Christmas carols have to be my favorite form of holiday cheer. My husband and I both sang in choir during college as well as in an adult classical chorus a few years ago. My children love to sing too, and one of our friends from church jokingly calls us the family Von Trapp.

As soon as the Thanksgiving dishes have been cleared away, we immediately grab the Christmas CDs and switch out the music in the car as well as in the home stereo. The kids love jamming out to the Phineas & Ferb Christmas album while my husband prefers Straight No Chaser. I love them all. But there is a special place in my heart for the classic carols that echo sounds of ages past.

One of my favorites is I Wonder as I Wander.Written in a minor key, this hauntingly beautiful song evokes strong emotion with it’s simple music and lyrics.

John Jacob Niles

I Wonder as I Wander originated as a folksong from deep within Appalachia. As is true of most folk songs, it was handed down through an oral tradition, the original author unknown. However, in 1933, a collector of folk music, John Jacob Niles traveled to Murphy, North Carolina and came across a revivalist family camped out in the town square. The mother was cooking and hanging her wash on the Confederate monument. The family had been deemed a public nuisance and was on the verge of being ejected by the police. They needed to hold one more tent meeting in order to earn enough gas money to take them out of town.

This is where Niles encountered the young daughter of the family, Annie Morgan. Unwashed but exceptionally pretty, she sang three lines of a song that captured Niles’s attention. He paid her a quarter to repeat the tune. And another, and another. He paide her eight times in all, giving him the chance to transcribe her music and put her lyrics on paper. She sang the same three lines each time, but it was enough to inspire Niles to expand the song and eventually publish it.

Today, this classic carol lives on, it’s haunting melody and spiritual lyrics touching untold hearts. And it all started with a young girl’s song.

I Wonder as I Wander

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die
For poor on’ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky

When Mary birthed Jesus ’twas in a cow’s stall
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all
But high from God’s heaven, a star’s light did fall
And the promise of ages it then did recall.

If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing
A star in the sky or a bird on the wing
Or all of God’s Angels in heaven to sing
He surely could have it, ’cause he was the King

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die
For poor on’ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky

         In case you’re not familiar with the beautiful melody, I’ve included a recording for you to enjoy. Just click on the song title below. Merry Christmas! 

10 I Wonder as I Wander

Tanya’s  picks:  I got to spend some righteous time with a whole corral-full of real-life cowboys on our wagon train trip around the Tetons a summer ago. Meeting Garrett Snow, I was so enthralled with his hero/book cover potential that hubby advised me to tell him WHY I was taking his picture so often, to assure him I wasn’t a stalker. He was downright flattered. Indeedy, I can see him some day starring in a book of mine entitled Snow in Summer…sigh.

As for Sam Elliott, he’s the quintessential cowboy of every Western woman’s dreams. Y’all out there will have to agree. That voice of Rocky-Mountain gravel, that sly,  shy and sexy all at once smile peeking forth from the depths of that glorious mustache. ..Sigh.

Hero #13

Hero #14

Mary’s picks:   When I need a hero tall, dark and handsome are so easy that I have to fight it. I usually lose.

Here’s one where I let a blonde rule the day. I see this guy as Tom Linscott. My hero from Sharpshooter in Petticoats and one of my favorite heroes ever.

And the other hero is Lee Horseley. Remember him from Guns of Paradise? I loved that show. I remember Lee being quoted as saying he’d sworn to never do another TV show. And then they offered him a cowboy and he couldn’t say no.

He’s the perfect tall, dark and handsome cowboy.

Hero No. 15

Hero No. 16

When You Need a Hero . . . just look around you. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and aren’t limited to skin color. A hero is as close as your own backyard or as far as your imagination takes you.

From Linda—–

My hero must have a broad chest and love animals. *sigh* I also like my hero to be gentle yet strong.

Hero # 9

Hero #10

From Phyliss————

When you need a real man . . . look no farther than #11. His name is Nathan and he was the cover model for two of our anthologies. Number 12 is a bit different and much, much harder. I had to look VERY carefully at each of them for a full day to decide which one I liked best. Well, that didn’t work, because there was no way to tell which was the hunkiest, so you get four for the price of one. Enjoy!

Hero # 12

Hero # 11

Here are today’s prize giveaways. Leave a comment and vote to get your name in the hat. Remember, you can vote more than once.

Ladies, I hope you’re ready to saddle up for some more fun!

Charlene’s Entries

Charlene Sands discovered Timothy Olyphant (Hero #5) from the hit FX series Justified, where he plays US Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens. Some of you might also recognize him from his role in Deadwood. As far as “Hero with an Edge” goes, Timothy’s got it all and he’s a source of inspiration for Charlene’s upcoming Harlequin western!

Charlene says this about Hero #6: “I fashioned my hero in The Cowboy’s Pride coming in December from Harlequin Desire (who is an ex-country western star) after Chris Young. I truly love his music and his look. All this inspiration!”

Hero No. 5

Hero No. 6

Cheryl’s Entries

Cheryl St. John used a different criteria while selecting her heroes.

Cheryl writes, “I didn’t choose my heroes based on their pretty faces or sex appeal. When push comes to shove, I want a hero who would take a bullet for me, rescue me from outlaws or perhaps pay for a china tea set before he goes out to face certain death in the name of justice.”

“Robert Duvall plays one of of my favorite cowboy heroes in Lonesome Dove, Broken Trail and Open Range.

Kevin Costner would make a fine upstandin’ husband for any pretty spinster.”

Hero No. 7

Hero No. 8

When you vote for your favorite hero, you’ll get your name in the Stetson for one of these four books.

Grab your silk fans, ladies, and start them flapping. It’s about to get very warm here at the Junction. We’re giving away prizes all this week and all you have to do to enter is cast your vote on some very fine specimens of western manhood. What could be better than free books and cowboy eye candy? Donna and I have the honor of kicking off this shindig, and we’ll be giving away four books, so get those eyes peeled and those voting fingers ready.

Karen’s entries:

When I need a hero for one of my books, there are certain qualities I look for. He must be rugged, strong, and capable of handling any challenge that comes his way. Much like  Hero #1. On the other hand, he must also be warm, tender, and a man who laughs. See Hero #2.

Hero #2

Hero #1

                                    

Donna’s entries:

I’m entering a pair of lovely gents. Blake Shelton (Hero #3), who I think is going to be cast as the hero in my upcoming Christmas book. This is a guy who needs to be big as a barn door with a heart of gold.  And second up is Hugh Jackman (Hero #4). I swear he’s the sexiest drover on the planet.

Hero #4

Hero #3

So what do you think ladies? Which man would you like to ride the range with?

To vote, simply leave a comment with the hero’s number that you prefer. And if you want, tell us what drew you to him. By voting, you will also be entered to win one of the four books we are giving away today.  Have fun!  

When I was a kid, I had a real thing about horses. I wanted one, but growing up on an apple farm meant we didn’t have a barn or pasture to keep one (or two). My solution was to suggest 4-H – using a horse from a nearby farm. But that meant having to drive me so I could care for the animal etc, so it was a non-starter. I had a few friends who had horses, and now and again I’d get to go to their house and go for a ride. And a handful of times I went to a local riding stable and did trail rides. I read horse books. I did “research reports” on my summer holidays. I was horse crazy.

I have a daughter who is animal crazy, so when we were looking at a special summer activity, we looked at things to do with animals. Unfortunately, the local vets and shelters require volunteers to be eighteen for liability reasons so that was out. And then I realized that there is a stable nearby who does camps all summer long.

When I asked her about it, she was over the moon. Not just to ride horses but to care for the horses. Feeding and brushing and whatever else they get to do. As the time gets closer, she’s getting more excited.

Is it sad that I almost wish I could go with her?

Well, I admit hubby is not a syfy aficionado, but he does like Westerns and he does love me, so last Friday —Cowboys and Aliens release day— he took me to see it after I worked at the horse rescue in the morning.

Being retired and cheap, we always go to a weekday matinee. Which we did, only to find the theatre amazingly crowded. At least it’s stadium seating, so I didn’t have to whine when folks sat in front of us. And enjoy the movie, we did, in addition to a giant bag of buttered popcorn despite our recent vows at weight-loss. Oh yes. Archetypes, stereotypes, fun plot. Not all that much gore. Nothing we didn’t expect to see. (Although, no spoilers here, a woman romance writer probably would have treated the ending a tad differently. But we knew what we’d find, knowing past works of many of the producers and director.)

About this same time, I read a newspaper article about the new DVD set, “A Big Box of Cowboys, Aliens, Robots and Death Rays” now available. I reckoned I ought to check out C and A’s predecessors. Apparently, most of the collection are B-grade grainy western films from the 1930’s, but they’re still worthy of hee-hawing about to die-hard Western fans.

Likely the most famous is Gene Autry’s 12-part serial The Phantom Empire. In 1935, this series was not only the first musical Western but also The Singing Cowboy’s initial starring role. He and his pals find themselves face to face with an evil scientist in an underground world called Murania, filled to the brim with robots, death rays and other sci-fi gew-gaws. The series is claimed to be a quarter-century ahead of its time.

(For those unwilling to sit through a dozen installments, the series was condensed into Radio Ranch.)

Tim McCoy, 1930’s “cowboy and serial hero” at Columbia pictures, went by such monikers as Lightnin’ Bill and Trigger Tim, and found a starring role in Ghost Patrol. The low-budget western had planes full of money and valuable bonds crashing without any apparent reason in an abandoned mining town full of outlaws. Cowboy-turned G-man Tim is called in to save the day. Disguised as a much-wanted outlaw, he must shoot his way out of trouble when his true identity is discovered.

Tombstone Canyon features true-life world champion rodeo performer Ken Maynard. Atop his wonder horse Tarzan, he tracks down a mysterious phantom killer in a B-western full of chills, solid camera work, and surprisingly good plot twists. (Or so it’s said. I haven’t watched any of these.)

Riders of the Whistling Skull is a paranormal Western with “The Three Mesquiteers” going on an archeological expedition to find a lost Indian city of gold called Lukachuke. Some say the B-classic is a precursor to Indiana Jones.  More a horror flick than adventure,  Vanishing Riders features cowpoke star Bill Body and his real life son. Father-and-son cowboys in the film, they dress up themselves and their horses as skeletons to drive outlaws out of ghost town Silver Springs.

Not part of this collection is 1969’s West German flick, The Valley of Gwangi,  set about 1880. Here a Mexican circus showman enlists cowboy James Franciscus to enter the Forbidden Valley and wrangle the giant T-Rex, Gwangi, for the show.

These all found like fun. *  Any of you out there know of any other supernatural tales involving our favorite kind of hero, the cowboy? *  Without spoiling things for anybody still wanting to see Cowboys and Aliens…if you have seen it, that did you think?

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Hello.  Thought we’d offer a bit of fun today. 

Try your hand at this word puzzle – how many Fillies can you find?  (Hint, look at the side bar for a complete list of names).  Enjoy!