Tale of the Tiny Discarded Tree

Draper's Acres, Winter of 2007

In October 1999 when we moved to our farm, we planted an 18" spruce tree where it would stand as a beacon to show the corner where the lawn ends and the gravel driveway branches off. This is needed to aid snow clearing so we don't ruin our lawn every winter. It was the perfect spot for the imperfect little tree. The tree is special to us as we had rescued it in 1994 from a large tree farm operation that threw out several hundred seedlings because they'd grown too large for the automatic tree planting equipment. We rescued 10 of the trees, deep down from a pile that had been left lying with their roots exposed to the sun for several hours. We planted them at home on our acreage, hoping they'd survive. The next year we retired from our military careers and left CFB Cold Lake, Alberta for the balmy climate of Saskatchewan. Along with our kids and belongings, we took our houseplants and six containers of sorry-looking seedlings which we transplanted into the garden of our new home. (The seedlings, not the kids.) We lived in town for five years. The seedlings were alive, but didn't thrive. Then came the move to the farm where we picked the healthiest seedling for the honored corner spot.

By 2010 the small spruce was still too small for Christmas lights. Although it wasn't actively growing, it was still green and healthy looking.

Draper's Acres, May 2010

Then during the summer of 2011, we noticed new growth at the ends of each little branch and it didn't look lopsided if you looked at it from the right angle.

Draper's Acres, Dec 2011

In 2013 the tree grew upwards and outwards, filling out yet still with its signature branch jutting out.  The gardener in me figures the roots had stretched out and down and the tree decided to put its efforts into growing topside. But my heart likes the thought that the little discarded tree finally realized it was home and would never be uprooted again.

Draper's Acres, Nov 2013

The tree was 20 years old in 2014 and continued its growth spurt--so much that when Nelson (and the boys who are hidden) went to string the lights, they had a tough time reaching the top branches. And oh, that tree shone through the darkness, a wonderful sight to behold during those long winter nights.

Draper's Acres, Dec 2014

It's hard to tell how tall the 2015 spruce tree is in this next photo, so that's when I decided I'd need to include the power line above it in all future shots.

Draper's Acres, Dec 2015

By 2017 the once-discarded spruce was over 14 feet tall as shown by the height of Nelson and JJ, the space between them and above them. To string the lights, JJ used two of those picker-upper things so it looked like he had extended lobster claws, but they did the trick of reaching the top of the tree. (For comparison, check out the 2010 photo to see the progress in the past 7 years!)

Draper's Acres, Nov 2017

Throughout the years we've lived on the farm, the tree has been the gathering place for family photos. It's a visual reference to the growth of the kids as well as the tree. Like this 2017 photo when all four kids were home for Christmas and after they went home, we were left with a beautiful memory of the event.

Draper's Acres, Christmas 2017

Draper's Acres, Nov 2018

The guys have gotten inventive over the years and last week when they went to string the lights, Nelson taped one of the picker-uppers to the end of a long handle. JJ held the lights up and they both circled the tree, winding the lights around as they went.

Draper's Acres, Nov 2019

A few hours after this year's tree was strung with lights, the moon tried to peek out and add to the light show. .

Draper's Acres, Nov 2019

So there you have the tale of the tiny discarded spruce tree. I only have one worry now...because of where we planted it, we may have to shave a bit off the top side if it reaches the power line. It's my fault--something I should have considered, but never imagined 20 years ago on that late October day when we moved to Draper's Acres to raise our family.

What started out as a tiny discarded tree provides us with immeasurable blessings throughout the year.

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

Fruitcake Now or in 100 yrs

Draper's Acres, Saskatchewan, Nov 2018

Did you see Susanne's lovely post, Too Early to Decorate For Christmas? a couple days ago? I know how she feels because it seems that this year Christmas is starting early. Up here on the Canadian prairies, we have an inch or so of snow covering the landscape which heightens the sense that Christmas is on its way.

This really helps because snow in November inspires me to start my Christmas baking with those goodies like fruitcake that need time for their flavors to meld. And yes, we do love fruitcake in our house. Instead of a large cake or loaf, however, I usually make 4-6 small, personal-size loaves. Wrapped in a clear holiday-themed cellophane bag, they make nice gifts for seniors, get-togethers, as well as sending in "care packages" to distant loved ones. And of course, we eat some.

Fruitcake made by Anita Mae Draper, Dec 2013

We don't drink alcohol in our house, so it's always interesting when I go to the store and buy a bottle of brandy for the fruitcake, both to add to the recipe, and then to soak the cheesecloth in before it's wrapped around the loaves, which are then wrapped in tin foil set in the fridge. They'll be unwrapped, soaked and rewrapped every week or two for at least 3 weeks, until needed. If I'm short of time, I'll use my Robin Hood Fabulous Fruitcake recipe which is non-alcoholic and only needs a couple weeks in the fridge to taste wonderful.

Robin Hood Fabulous Fruitcake made by Anita Mae Draper, Dec 2013

Fruitcakes are notorious for their long life. It's one of the reasons so many were sent from the home front to loved ones fighting overseas. In a letter from my husband's grandfather, a WW1 sailor, he wrote that he hadn't received any letters from home since setting out on his current "cruise", but that he was still portioning out part of the last fruitcake he'd received months earlier.

Fruitcakes last because they contain preserved foods like dry and candied fruit, and nuts that help to keep bacteria from developing, as does the alcohol and cold storage.

How long does it last under optimum conditions? Well, that's hard to say, but it could be decades. Really. Of course, the quality will diminish over extremely long periods, but you could eat it.

Did you hear about the 106-year-old fruitcake that was found by members of the Antarctic Heritage Trust? Yep. They found it in a hut and although the container was rusted, it was still wrapped in paper and appeared edible. It is believed to have been left behind by the Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his team back in 1911. Here's the video about it:





So I have my fruitcake recipe at the ready and will begin baking this week. As mentioned in the comments of Susanne's post, I stored my Christmas CD's somewhere safe about five years ago and haven't found them since, so I'm listening to a holiday music channel on our satellite TV.

But with snow on the ground, holiday music in my ears, and recipe in hand, mouth-watering aromas will soon be escaping from my kitchen.

Thanksgiving Blessings going out to all my American friends wherever you are.

Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are written under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details.  Anita's contemporary short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, found in A Cup of Christmas Cheer Volume 4, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience.  Discover more at:

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/

Christmas Stockings

Handcrafted c 1958-59

The treasured tradition of hanging our stockings brings tangible memories of what we have as well as what we've lost. We've hung our stockings on the staircase, on the mantle, on the wall, and even laid them over the back of a sofa. No matter where we lived, we found somewhere to hang our stockings. A look back through photograph albums shows the year a new stocking was added to the rest and with it the warm feeling of another 'Baby's First Christmas'.

My mother lovingly crafted my felt stocking in the late 1950's when I was only a couple of years old.  Back then, my stocking held hard candy, mixed nuts in the shell, and a Christmas orange in the toe. If it wasn't for the plastic liner sewed between the outer felt layers, there would have been a sticky mess at the end of the season. But all we had to do was wipe off the plastic and then store it until the next year. 

My stocking came with me when I married and so I carried on the tradition by making a stocking for my new husband, Nelson. The year was 1976 and the quality of felt had changed since my mom had made my stocking. Using mine as a pattern, I crafted Nelson a green one. My skills weren't as neat as my mom's, yet as a young bride, I knew the simple act of providing my husband with a Christmas stocking was the start of our own traditions.

Crystal Draper and stockings, 1980

Two years later, after the birth of our first child, I crafted another stocking, red like mine, for our baby girl, Crystal. Again, the quality of felt wasn't thick like mine, and I still hadn't improved my cutting skills, but it was a Christmas stocking made with love and the tradition continued. 

When our next child, Jessica, was born in 1991 crafting felt had thinned to the point that I no longer trusted it, so I doubled the front and back. Because plastic bags had also thinned, I lined the stocking with the thick plastic from a diaper package. This made for a very sturdy stocking - almost too sturdy as it didn't have the same "give" as the first 3 stockings and couldn't hold as much. 

Nick's birth in 1995 gave me the opportunity to make another green stocking. This time, however, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that crafting felt was all the rage since manufacturers had started producing a thick, quality product. Nick's stocking was an ease to make, except for cutting out the letters where the 's' still gave me a problem. 

Four stockings handcrafted by Anita Mae Draper, photo taken 2009

By 1998, our 4th and final child, Jeremiah, was born. At the time, we lived in a small house across from our commercial greenhouse operation. It was a family-run business that kept us very busy. Crystal graduated and moved away, taking her Christmas stocking with her. And with 3 kids and the business, I didn't get around to making a stocking for Jeremiah, or JJ as we call him. 

During the next couple of years, both Nelson and Crystal lost their stockings. Crystal's went missing during a move. 

We couldn't figure out where Nelson's had gone since it never left the house. But one day we moved our fridge and there on the floor behind it was a green stocking with clear evidence that a mouse had been chewing on it. Apparently, Nelson had placed his stocking on top of the fridge for some reason and it had fallen behind. The candy and chocolate smell must have drawn one of the errant mice that occasionally live in our unfinished basement because if you look close at the image of his stocking, you can see gnaw-holes near the top edge and smaller ones near the heel. 

A few years ago we retired our handcrafted stockings although still we hang the four of them as reminders of Christmases past, of the stocking that came back, and the one that didn't. 

This week as I was helping JJ hang the old stockings on the wall across from the store-bought bigger ones, I told him that I was going to write a post about our tradition of crafting a stocking as each new member of the family came into it.

Without missing a beat, JJ looked at me and said, "I hope you're going to tell them that I haven't got mine yet." 

Whoops. At 19, JJ should have received one years ago. He's never complained, but clearly he's missing this part of the family tradition. I rearranged the stockings so they'd hang better.  "Well then, one of these days I may surprise you." 

Yes, indeed. One of these days I'm going to make a buy some green, red, yellow and white crafting felt and create a stocking for JJ, or Jereminiah, or whatever name he wants on it. As long as I don't have to cut an 's' I'll be fine. 

What about you? Are there any traditions you followed for years and then stopped? Why?

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are written under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details.  Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience.  Discover more at:

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/

Like/Dislike Animated Christmas Specials? Grab Some Cocoa and Let's Dish!

by Susanne Dietze

My kids are home this week on Christmas vacation...it's a fun week of sleeping in, doing crafts, baking (click the link when you're done with this post!) and watching Christmas specials with the family.

Here on the Inkwell, we've shared some of our favorite Christmas movies, but I can't remember dishing on our favorite animated specials before. Many of them were part of my childhood--maybe yours, too--and they're still fun to watch ... although I may not experience them the same way now that I'm an adult.

So let's dish on them. What do you like? What's no longer your favorite?

(I guess I should say SPOILER ALERT. I'm going to chat as if you've watched these shows, too. If you haven't watched any of these shows and want to experience them for yourselves first, come back to this post later.)

(NOTE: This is just a fun conversation.I don't wish to offend anyone by sharing what I like/don't like.)

Growing up, I loved Rudolph (1964). It remains an undisputed favorite. Some reasons I loved it?

• Rudolph is so sweet!And I like the message: we all have unique gifts.
• It was visually appealing to me as a kid. I loved the pastel pink-and-blue outfits the elves wear. There's still a big part of me that loves candy-colored Christmas decor.
• I love when Hermey impersonates a pig. ("Oink, oink." "Put some heart into it, boy!" "Oink! OINK!")

But now that I'm an adult? Well, there are a few things in Rudolph I don't like.

• Santa is...grumpy, to say the least.Upon seeing newborn Rudolph's "unfortunate" red nose, he makes a snarky comment and dismisses him as unfit. He's also mean to his elves, who work hard rehearsing a song for him, and he is crabby with Mrs. Claus. 
• It's sexist. This may reflect the times in which the show was produced, but I cringed when my kids heard the narrator insist the womenfolk need to stay home and then later on, rather than mourn Yukon Cornelius, get returned back to Christmastown.

What are your feelings on Rudolph?

Another supremely popular Christmas show is, of course, Charlie Brown (1965). It's never worn out its welcome. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas turns 50 this year, which is cause for celebration. It's even featured on holiday stamps, available from your local post office.

Things I like about it:

• Linus' reading of the Gospel. It may be the only Gospel message some viewers ever hear. The characters also sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing. That doesn't happen often anymore on TV.
• Its focus is on the true meaning of Christmas, not commercialism.
• Adding to that theme, the hilarious uber-greedy Christmas letter Sally dictates to her brother always makes me chuckle.
• The scene of Charlie Brown skipping, his heart full of love, is sweet.
• The Vince Guaraldi score!

Things I don't like:

• The Mean Girls (Lucy and the gang) seem to have come around by the end of the show. For the holiday, anyway. Then it's back to the usual name-calling. Lucy's such a bully.

Another classic produced in the 60's is How The Grinch Saved Christmas (1966). This Dr. Seuss tale is about the Grinch who lives above Who-ville and is determined to steal every last vestige of their Christmas celebration.

I like:

• The message that Christmas is not about things. Or roast beast.
• The idea of someone's heart growing multiple sizes.
• Max the Dog.
• The way the Whos welcome the Grinch into their community. No shame. No punishment. Just love.

I don't like:

• The Grinch scared me when I was small. There. I admitted it to the world.

A more-recent show I like? Disney's Prep & Landing (2009). Watching it is a new tradition for me (as is watching one of its sequels, Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice, which usually follows it on TV).

It's the story of Wayne, a Christmas elf who is part of the elite "Prep and Landing" team sent ahead of Santa on Dec 24th to ready homes for the Big Guy's arrival. Wayne's had this job for 227 years and wants a promotion--but he gets a newbie partner, Lanny, instead. And a very, very bad attitude.

Why do I love this show?

•  It starts with my favorite puts-me-in-the-Christmas-mood song, Nat King Cole's version of "The Christmas Song".
• I love, love, love how hapless Lanny says "sorry" whenever he makes a mistake. Which is often. Our family has an inside joke of saying "sorry" just like Lanny.
• The blink-and-you'll-miss-them messages on the elves' mugs are hilarious.
• The message of forgiveness and redemption is sweet.

What I don't like?

• Nothing. Seriously. This has been my favorite animated show for the past few years. Wayne's unlikable for a while but his repentance is heartfelt and sweet.

Now for a bit of controversy. Some people hate Shrek and therefore don't care for Shrek the Halls (2007). I like it. Here's why:

• I like the message that Christmas isn't about any one person, not even our children. It's about something More. (The show doesn't say what that is, but neither does the Grinch. Same theme.)
• It sounds corny, but when Donkey says there's no wrong way to "do" Christmas, you just "do it", I felt lightened! I don't have to put on the perfect meal, wear the right thing, or live up to someone else's expectations. Family is messy. Christmas can be messy.
• The scene of Gingy's horrible Christmas, when a Godzilla-like Santa eats his gingerbread girlfriend, is a family classic around here. We quote Gingy, "You weren't there!"
• Likewise, we love Puss and Boots. When he gets distracted by the ornament...LOL.

What I don't like?

• Yes, Shrek is crass. There is bodily humor in the episode. If you are turned off by burps, etc, don't watch it.

I feel like I need to include these two because they refer to the real Christmas story, Jesus' birth, and I appreciate that very much. I'm also lumping them together because I seem to like and dislike the same things about them.

Two Rankin/Bass offerings, Little Drummer Boy from 1968 and 1977's Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, are set in Bethlehem when the Savior is born.

I also need to be honest: I haven't watched these two in years.

Likes about them:

• They're about the birth of Jesus!
• They show that meeting Jesus forever changes a person!
• Like Rudolph, they validate our individuality and specialized gifts.

Only available on VHS. Blast from the past!

Dislikes:

• They are both just...sad. My little kid heart broke for the drummer boy and Nestor. And when Nestor's mommy dies...ugh. I still remember her digging up that patch of snow so Nestor will have a warmer place to sleep--I can't go on!
• I never liked how cherubs are explained as "animal guardian angels" to Nestor. It's not accurate. Most of the time I go with the flow on these sorts of things, but it's always bugged me.

Of the rest of the Rankin/Bass shows I watched in my youth, I dug Santa Claus is Comin' To Town (1970). I still kinda like it for sentimental reasons, even though it's hokey. Why?

• I love when the elves adopt a baby and name him Kris Kringle. "And he will eat with us and sleep with us and drink warm cocoa with us..." 
• The Burgermeister Meisterburger is ridiculous, and therefore fun to watch.
• Young Kris has a red beard. Why do I like that? I don't know. I just do.
• Maybe it's the romance writer/reader in me, but I loved Kris' Christmas Eve wedding to Jessica. 

Dislikes?

• The scene where a singing Jessica goes through a groovy "transformation" is embarrassing to me (and my kids, who used to hide behind the couch for this part when they watched this show on DVD). The scene is cut from most TV broadcasts nowadays as a time-saving measure, but you know when the scene happened because after Jessica sings about her "world beginning today" etc., her outfit has a bold splash of color and her hair is a brighter shade of red.

Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) is often found on the Disney Channel. It is a sweet retelling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

I like:

• I love that this maintains the Victorian look and feel that's often shed in modern re-tellings for children.(I'm referring to Barbie, etc, not the Jim Carrey version, which I'm not including in this list because I count that one as a "movie.")
• Mickey and Minnie have babies!

But other people don't like it:

• Remember Siskel and Ebert? They gave it two thumbs down! Something about not enough character growth and a lack of irony. (Um, seriously? If you want irony, there are oodles of other versions of A Christmas Carol out there that do the trick.)

Veggie Tales has a few holiday offerings, but my favorite is The Star of Christmas. (Caveat: this one isn't a broadcast special like the previous offerings, but it was a staple in my house when my kids were smaller.) Cavis and Millward (Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber) are producing a musical to debut Christmas Eve, The Princess and the Plumber, illuminated by zillions of newfalngled electric lights (this is "historic" London, after all). They want to "teach London how to love!"

But, as you'd guess, a Christmas pageant is also scheduled that same night, showcasing a famous artifact (the Star of Christmas, of course!). Which event will the royal family attend? Which one will really, truly share the message of how to love?

Why I love this?

• It's sweet, convicting, and clever. 
• The lyrics to "Plugged Up Love" sung by the Princess and the Plumber in rehearsal are hilarious.
• It's set in England! The royal family has a cameo!

Any dislikes here?

• Can't think of a one. 

Other shows I liked/watched that see airtime still: Frosty the Snowman (1969), The Year Without a Santa Claus ("I'm Mr. Heat Meister,.."), Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974),  and too many others to list here. But I had to stop the list somewhere.

Ones I never really liked? Those Frosty/Rudolph crossovers where they wear orange outfits...

Did I forget your favorites? What do you like/dislike about the shows I mentioned?

Happy watching this week. And baking, and wrapping, and fellow-shipping with family and friends.

I wish you and yours the Merriest of Christmases!

***

Susanne Dietze is in the mood to watch Prep & Landing. When it's not Christmas break, she writes historical romance, including next month's Austen in Austin Collection. Please visit her website, www.susannedietze.com.

Oh, and do click the link for more ideas of things to do with your kids this week!

All photos from Amazon.com

What Happened to Christmas Oranges?

by Anita Mae Draper

I’m missing my Christmas oranges this year. That’s not to say that we don’t have any oranges, they’re just not the same ones I relate to Christmas. Oranges and other subtropical citrus fruit aren’t grown in Canada due to our cold weather and must be shipped in and/or railed in depending on where it is grown. Historically in Canada, there was a lack of oranges in the autumn, and then a burst of excitement as oranges miraculously appeared in time for Christmas.

Christmas morning 1967, Port Arthur, Ontario

Even during the tough times of my childhood, the one thing I could be sure of was finding a green tissue-wrapped orange in the toe of my stocking on Christmas morning. As in the above photo, a bowl of oranges held a spot on our holiday table along with other treats, such as chips and nuts.

Bowl of tissue-wrapped mandarin oranges

The green tissue paper helped develop my anticipation for the fragrant gift inside. I loved the excitement of breaking open that first Christmas orange—the only one I could easily peel due to the skin slipping off the flesh without effort—yet I knew that first juicy bite would have a sour snap to energize my sleepy tastebuds. It was only after eating several segments that I appreciated the tangy sweetness which left me craving for more. 

And this year, I'm really craving them because I can't find any of the Japanese ones, and not many of the Chinese variety, either. It seems we've seen less with each passing year, especially as the original Japanese mandarins competed for space and attention with the Chinese ones. Except I didn't like the Chinese variety or any of the other tangerines that appeared not only at Christmas, but various times of the year. 

The small, sweet mandarins and tangerines we're finding in the stores lately is paler, it has seeds, and the thin skin is so tough that I almost wreck my thumbnail breaking through the surface to peel it. 

So I started wondering what happened. I was hoping my research would give a definite reason, such as a Pacific typhoon, the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami combination, or even a trading dispute. Instead, my search led me on a different quest—the history of what Canadians call Christmas orange.

I knew that the mandarin orange was first brought to Canada about 1890 by Japanese workers who received them in parcels in the weeks heading up to Christmas. I was quite surprised then, to find that the first mention of them was not in a Canadian newspaper, but in a 1901 and 1916 American one.

In Canada, the oranges were shipped across the Pacific in 9 pound wooden crates and unloaded in Vancouver.

Christmas mandarin oranges being unloaded from the ship, S.S. American Mail. VPL Accession Number: 81110. Courtesy of Vancouver Public Library

I found a 1926 article in the Montreal Gazette reporting that 1,452,000 oranges filling eleven Canadian National rail cars were on their way from Vancouver, British Columbia on Canada's west coast. So approx 40 yrs after the first oranges came across, special trains of refrigerated  cars were needed to carry the shipment across the nation.

The Montreal Gazette - Dec 4, 1926

That led me on a search for an image of one of the specially marked trains, dubbed the Orange Express, but it seems they're as elusive as the old Silk Express Trains. The following image is a bit murky, but it's the only one I was able to locate of an orange train. 

The Japanese orange trade was so successful that a 1931 Drummondville, Quebec newspaper, reporting on an article from the Canadian prairie province of Manitoba, said that over 2 million oranges crossed the citrus-starved Canadian landscape by Dec 7th of that year.

The Drummondville Spokesman - Dec 7, 1931 

And then Canada joined WW 2 and Japan was our enemy. The trans-Pacific orange shipments stopped, and Canadian parents told their children that everything was fine. But Christmas wasn't the same. Even with the availability of tangerines shipped in from Florida, Canadians felt the loss of their beloved Christmas orange. 

When the war ended, countries worked to restore their economies and Canada renewed trade with Japan. But Canadians felt the loss of  their servicemen and women who'd given their lives for freedom, and resentment against the Japanese people was hard to put down. 

Japanese oranges were scarce during the 1947 Christmas season, but by 1948 they were back with a new name. In an attempt to take the onus off their origin, they were introduced as Japanese mandarin oranges.  

  

We didn't care what they were called, our special Christmas orange was back—more than 3 shiploads of them filling over 32 freight cars. And that was just the beginning of the resurgence of its popularity.

I read that the orange express trains had special markings, but the only one I found was a 1978 CP Rail boxcar marked, Mandarin Orange Express. Only one car carried this paint scheme in a shipment of almost 60 cars. As before, it was elusive to photograph and apparently it has been out of service for some years. I don't know where I found this photo, so if it's yours, please let me know so I can give you the credit.

Which brings me back to my original question... what happened to our favourite Christmas orange? 

Did you receive an orange in your stocking? Care to share?

Giveaway #1

Leave a comment and you will be entered in a draw for a trio of hand-knitted Christmas bells similar to the ones below but with different colours. Deadline for this draw will be midnight, Dec 20th, 2015.

Giveaway #2

On Dec 21, 2015, I will draw one person's name from my quarterly newsletter mailing list, and that person ​will win the pictured Christmas Bell Trio, specially knitted for this draw by my mom. 

If you'd like to add your name to my mailing list, visit my website Contest page.

Since one giveaway is for leaving a comment here, and the other giveaway is for subscribing to my newsletter mailing list, there is a chance that one person will win both bell trios. 

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Anita Mae Draper's stories are written under the western skies where she lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. Romantic Refinements, a novella in Austen in Austin Volume 1, WhiteFire Publishing, will be released January 15, 2016.  Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com

Congratulations to Jennifer AlLee, Niki Turner, and Gina Welborn for being spotlighted in USA Today Life!

Romance Unlaced: Novellas bring us historical holiday spirit

By Madeline Hunter November 24, 2015 11:59 pm

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the busiest time of the year for me. I am one of those people who hates lists, but during the holidays I make them. My reading changes, too. It is not that I read less. I just read differently. I am more apt to read shorter works that I can fit neatly into the hours I carve out for myself here and there.

Historical romance writers must know this, because they keep providing me with lots of novellas themed to Christmas celebrations. It is fun to read about the holiday spirit as these characters interact against a historical Christmas backdrop. A few hours with one of these novellas and I get a double fix — historical romance, and a cozy holiday world.

Here is a list of some of the historical Christmas anthologies available new this season. Give one a try!

ow.ly/V2HiA

~*~*~*~

Scroll down the list to read about CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS, the Amazon bestselling collection which features novellas from Jennifer, Niki, and Gina.

EIGHT CBA and Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Authors present heartwarming novellas of Christmases gone by, where the true meaning of the season warms your heart and love flows as fast as apple cider. Includes a brand new release, “Eleven Pipers Piping,” and also Selah Award finalist, “The Fruitcake Challenge.” Grab your favorite drink, no matter the temperature outside, curl up in a cozy chair and lose yourself in holiday romance.

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS is available on Amazon.

Preventoriums, tuberculosis, and the Colorado "cure"

By Niki Turner

A few months ago, my blogging buddy (and the founder of Inkwell Inspirations), Gina Welborn, asked me if I wanted to participate in a project: Writing a Christmas-themed novella for a collection of eight stories to be independently published as a group with seven other traditionally-published authors. I glanced at the list of writers involved and gasped. OF COURSE I wanted to be involved in a project with these ladies (which includes our own Jennifer Allee and Gina, too!).

I plunged in with both feet, despite the fact I was in the middle of edits for my first contracted novella, Santiago Sol, and I don't generally write historical fiction. It must have been "meant to be," because I had the entire story written in less than a month, and these two characters have become dear to my heart.

Sadie's Gift goes "live" today on Amazon.com. (I had a glitch in my Barnes and Noble account, so it won't be available for Nook until they email me back. Stay tuned, Nook readers! Writers: never publish anything on a holiday weekend!)

The first novella in the Christmas Traditions series, Handcarved Christmas by Cynthia Hickey, is already available and is a charming, sweet read by an equally charming and sweet author! (Cynthia also graciously designed all our covers.)

Sadie's Gift is set in 1921 Colorado Springs, Colorado. I have a soft spot for Colorado Springs because I was born there, as was my paternal grandfather.

My heroine, Sadie Hubbard, is a nurse in a preventorium. What's a preventorium, you ask?

During the last half of the 19th century, and into the first few decades of the 20th, tuberculosis—"the white plague"—was a health crisis in the U.S. and around the world. Commonly referred to at the time as consumption, tuberculosis infections had reached epidemic proportions in the 19th century, responsible for one in four deaths. A vaccine was not developed until the early 1900s, and wasn't in widespread use until the middle of the century.

Tuberculosis, an airborne bacteria spread through breathing, coughing, sneezing, and spitting, was widely considered a disease of the poverty-stricken, and spread rapidly in crowded urban areas. The bacteria primarily affected the victim's lungs, and as the disease progressed, the sufferer was "consumed" by the ailment, experiencing extreme weight loss and weakness along with fever, chills, loss of appetite, and severe coughing fits. In its later stages, victims often coughed up blood, as lung tissue was destroyed by the bacteria. 

Gambler and gunslinger Doc Holliday, made famous by his participation in the battle at the OK Corral, was a victim of TB. He died in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, of the ailment in 1887.

Doc Holliday's "grave" (no one knows for sure if this is actually where he was buried) is in the town where I grew up. 

Those afflicted with TB were often "sent West" for treatment, as doctors believed the drier climate was beneficial to the lungs. The establishment of private sanatoriums, where TB patients were housed to prevent the spread of the infection and in hopes of treating the disease through exposure to fresh air, sunlight, daily exercise, and healthy food, created an economic boom in cities like Colorado Springs. Sometimes the treatment worked, sometimes it didn't. Often, as is all too frequently the case, those with the most money received the best treatment and got the best results. 

Children who were exposed to the disease through contact with family members, but who hadn't succumbed to the illness, were sometimes moved to "preventoriums." As is evidenced by the name, the preventorium was a place where doctors and nurses hoped to prevent the progression of the disease by prescribing a strict regime of exercise, diet, and exposure to fresh air (even in the winter).

In Sadie's Gift, nurse Sadie Hubbard wants to provide a "real" Christmas celebration for the children in her care in a Colorado Springs preventorium. On her way to a pawn shop to get money to buy gifts for the kids, she's nearly run down by Nathan Wells in his brother's Model T Ford. Nathan's brother has just died of consumption, and Nathan just wants to get his brother's prized car back to their parents' home, but his run-in with Sadie delays his plans. 

Excerpt:

     “I seem to have lost my Christmas spirit this year,” he snapped. After all that had happened to Matthew, Nathan didn’t even know if he believed in Christmas anymore.

     She twisted a corner of her napkin between taut fingers and he wished he could take back the words. His emotions were strung too tight, ready to snap at the slightest provocation. He should just leave the table. Leave the boardinghouse. Get on the train and get out of Colorado forever. Forget about Matthew’s wrecked car. But he couldn’t. He had to take the car back to his parents, leave it with them as a memorial to his brother.

     “What do you do for a living, Mr. Wells?” Sadie’s gentle voice cracked his mental whirlwind. He imagined she was a very competent nurse. Despite her personal discomfort, she was reaching out to him.

     He cleared his throat, feeling guilty. “I’m in… I was in finance. But my situation has changed, because of the economic troubles we’ve had since the war.” He felt heat in his face and neck. He had been one of the up-and-coming financiers in Chicago before everything crashed. Now he had an empty house in Chicago’s northwest neighbored. He’d sold all his fancy, decorator-inspired furniture to pay bills. He had no job, and no prospects for future employment. Depression rolled over him, threatening to suffocate him in hopelessness.

     Nathan fought to find his anger again, for that was the only thing keeping him afloat. Anger at his brother for getting sick, anger at the sanatorium for failing to save him, anger at this woman for thwarting his plans and for breaking open his wounds and peering inside his raw and exposed soul. He pushed his chair away from the table and almost didn’t hear her next words.

     “My parents died during the Spanish influenza epidemic while I was away at nursing school.”

      He looked up, surprised. Why would she share such a thing with him? “My condolences,” he murmured.

     She offered a weak smile. “As Mr. Maloney said, we’ve all lost someone. But we go on. That’s how we can honor their memories, by going on, by living.”

Sadie's Gift attempts to address the sorrow and grief of loss that can paralyze us and prevent us from seeing the blessings of God. In the story, Sadie and Nathan have to come to terms with their own ways of dealing with their pain and its residual effects to find the true spirit of Christmas.  I hope you enjoy the story, and all of the stories in the Christmas Traditions collection, which will be released between now and the end of October.

Niki Turner is a novelist, journalist, blogger, and production manager for the Rio Blanco Herald Times in Meeker, Colorado. She lives on Colorado's Western Slope, blogs at www.nikiturner.net and is a co-blogger at www.inkwellinspirations.com. She is also the Colorado Coordinator for American Christian Fiction Writers. Her fiction blends the good news of God's love with come-as-you-are characters in stories that encourage and inspire.