you find your purpose in life?" Or even, "You can't possibly have a purpose in life, because you don't have God to tell you what it is." Some of them are (or pretend to be) oblivious to the idea that a person's life can be self-directed, that we can make our own purpose.

      I really hope this young man is not waiting around for a sign from God, in order to know what to do with his life.

      Baker, of course, uses it to bloviate meaninglessly. "It's amazing - saved, trusted Christ as savior, but not where ya need to be. There's an emptiness, there's a lost part there with no purpose or direction and boy, you get to the cross. That purpose and direction in your life that you know what God has you to do, fulfillment, joy, blessing, and you see how _______'s* doing, who was lost for a while, and loving life and serving God and helpin' people. Nothin' better than that, awesome. Pray um for the kids that are away from the Lord, OK? Who else? Blessing?"

      * He says another young man's name here.

      Did that make sense to you? Me either. He's probably thinking "It's Sunday night, not Wednesday night - didn't you hear me say blessings neat special good encouraging? Don't bring the room down, man."

      A young woman (who Baker makes sure to mention used to be "a bus kid") thanks Baker and his wife for what they taught her when she was little.

      Becky tells them that their missionary friends have gotten all of their support and the husband found a house in Africa that has five bedrooms and four bathrooms. Baker asks what country, and Becky tells him Uganda. So the screaming Bryants are finally going to Uganda.

      A man says it's been a blessing to learn so much in church. He was talking to a co-worker, he says, who asked him if he ever worried that he was wrong. Baker laughs at the very idea. The man says that so many things come to mind when he's asked that - of course, all of them are from the bible and what Baker has told him.

      Baker comments on that.

      A woman talks about a recently released inmate from the women's prison, who'd had trouble finding a place to live. But God found her one (this woman actually mentions the woman's case worker trying to find her a place while telling the story, but no - it was God that actually provided).

      Baker comments on that.

      Pastor's wife says she talked to a woman who recently moved to their area from Mississippi, where she'd attended a Baptist church all her life. She says she asked the woman if she knew she was going to heaven, and the woman said "I hope so." Mrs. Baker says she showed her, in the bible, how she could know for sure and said she thought it was "so sad that she hadn't gotten it" from her many years in church. But now she knew.

      Baker comments on that. If you're getting the idea that Baker seems to feel the need to cap off everyone's statements, to interpret them, add his two cents, and somehow make them his, you are getting the feeling of this part of the service.

      One of Baker's sons got to go swimming - oops, captions, that's soul-winning - with one of his brothers. It didn't start out well - nobody answering doors except for one guy who said he was going back in to take a nap. But two men "got saved."

      That's enough for now.

      Edited by thoughtful
      riffle
      • Thank You 4
    • Cults-r-us

      Posted

      18 minutes ago, ptm6114 said:

      So did I interpret this right—the article from the SPLC says Rushdoony, whom Howard Phillips was a follower of, supported the death penalty for gays?!
       

      And one of the links went to another article about Howard stating “Christian Reconstructionists' plans for dominion are multigenerational; families are encouraged to build dynasties with 200-year plans and to see their families as central to God's plan for history.”

      😵‍💫🤐🤐🤐 

      So now we know from where duck biologist Botkin got his 200-year family plan theology. It must have been pervasive thinking in their little corner of the world.

      • Upvote 3
    • ptm6114

      Posted

      2 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

      Howard was born & raised Jewish and converted to Christianity in the 1970s. According to this profile by the SPLC, Howard was very close to & a follower/supporter of Rushdoony. 

      Doug was pretty much raised in that shit and absolutely worshipped his father. So, I would guess that Howard's beliefs & activities had a lot of influence on VF

       

      So did I interpret this right—the article from the SPLC says Rushdoony, whom Howard Phillips was a follower of, supported the death penalty for gays?!
       

      And one of the links went to another article about Howard stating “Christian Reconstructionists' plans for dominion are multigenerational; families are encouraged to build dynasties with 200-year plans and to see their families as central to God's plan for history.”

      😵‍💫🤐🤐🤐 

      • Upvote 1


  • Recent Status Updates

    • Kiki03910

      Kiki03910

      https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/finally-engineers-have-a-clue-that-could-help-them-save-voyager-1/
      GO SCIENCE.
      · 0 replies
    • Kiki03910

      Kiki03910

      I love baseball but I'm dreading the new season because the White Sox ownership is THE FUCKING WORST. I watched Dominican League Baseball (Lidom!) over the winter and fell in love with their joy, spirit, and exuberance. The broadcasts were in Spanish and my Spanish is pretty weak but I loved catching phrases and repeating them. Bombe! I'm sad about MLB and Commissioner Idiota's busywork rules. But I love baseball, always and forever.
      I guess I don't have a point. Just bitching. Te amo mucho, Lidom!
      · 0 replies
    • WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?

      WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?

      Happy International Women's Day!

      Humanity may have some work to do, to improve gender equality, but I was glad to hear that France has taken an important step to protect healthcare for women (and people of other genders who can get pregnant). 
      (The links are just to a UN page and the AP News.)
      Anyhow, love to y'all!
      · 0 replies
    • Giraffe

      Giraffe

      Feeling ragey this morning. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon in the hope of getting help for an ongoing injury. I went to a (different!!) doctor late last year who completely blew me off. He wouldn't do diagnostic testin, he refused to send me to a specialist, and he just told me to "take it easy" and "take ibuprofen." I'm hopeful for today's appointment but I'm also feeling a SEVERE amount of rage at that doctor from last year! 
      · 6 replies
    • BlackberryGirl

      BlackberryGirl

      Well, the rash is back with a vengeance. It never completely cleared up. I saw the derm yesterday and they did another swab and yup, raging infection again, still? It is definitely strep skin infection. I am getting so damn tired and run down from this. Who the f would immagine being hospitalized freaking TWICE for a rash? 
      · 2 replies
  • Blog Entries

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.