Author Jacqueline Kimball

IN KEEPING WITH   "CHRISTMAS IN JULY" .....

CHRISTMAS ON BEAVER CREEK. 
by Jacqueline Kimball 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0188NLLYE  

A BEAVER CREEK HOLIDAY SPECIAL. (This book is NOT part of The Oregon Series, but many of the characters from the series are also in this book.) It's an 1850 Christmas in Beaver Creek, Oregon! Times are not as lean for the folks in Beaver Creek this year. It’s going to be a great Christmas! But not so for some… There’s going to be a wedding in a few weeks on Christmas Eve. Patrick Rayley wants none of it. His mama doesn’t need a husband. She has a job teaching school, and she has him. Parson Jacob is much too old for his mama, and besides, he doesn’t need or want a pa. His pa died, and he will never let another take his place! . The worst part is that Parson and Mama don't want him anymore. He heard 'em say so with his own ears.
Meanwhile,down the road a piece, Jimmy’s pet goose Alfred has sorely tried his mama, and she has had enough. Unless Jimmy can change her mind, she plans to make poor Alfred part of Christmas dinner. Jimmy will do anything to save his beloved goose. Anything….
It takes a cold night in the woods by the creek for two run aways to learn some hard lessons in life.

AND NOW.......Fix you some hot chocolate ...er..... might want to make that chocolate ice cream.
A Long Ago Christmas

It’s December, 1850 in a small pioneer settlement in Oregon. A yearling boy’s dream is a hunt with his father, and he will be the one to kill a beautiful turkey for Christmas dinner. Mama will be thrilled, and everyone will say it was the biggest turkey ever caught in these here parts.  But wait! (Cue the sound of a record scratching on a turn table…)

Ahem…did I say turkey? I did, didn’t I? 

Did you know that there were no turkeys in Oregon in 1850? Neither did I, and when I found out, I had major revisions to do on my manuscript for CHRISTMAS IN BEAVER CREEK.

After I realized that I didn’t know an 1850 pioneer Christmas if it hit me over the head, I dug deep into researching, and I was quite surprised.  

 Take Christmas trees, for instance. Despite what you see on television, it is doubtful that there were Christmas trees in most pioneer homes in 1850.

I discovered that the Christmas tree was a German tradition, and rarely was seen in America except in German homes. This slowly changed when a picture was published in a London magazine in 1848 of German born Prince Albert and Queen Victoria with their Christmas tree. The Christmas tree was at first mostly seen in upper class homes.  In pioneer homes,if there was a tree,it would be decorated with strung popcorn and berries, [painted pine cones, and other materials that were readily available.

Pioneers decorated their homes with what they could find. On the prairie, this might have been corn husks, bits of ribbon, and painted wooden items on the mantle. Oregon was abundant with trees. The home would have been decorated with greenery, berries, pine cones, wooden carvings, and perhaps festive fabric.

Wreaths were made of greenery, pine cones, nuts, berries and even colorful bird feathers. Socks were often hung by the fireplace, and excited children might find a few items in the stocking, usually a piece or two of candy, and homemade treats such as cookies.

. Gifts in pioneer homes were not elaborate. Most were handcrafted, and the family worked on them for weeks ahead.  Pa might carve a doll hose for his daughters, while mama made dolls from old rags. Mothers often knitted woolen scarves, and made warm clothing as gifts. Oranges and candy were expensive, and a child who got an orange in their stocking might scream with excitement. Children often made a pincushion, painted a pine cone or gathered a bucket of nuts for gifts to their parents. Older children would make carvings, stools, handkerchiefs for their parents and siblings. 

 Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote of her Christmas on the Kansas prairie a few decades later, "That very Christmas, Laura Ingalls was delighted to find a shiny new tin cup, a peppermint candy, a heart shaped cake, and a brand new penny in her stocking. For in those days, these four small gifts in her stocking were a wealth of gifts to the young girl.