Of all my Christmas decorations, I treasure my All Through the House (Dept. 56) collection the most.   Each piece is colorful, wonderfully detailed and represents a house and family as they would’ve lived in the Victorian era during the holiday season.

It all started about ten years ago when a member of my critique group gave me the Christmas tree as a gift.  It was her intention to add pieces for me as time when on, but I didn’t want to wait that long–and besides, she moved!  During the next several years, I fashioned the set to represent my own family.   Four little girls, mama and papa, a kitchen wing and parlor, complete with an overstuffed chair.

Ironically, two of the girl figures have the same name as two of my daughters.  The family is centered around that Christmas tree and decorating it in anticipation of Christmas morning.

My sofa table reigns supreme with that Christmas scene.  It’s the first thing anyone sees as they walk into our living room.  Here, I caught my little granddaughter standing quietly, studying each piece in fascination.  It truly warmed my heart.

Ah, Christmas through the eyes of a child!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS!

He wanted to test his skills.  He wanted to join the army and fight the Rebs.  But his mother was sick, and his sister was only ten, and his pa couldn’t handle the farm alone.  So here he was – grudgingly – feeding chickens and milking cows, with rebellion frothing inside him.

He was driving some milk cows from a pasture when he heard gunshots, blasting loudly across the open prairie.  He spurred his horse toward the farmhouse and spied four riders milling about, tearing down fences, driving out his father’s gelding and the old mare.  Tom looked for his father, his mother, but didn’t see them. 

He did see one of the raiders fling a torch at his family’s neat little house.

Without hesitation, he took his treasured rifle from its scabbard.  His father thought he carried it for hunting, and he did.  But knowing that “Bloody Kansas” had come by its name honestly, he also carried it as protection against human dangers.  It seemed every thief and killer was using the war as an excuse to rob and loot and kill: the Jayhawkers and Red Legs, different sides of the same coin.

He didn’t care who the men were as he rode hard toward the house.  None of the raiders saw him approach.  They were far too busy destroying what his father had spent fifteen years building.  When they turned, it was too late.  Too late for them.  Jared’s fingers closed around the trigger again and again, not stopping until three of the four lay on the ground, and the fourth – a sorry excuse for a lookout who couldn’t be more than fourteen – was hightailing it across the fields.

Tom started to aim, then stopped and lowered the rifle.  He had to see to his family, although in his heart he knew what he would find . . .

www.patriciapotter.com  

Just for all you good little darlin’s, we’ve brought back a special treat.  My, my, my this cowboy honey can shore fog up your glasses! Hmmm, I wonder if he’s cold in those skimpy clothes. It’d be too darn bad if he takes a chill. Maybe some woman with a warm heart will give him a shirt for Christmas. Or maybe not.

Click on the picture and he’ll be bigger than life and cozying right up to you. Then, you can send all us Fillies here a big thank you. Mind your manners now.

We’re very excited here at Wildflower Junction.  Company’s coming!  YOU!

We’ve decorated our saddles,  polished up the silver and have the fireplace roasting.  You’re invited to join us for the next fun-filled two weeks for holidays jam-packed with  surprises, and incredible storytelling by our very own Miss Patricia Potter. 

Her story is called SHOWDOWN. Set in Texas, it’s an exciting tale about a man in a gunfight who’s about to draw his weapon, debating about all the things he’s done in his life to get to this desperate point, and what he’s going to do about the woman he loves. The whole story takes place in six heart-stopping minutes. That’s right, only six, and you’ll be amazed how Pat weaves the story seamlessly together and keeps us guessing minute by minute what Jared Walker will do next.  

Here’s how Pat describes her inspiration: “SHOWDOWN first appeared in a short story collection, IN OUR DREAMS, published by Kensington.  Other participants included Linda Lael Miller, Mary Jo Putney, Susan Wiggs, Barbara Cummings, Ruth Glick and Mary Kirk.  The theme  was Heartthrobs, Hunks and Heroes.  We each took a favorite hero from movies and television.  Mine was inspired by Paden (played by Kevin Kline) in Silverado.  He epitomized the reluctant hero, my favorite western theme.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it?  We’re honored that Pat is sharing her story with us!

Starting early tomorrow, we’ll be posting a new chapter each morning, Monday to Friday, so please stop by for another riveting installment. And don’t forget our guest author next weekend.

We’d also like to invite you into our homes and show you what special things we’re doing for Christmas and the New Year, sharing our photos, recipes and traditions. Each afternoon, a new Filly will share something special to her.  So pour yourselves an eggnog, give the kids something to distract ‘em, put your feet up and stay a while.

During these next two weeks, the Fillies are taking a holiday break away from our computers.  But just like you, as we’re visiting family and spending time with friends, we’ll be stopping by to read Pat’s story, each other’s blogs, and all the wonderful messages you leave for us. So please do continue to post your thoughts and messages, for we  appreciate each one.

Enjoy the holiday season, don’t let your feet get too sore from running around, and drop by anytime to relax at Petticoats and Pistols!

The Fillies are sending each of you our very best wishes for a loving holiday season.

CONGRATULATIONS to JESSICA NELSON!

Email your address to staceykayne@gmail.com and I’ll send out your book and dragonfly clip.

Thanks to all for stopping in to post during this busy Pre-Christmas weekend!

Wishing Everyone a very Merry Christmas and Joyous New Year!

Pst…we’ve got some great treats lined up for the next two weeks

{{Holiday Hugs}}

One week to Christmas!  So, is everyone ready?

Today marks the end of semester finals for my boys and school bus duties for me–wooohooo!!!  I love it when my boys are out of school for Christmas break. We have some serious hustling and bustling to do over the next week–sad to say, but we still need a tree!  We had hoped to be moving back home into our remodeled house this weekend, but a big snaffu with kitchen cabinets has dashed those hopes, so it’s time to deck the halls we’ve got while painting the ones where we’re not   We plan to find time to head up the mountain while my boys are out of school for a day in the snow, and of course, build snowmen.  We don’t live in the snow but we can see it–the mountains are beautiful!!  Anyone have any winter activities planned?  Or plans on staying inside where it’s cozy and warm?  Am I the only one still Christmas shopping? 

For those still in need of a stocking stuffer–I’ll be giving away a copy  of THE GUNSLINGER’S UNTAMED BRIDE and a beaded dragonfly clip to one lucky poster today!

Hope you enjoy these snowman funnies…the first one is so fitting for my guys…

The Gunslinger’s Untamed Bride (Harlequin Historical Series)

Does anyone feel like the true meaning of Christmas is a little bit lost?

Okay.  Alot lost?

Christmas has become more of a retailer’s phenomenon than a religious holiday destined to remind us of why we’re here on this earth.  While we make ourselves crazy shopping, we forget why Jesus was born, what He would grow up to do.  We don’t think of salvation, compassion, or good will toward men.

If we’re not careful, the true meaning will be forever lost in the commercialism.  That’s why we have to start with the youngest of our humanity.  The future generations. 

Our children.

Years ago, my sister-in-law gave each of us a red bag filled with trinkets.   They came with a story, too, which never fails to choke me up.

I’d like to share that story with you today. 

Just a week before Christmas, I had a visitor. This is how it happened. I had just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed when I heard a noise in the front of the house. I opened the door of the front room, and to my surprise, Santa Claus himself stepped out from behind the Christmas tree. He placed his fingers over his mouth so I would not cry out.

“What are you doing?” I started to ask, but the words lodged in my throat as I saw he had tears in his eyes. His usual jolly manner was gone…gone was the eager, boisterous soul we all know.

He then answered with a simple statement of “teach the children”. I was puzzled. What did he mean? He anticipated my question and with one quick movement brought forth a miniature toy bag from behind the tree. As I stood there bewildered, Santa said again, “Teach the children. Teach them the meaning of Christmas…the meanings that Christmas nowadays has forgotten.”

I started to say, “How can I…” when Santa reached into the toy bag and pulled out a shining star.

“Teach the children the star was the heavenly sign of promise long ages ago. God promised a Savior for the world and the star was a sign of the fulfillment of that promise. The countless shining stars at night, one for each man, now show the burning hope of all mankind.” Santa gently laid the star upon the fireplace mantle and drew forth from the bag a red Christmas tree ornament.

“Teach the children red is the first color of Christmas. It was first used by the faithful people to remind them of the blood which was shed for all the people by the Savior. Christ gave His life and shed His blood that every man might have God’s gift of Eternal Life. Red is deep, intense, vivid…it is the greatest color of all. It is the symbol of the gift of God.”

“Teach the children,” he said as he dislodged a small Christmas tree from the depths of the toy bag. He placed it before the mantle and gently hung the red ornament on it. The deep green of the fir tree was a perfect background for the ornament. Here was the second color of Christmas.

“The pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year round,” he said. “This depicts the everlasting hope of mankind. Green is the youthful, hopeful, abundant color of nature. All needles point Heavenward, symbols of man’s returning thoughts toward Heaven. The great green tree has been man’s best friend. It has sheltered him, warmed him, made beauty for him.”

Suddenly I heard a soft tinkling sound.

“Teach the children that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring for a man to return to the fold. It means guidance and return. It further signifies that all are precious in the eyes of the Lord.” As the soft sound of the bell faded into the night, Santa drew forth a candle. He placed it on the mantle and the soft glow from its tiny flame cast a glow about the darkened room. Odd shapes in shadows slowly danced and weaved upon the walls.

“Teach the children,” whispered Santa, “that the candle shows man’s thanks for the star of long ago. Its small light is the mirror of starlight. At first candles were placed on the trees. They were like many glowing stars shining against the dark green. The colored lights now take over in remembrance.”

Santa turned the small Christmas tree lights on and picked up a gift from underneath the tree. He pointed to the large bow and said, “A bow is placed on a present to remind us of the brotherhood of man. We should remember that the bow is tied as men should be tied, all of us together, with the bonds of goodwill toward each other. Goodwill forever is the message of the bow.”

Santa slung his bag over his shoulder and began to reach for the candy cane placed high upon the tree. He unfastened it and reached out toward me with it.

“Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherd’s crook. The crook on the staff helps bring back the strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane represents the helping hand we should show at Christmas time. The candy candy cane is the symbol that we are our brothers’ keepers.

As Santa looked about the room, a feeling of satisfaction shone in his face. He read wonderment in my eyes, and I am sure he sensed my admiration on this night.

He reached into his bag and brought forth a holly wreath. He placed it on the door and said, “Please teach the children the wreath symbolizes the eternal nature of love; it never ceases, stops, or ends. It is one continuous round of affection. The wreath does double duty. It is made of many things and in many colors. It should remind us of all the things of Christmas.

Please teach the children.”

Do you try to keep the true meaning of Christmas alive at your house?  How?  What customs do you do–or used to do–that would help you and your children remember what the Season is truly about?

By the way–Santa’s story and his red bag of trinkets makes a wonderful treasured family heirloom.  Feel free to make this story your gift to someone you love!

The Fillies will be taking a well-deserved break for a couple of weeks.  I’ll be back the first Wednesday in January.  Until then . . .

May you have the most joyful of Christmases filled with the light from God’s love!

   Click to buy from Amazon!

Whew! I’m all tuckered out. Gettin’ ready for guests sure can wear a body down to the nubbin’.

I’ve hung a pretty wreath on my door, wrapped presents, and got my buggy decked out in Christmas finery. I might even put a bow on my durn mule before everything’s said and done! But, I’m not the only one using plenty of elbow grease. Every last one of the Fillies have been sweeping, dusting, and decorating everything in sight and some things that aren’t. Don’t rightly remember whenever I’ve seen Wildflower Junction this shined and sparkly.

Yep, everything’s shaping up and looking like St. Nick’s right around the crook in the road.

And starting December 22nd, for ten days you are all welcome to partake in our big celebration. We’re gonna have some treats in store for you and that’s no joke. If you’ll lean close, I’ll whisper in your ear. We’re gonna run a special story serial by one of our very own talented Fillies. But shhhh! It’s a secret. I can’t tell you much more than that right now.

Not only will the Fillies entice you with the story serial, we’ll also give you secret peeks inside our homes and you’ll get to see exactly how we live, what’s important to us, and what makes the holidays glow.

So mark your calendars, dust the cobwebs off your wagons, and tie a string around your finger-whatever you have to do to remember to follow the trail to Wildflower Junction on Monday, December 22nd through January 2nd.

Don’t you forget now, you hear!

I might even let you have a little nip of my cider to knock the chill off your bones. Hee-hee!

The weather has finally started to chill here in our little California desert.  I’ve pulled out the sweaters, fired up the heater and stocked up on my supply of hot chocolate!! While we don’t get snow (when we do it melts about the time it hits the ground!) we do get freezing temperatures. I absolutely love this time of year—it’s BOOT season for one, and I love layering on the sweaters, scarves and hats.  Also love curling up with a big cozy blanket, a warm mug and a great book if I’m lucky. One draw back to winter is early sundown, which means more time indoors for most of us. Likely why winter was always a big craft season for me. Although my mom may have started that winter ritual.

My mom was good for coming up with winter craft/family projects. One year it was decorating jar tops to be filled with spices—or maybe it was cookie dough. The most memorable family winter craft was these yarn wreaths. She took wire hangers and made circles and gave each of us kids a square cardboard and bundles of green yarn. We’d wrap the yarn around the cardboard twenty-five times, pull it off and then tie it with a small piece of yarn. Those little yarn bundles were then tied to the wire—and after a gazillion bundles were wound and tied on, it made a really cute wreath, to which my mother fastened other decorations. We must have made ten or fifteen of those suckers—a hundred bundles each!  I have clear memories of sitting by the fire in our blanket robes (anyone else have one of those blankets that snapped into a robe?) and likely our super-hero Underoos underneath *lol*, and winding yarn, and trying to keep count while watching some Christmas special on TV   For anyone interested in these yarn wreaths, I found a blog which details the instructions for making these exact wreaths! Just click on the pink and white wreath.

Now that I’m a mom I’m really in awe of how clever my mom was to keep us kids busy during those cozy winter evenings   In the past I’ve had my winter projects of ceramics, toll painting, ornaments…the year before I started writing I sewed about fifteen snowmen dolls out of fleece. My hubby used to get miffed because I never kept any of my crafts—but we can visit our relatives and see all kinds of creations that had been gifts. The past few years my winter craft has been books   This year my winter project is finishing my HOUSE. We are remodeling and currently living in a rental…and hoping to move back home the week of Christmas!

We already got a peek at one of Pam’s winter crafts—love those glamour gloves!! Anyone else turn crafty over winter? Anyone in the midst of any winter projects…have memories of past winter projects?

One comment poster will win a tin “Howdy” star!

I love this time of year, especially because I love Christmas trees and all the decorations.  I’ve been working on thinning out my storage room, since I had enough ornaments to decorate trees with six different themes.  I used to put up four trees, but we’ve downsized and I have to get my mind around the fact that I need less.

(It’s really difficult to get good photos of Christmas trees without fancy lenses and you have to slow down the shutter speed.  I’m strictly an amatuer, but I gave it my very best shot for you - over two days - trying daylight and dark.  Click on any photo to enlarge and see the ornaments more clearly.  The photos are of my tree.)

Every year since our children were small, we’ve spent an evening driving around and enjoying the lights.  The houses are so lovely.  Some people are extreme in their decorating, but my favorite part is still seeing that lighted tree in the front window.  Over the holidays I usually have a chance to see several of our friends’ homes and trees, and I never get tired of the experience. 

Late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their doors to show their hope in the forthcoming spring. Records have it that the first Christmas tree can be traced to France in 1521, though the Germans are most often credited with its origin. (OTannenbaum) The first trees were decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers for the pleasure of the wealthy people’s children.

George Washington didn’t have a Christmas tree. Many colonial religions banned celebrations, claiming that they were tied to pagan traditions. The New England Puritans passed a law that punished anyone who observed the holiday with a five-shilling fine. The Quakers treated Christmas Day as any other day of the year. The Presbyterians didn’t have formal services until they noticed that their members were heading to the English church to attend theirs! This sparked the Presbyterian Church to start their own. It was the Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Lutherans who introduced Christmas celebrations to colonial America. December 25th actually began a season of festivities that lasted until January 6th–the Twelve days of Christmas. January 6th was called Twelfth Day, and colonists found it was the perfect occasion for balls, parties and other festivals.

Some historians trace the lighted Christmas tree to Martin Luther. He attached candles to a small evergreen tree to simulate the reflections of the starlit heavens–the heaven that looked down over Bethlehem on the first Christmas Eve.

In the early 19th century, decorating a tree became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria.

In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess who later became England’s Queen Victoria wrote, “After dinner…we then went into the drawing-room near the dining room…There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments, all the presents being placed round the trees.” A young Victoria often visited Germany and most likely picked up the customs she enjoyed. A woodcut of the royal family with their Christmas tree at Osborne House, initially published in the Illustrated London News of December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas in 1850. Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable–not only in Britain, but with the fashion-conscious east coast American society.

A German immigrant living in Ohio was the first to decorate a tree with candy canes. In 1847, Imgard cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments and candy canes. The canes were all white with no red stripes.

Ornaments were made by hand during those early years. Young ladies spent hours quilting snowflakes and stars, sewing little pouches for secret gifts and paper baskets with sugared almonds in them. Popcorn and cranberries were strung on thread and draped as garland. Tin was pierced to create lights and lanterns to hold candles, which glowed through the holes. People hunted the general stores for old magazines with pictures, rolls of cotton wool and tinsel, which was occasionally sent from Germany or brought in from the eastern states. Small toys were placed on the branches. Most of the trees at this time were small and sat on a tabletop. They weren’t the six and seven foot trees we think of today when we think of Christmas trees.

The Christmas tree market was born in 1851 when a Catskill farmer by the name of Mark Carr hauled two ox sleds of evergreens into New York City and sold them all. By 1900 one in five American families had a Christmas tree, and twenty years later the custom was nearly universal.

In 1880 England, Christmas trees became a glorious hotchpotch of everything one could cram on and grew to floor-standing trees. They were still a status symbol, the more affluent the family, the larger the tree.

The High Victorian of the 1890’s was a child’s joy to behold! It stood as tall as the room, and was crammed with glitter and tinsel and toys galore. Even the middle classes managed to over decorate their trees. It was a case of anything goes. Everything that could possibly go on a tree went onto it. Kind of like my philosophy: More is more. 

A F.W. Woolworth brought the glass ornament tradition from Germany to the United States in 1890.

I decorated my tree Victorian this year, and it’s all about excess.  My tree turns slowly, so I can sit and watch as all the ornaments come around for viewing.

Do you have memories of Christmas trees from your youth?  Remember tinsel trees, those aluminum lovelies with the turnwheel light that made it change colors?  My grandma had one of those.  I inherited a few of her decorations: A set of cardboard houses crusted with glitter that have tissue paper windows and a set of Santa and reindeer that were among the first products made from plastic.

Is your tree up yet? Authors and readers have been sending me photos of their trees for The Great Christmas Tree Tour 2008 on my blog From the Heart, and it’s a topic everyone seems to enjoy.

My new release Her Montana Man is in stores now that it’s December, so look for it when you’re shopping.  And buy an extra to put under a special someone’s tree!