An Old-Fashioned Christmas

My mother used to read the Little House on the Prairie books when I was younger. I was always in awe of their simple and wonderful Christmases:

Something was shining bright in the top of Laura's stocking. She squealed and jumped out of bed. So did Mary, but Laura beat her to the fireplace. And the shining thing was a glittering new tin cup. Mary had one exactly like it.

These new tin cups were their very own. Now they each had a cup to drink out of. Laura jumped up and down and shouted and laughed, but Mary stood still and looked with shining eyes at her own tin cup.

Then they plunged their hands into the stockings again. And they pulled out two long, long sticks of candy. It was peppermint candy, striped red and white. They looked and looked at the beautiful candy, and Laura licked her stick, just one lick. But Mary was not so greedy. She didn't take even one lick of her stick.

Those stockings weren't empty yet. Mary and Laura pulled out two small packages. They unwrapped them, and each found a little heart-shaped cake. Over their delicate brown tops was sprinkled white sugar. The sparkling grains lay like tiny drifts of snow.

The cakes were too pretty to eat. Mary and Laura just looked at them. But at last Laura turned hers over, and she nibbled a tine nibble from underneath, where it wouldn't show. And the inside of the little cake was white!
It had been made of pure white flour, and sweetened with white sugar.

Laura and Mary never would have looked in their stockings again. The cups and the cakes and the candy were almost too much. They were too happy to speak. But Ma asked if they were sure the stockings were empty.
Then they put their hands down inside them, to make sure. And in the very toe of each stocking was a shining bright, new penny!

They had never even thought of such a thing as having a penny. Think of having a whole penny for your very own. Think of having a cup and a cake and a stick of candy and a penny.

There never had been such a Christmas. ~Little House on the Prairie 1935

So, it was with these Christmases in mind that we decided to have our very own old-fashioned Christmas (in July!).

Throughout the week leading up to our Christmas, we made decorations for a small tree using items from nature. We painted pine cones and rolled them in glitter. We found small skinny sticks, painted them and rolled those in glitter as well. These were to be our icicles. My mother lovingly made a popcorn string. We made a star out of tin foil.

Colt making ornaments:

My mom making a popcorn string:

We each drew names to exchange gifts. The gifts were to be homemade or something that you had that you thought someone else might like. I spent time with each of the children working on their gifts to each other. There were a lot of secrets! My mother made welsh cookies for the children's stockings.

On "Christmas" Eve we had a big dinner. My parents had a turkey in their freezer, so we cooked that up. We also had some mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberry sauce. My mom made two blueberry pies using the wild blueberries we had picked earlier in the week.

Proof of the pie:

After dinner, we decorated the tree while listening to Christmas carols on the record player (yes, record player). We danced and had so much fun!


Before bed, the children hung their stockings (we came across some gift bags in the shape of stockings with the gift wrap).


The next morning we all waited patiently until every one had awoken and then down the stairs we went! The children opened their stockings to find that they each got two welsh cookies in their stockings. Carena and Colt each got a small puzzle. Jonathan got a coloring book. They were thrilled!

Carena had drawn Colt's name to give a gift to. She made him a beautiful door hanging that says, "love" on it. She made it using a yarn weaving technique I had taught her. She also made him some chocolate covered pretzels.


Colt drew Carena's name. He made her a shell necklace and bracelet. He also gave her a sachet filled with lavender.


Jonathan drew my mother's name. I helped him trace his hands. We then cut them out and glued them to popsicle sticks and put them in a small terra cotta pot. We attached a label to it that read, "A hug for Marmy."

My mom drew Jonathan's name. She made him a beautiful shaker using a paper towel roll, filled with rice. She covered the entire thing with some faux suede and even added fringe!


I drew my father's name. I printed out a picture of myself with the children and attached that to a popsicle stick and put that in a terra cotta pot. I also made him some chocolate covered pretzels.

My dad gave me a small appliance that they were no longer in need of, but one that I wanted!

After gift opening, I made some blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

All in all, we spent exactly $0.00 on our old-fashioned Christmas. The memories, however, are priceless.