I’ve owned my Kindle for just over a year now. I use it every day, though not quite like I expected when I found it under the Christmas tree. I thought I’d buy lots of ebooks, and that my paperback shelves would be a thing of the past. I’m sure my husband had that thought when he bought it for me. When we moved from Virginia to Kentucky, he loaded dozens of heavy boxes of books into the storage pod. By volume, the only thing outnumbering my book-boxes were the Christmas decorations. By weight, the books won.
The Kindle was supposed to eliminate some of those books, but it hasn’t. Six months into owning it, I gravitated to buying paper again because I like to loan books. I know you can loan Kindle-to-Kindle, but that’s not same as just handing someone a book and saying, “Here, take your time.”
Here’s what most surprises me . . . About 80% of the stuff on my Kindle consists of freebies. I check out the Amazon giveaways almost every day, and definitely at the first of the month. I’ve downloaded tried-and-true authors, new-to-me authors, and self published authors. Most recently I started reading a history of Alcatraz Island. What a wild place! I also read Water for Elephants, a book I’ve wanted to read for ages but just never did. Then there’s the Young Adult fiction that got my attention. What fun to revisit the past with stories about girls and horses!
Those freebies have a strong appeal. I can’t say I’m as enamored with the price of regular ebooks. There are bargains to be had, but I get a little miffed when a bestseller in e-format costs almost as much as a hardcover at Sam’s Club. I thought ebooks were supposed to cost less…maybe not. The market’s still finding its footing.
Here’s another cool Kindle feature: I’ve used it to store and read unpublished mss, both my own and those from fellow authors. It’s handy for the last read-through. Typos show up, especially missing words. I tend to miss that stuff on the computer screen.
Right now, I have 105 items on my Kindle organized in Collections labeled: Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, Mainstream, Series, YA, Non Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Classics, Reference, Book Club, and Hubby’s Books. The romance categories have the most titles, of course. And that number is growing . . . One-click shopping is the easiest thing in the world.
I also have a couple of games. Is anyone else hooked on Every Word? My high score playing the timed version is 34,930. Just 70 points shy of 35K! I like Scrabble, too.
Anyone else have thoughts on e-readers? Kindle vs. Nook? They’re here to stay for sure.
The Women of Swan’s Nest Series…Available in the Amazon Kindle store…
I love spending time here at Petticoats and Pistols with the fillies and all their fantastic fans! I’m grateful to have my fifth book, An Inconvenient Match, Love Inspired Historical, on the shelves this month. The release of a new book is always exciting!
In past visits I’ve shared tidbits of history I discovered while researching such topics as orphan trains, medicinal herbs and Victorian houses. Today I want to chat about romance. First let me give you a peek at my story.
THE BEST OF ENEMIES
His family destroyed hers. But Matthew Cummings’s job offer—to care for his recuperating father—is impossible to decline.
Schoolteacher Abigail Wilson can swallow her pride for the sake of a summer paycheck that will help her sister. And when Abigail’s employment ends, old loyalties will separate the feuding families once more.
If there’s anyone in town stubborn enough to deal with Matthew’s cantankerous father, it’s Abigail. It’s just a business arrangement—and a temporary one, at that. Her good opinion shouldn’t matter a lick to Matt. Yet their different backgrounds belie a surprising kinship. Perhaps unexpected love will be their reward for the summer’s inconvenient match.
As the story unfolds, the hero and heroine struggle to reconcile loyalty to family with their growing romantic feelings for one
another. To see if they overcome the obstacles between them is one reason I love to read romance novels. Another reason is romance novels guarantee a happy ending. Still, getting to the “happily ever after” isn’t easy. Bottom line, conflict is story. No conflict, no story.
So expect trouble.
Abby and Wade have plenty. The feud between the Wilsons and Cummings isn’t their only problem. Wade hurt Abby when they
were courting in high school. She’s not forgiven him. Ah, the heartache of young romance.
Anyone relate? I do.
My first boyfriend dumped me. That hurt. Not that I was in love, but I liked him. I was fifteen. He was sixteen, tall, dark, handsome and a driver. :-) We met at 4-H camp and dated that summer. He was the first boy I kissed. Unless you count the silly kiss that followed the spin of a milk bottle. Toward summer’s end we had plans to attend the county fair. He never showed up. Even then I had a creative imagination and visualized an accident or at the very least, car trouble. Surely he was hurt or stranded somewhere. I called his house. First dumb move. His mother answered and said he’d gone to the fair with friends. Friends? I’d been stood up. I’m sure he had a lot in common with Danny, John Travolta’s character in “Grease.” Danny dumped Sandy, Olivia Newton-John’s character, no doubt running from a summer romance that wouldn’t make him look cool to the guys in school. Sadly, I was not cool. I went from hurt to mad. What a coward he’d been not to tell me face to face. When school started, I never spoke to him again. Second dumb move. We were both pretty childish. But, the experience proved to me that Abby’s refusal to talk or eat with Wade could happen.
I dated a few more nice guys before I went steady in my junior year. That boy broke up with me. See a pattern here? He had the
guts to do it in person, probably because he wanted his class ring back. What a waste of angora and pillows of tape painted with different colors of nail polish to match my skirts and sweaters. Does anyone remember the creative ways to make a boy’s ring fit your finger?
I persevered in the romance department until I met my husband in college. I’m grateful I waited for Mr. Right and got my happily ever after. But wait, I’m ignoring poor Abby and Wade. The feud and heartache over the breakup wasn’t all that stood between them. They clashed over a student of Abby’s. Like most of us, they saw the situation from the bias of their past experiences. Thankfully, they matured and changed. Thanks to me. Yes, romance isn’t easy. But, Wade and Abby got their happy ending.
Can anyone relate to romance woes? Have a breakup story to share? Are you grateful you broke up? Does it hurt still? No full names, please.
For a chance to win a signed copy of An Inconvenient Match, please leave a comment.
As I write the final book in a four book series about the Worth Men, I find myself feeling extremely sentimental and a little bit saddened. After all, I’ve lived with these four cowboys for almost two years. I sort of fell in love with each one of them too. And isn’t that the way? If the author doesn’t fall in love with a hero of her making, then what’s the point? With each hunky man, I’ve matched a woman that has thrown them for a loop, rejected, loved to distraction and angered the hero. But what our heroines had above all else was enough grit to stick it out to the end for their own personal happily ever after.
Taggart Worth - May 2011
Taggart Worth in CARRYING THE RANCHER’S HEIR was my wounded hero. He was a loner, a recluse who never wanted to love again. That story flew off my fingertips, because I knew him so well and I knew Callie too. She had a girlhood crush on Tagg as a teen that he didn’t know about. All he knew was that Callie was his enemy’s daughter.
Clayton Worth - Dec 2011
Clayton’s story didn’t exactly fly off my fingertips, though. In THE COWBOY’S PRIDE, I had a pretty complex conflict – two people bent on divorce only to find love again with the help of adorable baby Meggie. SHE was fun to write, and I used my knowledge not only as a mother, but as a childbirth and parenting instructor to keep my facts straight about all things BABY.
In April, A COWBOY WORTH CLAIMING comes out with Harlequin Historical. Set in early Red Ridge, we find out how Chance Worth met Lizzie Mitchell and how the Worth legacy began. It seemed like the right thing to do – to go back in time to see how the legend of the ruby necklace and Elizabeth Lake came to be. Chance is a reluctant hero with a deep sense of honor, and Lizzie tests that honor time and time again.
Both Chance and Jackson Worth’s story lure us in with “forbidden love.” Jackson, in WORTH THE RISK coming in October 2012, is the most charming, best-looking Worth brother, a confirmed bachelor who is good-natured but used to getting what he wants. I’m working out the kinks in this story to give my readers a very satisfying ending to the series. So I write Jackson’s story with a heavy heart. I will miss these guys, Tagg, Clay, Jackson and Chance. I’ll miss Red Ridge too along with the characters I’ve created. Saying good-bye surely won’t be easy. I have only four chapters left in Red Ridge and then I’ll be moving on to launch Harlequin’s Rich Rugged Rancher series in 2013.
Recently I’ve said good-bye to some other series that I’ve loved, though not of my own making. Twilight is one series, I never thought I’d like. But those stories struck a chord and I had to read all of them, gobbling up the entire series in two weeks. I’ve also seen all the movies. Because I don’t get a lot of reading time these days, I watched the Swedish version of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movies by Stieg Larsson. I wish I could have read the books too, but I’d heard the movies were actually excellent and the storyline extremely intense. Then there’s good ole bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum in the series written by Janet Evanovich. What can I say about the Morelli/Ranger conflict that hasn’t been said before? I’ve read all of the books in the series and am awaiting the movie, One for the Money. I’ve read Linda Lael Miller’s McKettricks and Susan Mallery’s series as well.
What series are you especially fond of? Do you have favorites? Which characters/stories are hard for you to bid farewell to? Below I’ve posted my inspiration for each Worth hero. If you had to pick which hero appeals to you the most?
Taggart Worth
Clayton Worth
Chance Worth
Jackson Worth
A COWBOY WORTH CLAIMING IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW on AMAZON. It will be officially released on March 20th and is eligible for the Amazon 4 for 3 program. Buy 3 get the 4th free!
I love romances. Really. I write them and read them. But there are some things in romance novels that just make me crazy, and I know I’m not the only one.
In no particular order these things irritate me:
1 . The heroine has tiny feet. How many people actually think of their own feet as tiny?
2 . The heroine falls asleep thinking about what’s going to happen. Yawn.
3. The heroine has “small perfect” teeth. Or pearl-like or even. Why does the writer feel the need to tell us that?
4. Jumping in and out of heads/point of view. Do readers notice or care when we know what the cab driver is thinking?
5. A couple jumping into bed before I care about them – or before they care about each other. :::yawn:::
6. The ending feels rushed, as though the author only had a few remaining pages in which to resolve everything.
7. A story that starts out with so much backstory that I feel as though I’ve missed the previous book.
8. Heroines who giggle.
9. Heroines who only need a shower and a little lip gloss to look like JLo. Yeah, right.
10. Heroes with bad attitudes and nobody ever calls them on it. He’s full of himself, bossy and arrogant. I just don’t like jerks.
11. Heroes who growl. Really? If a man growled at you would you fall all over him?
12. Heroines who purr or mewl. :::meow:::
13. Impossible dialogue tags: “He husked” How does one husk?
14. Ridiculous dialogue tags: “He barked” Excuse me? Are you barking at me? Down boy.
15. Euphemisms. You know the ones I mean. Call a body part by its name or simply elude to it, but don’t bring pomegranates or roots into a love scene.
16. A heroine who cries. A good cry once—maybe twice—is acceptable as long as it’s well motivated. For me, the black moment or an overdue confession is a good reason to cry. But please not weeping and tearing up all through the story. A lot more emotion can be conveyed if the character holds back tears. Strength can be great characterization.
17. Characters who say the other person’s name repeatedly. I understand all about keeping story people separate for the reader, but people don’t speak to each other that way—unless they’re angry, usually.
18. Couples who argue without good reason. This is not conflict, people, this is bickering!
19. Heroines who are too young. Ewww.
20. Purple eyes. Do you know ANYONE with purple eyes?
I doubt I’ve covered it all. Is there anything I missed that sets your teeth on edge?
I love New Year’s Eve. When I was younger, I was pretty much a wallflower who sat home year after year. I would watch the glass ball going down in Times Square and wish I was there. As an adult I’ve tried to make up for all those lost New Year’s Eves and rarely miss going out on the town.
I love to dress up in black sequins and high heels, and am fortunate that my husband is a knockout in a tuxedo. One of my favorite New Year’s parties was in Beverly Hills. I was invited to a function that was the height of elegance and even had celebrities in attendance. I remember seeing Hugh O’Brien, who used to be Wyatt Earp on TV, a really gorgeous guy back then, and Faye Dunaway, who was class personified.
For me New Year’s Eve is champagne and romance, and being a romance writer, why wouldn’t I adore it?
This year, besides going out on the town, I’ll be celebrating the re-release of one of my all time favorite books–HOT RAIN. The hero, Jake Dawson, would look gorgeous in a tux–or better yet, nothing at all. Allie Parker is blond and sexy, and the chemistry between them burns. Jake’s an undercover agent working to catch a gang of drug smugglers. Unfortunately, Allie Parker believes he’s one of the thugs who have taken her prison and stashed her on the yacht they are taking to Mexico.
Jake has a helluva time keeping Allie safe and at the same time playing the roll of her captor. There’s a lot of humor in this one, which is why my readers chose it back when it first came out as their all-time favorite.
The book has been out of print for nearly ten years, so I’m hoping readers who haven’t had a chance to read it will give it a try. It’s got a fabulous new cover and will be out in e-book format for the first time ever.
I hope you’ll try HOT RAIN and that you enjoy. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Very best wishes,
Kat
Kat’s giving away a kindle copy of HOT RAIN to one lucky commenter!
Elvis Presley’s famous holiday song, Blue Christmas dates back to 1957 when Russ Morgan, Hugo Winterhalter and Ernest Tubb also had hits with the song. Elvis recorded his slightly different “bluesy” pardon the pun, version at Radio Recorders in September 1957 with the Jordonaires singing back-up. The song was a part of Elvis’s Christmas album that year, but it wasn’t released as a single until 1964, seven years later. The Beach Boys also released a version of Blue Christmas in 1964. Their record made it to #3 on the charts, but The King’s rendition became a Christmas classic, shooting straight to the top as number one, even amid the British Invasion and changing tastes in music. To this day, Elvis Presley’s version of Blue Christmas continues to top the Christmas music charts.
I’ve always been fascinated with Elvis Presley. I have seen every movie he’s ever made and many of them, numerous times. I’ve seen him live in concert in Las Vegas in Lake Tahoe, where we were honeymooning, no less. And my running joke was that going to the Elvis concert was the Highlight of my honeymoon. Thankfully, dear hubby didn’t take offense. So when the Fillies decided on sharing holiday songs and their history for our Special Holiday Week, I knew Blue Christmas was just for me! (And you!) Here are the short lyrics and to make life even more grand, tune in to Elvis’s YouTube performance!
I’ll have a Blue Christmas without you I’ll be so blue just thinking about you Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree Won’t be the same dear, if you’re not here with me
And when those blue snowflakes start falling Thats when those blue memories start calling Youll be doing all right with your Christmas of white But Ill have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas
You’ll be doin’ all right, with your Christmas of white, But I’ll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas
Be sure to enter THE COWBOY’S PRIDE Contest on my Win Stuff page at www.charlenesands.com
When I began plotting my story for A Texas Christmas I knew that my hero was going to be a grouchy old blacksmith who wanted to celebrate Christmas in the only way he knew how … in solitude because of a tragedy he’d experienced during the holidays three years prior. It didn’t take me long to figure out that wasn’t gonna happen because of the blizzard that hit the Texas Panhandle in 1887.
My proposal had him snowed in with a lovely, pregnant woman who gives birth on Christmas Eve, thus the name Away in the Manger. But how I first envisioned my story and how it began unfolding was totally different. Yes, a pretty lady is stranded but instead of being with child she has three year old twins, a boy and a girl, who are precious, inquisitive and much harder for my hero to handle than a pregnant woman would have ever been. As I wrote my story, or as it wrote itself, I realized that my little girl was a mirror image of my youngest granddaughter, Addison Claire … thus the creation of Addie Claire and her brother Damon.
And, of course, once Rand and Sarah discover they love one another and want to be a family; and with one twin in each arm, Rand begins to sing Away in the Manager and is quickly joined by his new love and the children
Here’s a little history I found on the song.
It doesn’t have a clear-cut author, as it was written in counterpart, but it is one of the most popular hymns and also Christmas carols sang. Whatever the refrain, whichever of the variations; and/or whoever is the true composer, there can be no doubt that this sweet song is a favorite of children and adults alike.Most current publications of Away in a Manger indicate that the writer of the first two stanzas is unknown. Others name Martin Luther as the author. The song was first published in an 1885 Lutheran Sunday School book compiled by James R. Murray (1841-1905), who gave the song a subtitle of Luther’s Cradle Hymn. The third verse was written by John T. McFarland in 1904.
Some credit the music to Murray; others think he merely harmonized an old German folk song. The words are frequently sung to the tune of the Scottish song Flow Gently Sweet Afton.
The beloved children’s Christmas Carol is generally sung to one of two melodies. In the U.S. the most popular tune is Mueller, while the United Kingdom prefers the melody of Cradle Song.
Modern research confirms the words date back to the late 19th century and originated in America, not Germany. Richard S. Hill, librarian at the Library of Congress, found that the origins of Away in the Manager came from celebrations of Martin Luther’s 400th birthday among Lutheran churches in the United States in 1883. Hill concluded from his research that an unknown person or persons wrote the words of Away in the Manager as a poem for use in a children’s play at one such Luther birthday party.
There have been several variations of the song, including one or more of the following:
The first line of the 1st verse – exchange ‘no crib for a bed’ for ‘no room for his head’
The third line of the 1st verse – omit the word ‘bright’ or exchange ‘bright’ for ‘night’
The first line of the 2nd verse – exchange ‘the baby awakes’ for ‘the Babe awakes’ or add the word ‘poor’ and remove the (‘The poor baby wakes’)
The last line of the 2nd verse – exchange ‘stay by my cradle ’til’ for either ‘stay by my bed until’ or ‘stay by my bedside ’til’
The last line of the 3rd verse – exchange ‘And take us to Heaven’ for either ‘And fit us for Heaven’ or ‘And throw us to Heaven’
Away in a Manger
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;
I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle ’til morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And take us to Heaven to live with Thee there.
And, from me to you, I pray each of you had a wonderful Christmas and are ready for a very prosperous and happy 2012!
This is my final blog for 2011 and I want to thank everyone for making my 2011 at Petticoats and Pistols so much fun. I thank you all for sharing your stories with us and look forward to a wonderful New Year here at Wildflower Junction.
BROKEN BLOSSOMS was my last book with Leisure Books, but it was the most fun to research. The title is taken from a 1919 silent movie starring Lillian Gish, a popular film star at the time. The film is a tragedy, set in the slums of London, and portrays the gentle romance between an opium-addicted Chinese man and a 15-year-old waif (played by Gish), who is eventually killed by her bigoted father.
While my book is far from a tragedy–it is a romance, after all!–the story depicts how opium had begun to grip the nation in its addicting fists. Opium smoking was first introduced to the West in the 1850s by European travellers, sailors and Chinese laborers who brought their habit to our shores. It didn’t take long for artists, writers and the wealthy to fall prey to the drug . . . or prostitutes, drifters and other low-lifes to follow suit.
Cocaine, hashish, ether, chloroform and absinthe became fashonable and exotic as society relished their new-found freedom to imbibe and experiment. Poets and novelists claimed opium stirred the muse and freed them from inhibition. Cinema exploited the craze and cashed in at the box-office. And so, too, did detective novels and true crime exposes, titillating their audiences by weaving danger and seduction into their tales.
Of course, in real life, opium has a darker side, and there were few places more dark than Chinatown in San Francisco in the mid- to late 1800s. Newspapers and government reporters painted horrific pictures of the poverty and filth in the opium dens. One hotel, the infamous Palace Hotel on Jackson Street, housed some 400 addicts living with a woeful shortage of privies, all contributing to the stench and deplorable conditions, veiled, of course, by the fumes from the ‘heavenly demon’ they lived for.
At this time, opium was not illegal–yet–but the drug was subject to stiff import taxes. Customs officials fought a never-ending battle to control the sheer volume of the shipments sliding into the San Francisco ports, and smugglers turned creative to maximize their profits.
And right about here is where BROKEN BLOSSOMS begins. Carleigh Chandler is the pampered daughter of a powerful and corrupt San Francisco judge who blackmails government agent, Trig Mathison, to keep his secret. The judge knows how to play dirty, and Trig puts up a good fight. Caught in between them, of course, is Carleigh, who does indeed learn her father’s secret and runs away to see for herself the woman she’s always been denied. Her mother.
Readers who delve into Trig and Carleigh’s story will see how opium consumed–and destroyed–lives. Trig learns that his fight against the evils which overpower the weak will never end, and Carleigh discovers there’s far more to life than comforts and money. They cling to the love they’ve found in each other and know there is little more important than that.
I’ve recently released BROKEN BLOSSOMS as an e-book, available now for only 99 cents! I can’t promise that price will last forever, so click here to buy a copy from Amazon for your Kindle!
So there you have it. A little history on opium in the 1800s. Believe me, I’ve barely scratched the surface, and maybe there’s a future blog about it, but for now, let’s talk opium. Do you know of any writers who were opium addicts? Can you give some of the slang for it? Seen any movies about it?
Join in the discussion! I don’t have author copies for BROKEN BLOSSOMS, but I’ll pick a winner for any of my backlist of Harlequin titles.
One of the things I love about Christmas is traditions. I’m a farm girl, and I have a lot of “country” based traditions that I remember fondly. Some of them have gone by the wayside as I bring up my own family, but I remember them with a special sense of nostalgia, and one of the things I love about writing Christmas stories – in particular westerns – is that I can bring those traditions back to life.
Sometimes I think those traditions are part of what’s missing these days, too. Our lives get so busy that it’s a challenge to take the time to put in extra effort- it’s easier to go into a store and buy it. But there really is nothing like a down home holiday and I think readers like them too – it provides a connection that they might not experience, or it may bring back fond memories too.
So what makes a down home Christmas?
Do you all know the scene in Christmas Vacation where they go out looking for the Griswold Family Christmas Tree? It’s a little extreme, but there’s nothing like going out in the back 40, finding the perfect – or not so perfect – tree and cutting it down for Christmas. Then freezing your feet off when you haul it back on a toboggan, and then put it in a Christmas tree stand and turn it to hide the “bad” side.
For our family, it’s also Christmas carols and movies. We have our favourites and make a point of watching them curled up on the sofa, or playing the carols as we work around the house. When I was a girl, I adored The Sound of Music. And I lived for Christmas specials on television. DVDs have kind of made that a little more “unspecial” because you can watch it when you want, however many times you want.
How about a candlelight Christmas Eve service at church?
When I was a girl we also used to gather at my brother’s house after church on Christmas Eve and have a potluck. My fond memory of that time is my sister in law’s chocolate bundt cake with peanut butter frosting. MMMM!
And speaking of food – how many traditions revolve around food? I’m guessing more than any other. There’s the Christmas dinner, of course, complete with turkey and stuffing and potatoes and vegetables and any number of desserts. My mom used to make a steamed pudding with sauce, and she always had pie for anyone who wasn’t into pudding. But beyond the meal there’s so much more to enjoy. For me, it’s the making of it that is as special as the eating. I have carried a lot of traditions forward to my girls. Some we’ve changed to suit our tastes – making shortbread is a big one, and fancy iced cookies, and my daughter makes a gumdrop cake each year and her younger sister is the master of Chocolate Peanut Butter Clusters. I remember being in the kitchen and making mocha cakes with my mom – what a mess! My mom did so much Christmas baking she could feed an army – and often did. We had a lot of drop in company in December, or she’d go to a church or community function with a big tray of goodies. Peanut Butter Balls, Scotch Cakes, Mocha Cakes, Doughnut Holes, Squares of every variety….
And there was always time to put on a kettle.
When the baking was done and the mess cleaned up, it was pretty normal to find my mom sitting with her latest knitting project in her hands, too. That’s how you’ll find me a good portion of the winter – especially Sunday afternoons, curled up with my girls and a movie.
It’s those sorts of things that make me really happy to be writing a holiday story right now. Not just drawing on the experiences but the warm, happy feelings that the memories bring. I can’t wait to bring this story to readers next November!
I can’t let a December go by without a blog about Christmas trees. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a nut for beautifully decorated trees. At one time I put up four or five in my home, but since our downsize, I’ve taken to enjoying other people’s trees all the more. In fact I hold the Annual Great Christmas Tree Tour every year from Thanksgiving to Christmas. If you haven’t already sent me a photo of your tree, please don’t wait any longer! Here’s my email: SaintJohn@aol.com
It’s difficult to get good photos of Christmas trees without fancy lenses, but if you know how to slow down the shutter speed, you can do a pretty good job.
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.
Legend has it that one crisp Christmas Eve around 1500, Martin Luther was walking through snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of evergreens. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moonlight. When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ’s birth.
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.
Margaret Brownley's Lucky Horseshoe Tree
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.
Some believe the Christmas tree tradition most likely came to the United States with Hessian troops during the American Revolution, or with German immigrants to Pennsylvania and Ohio. Most resources site Germans as some of the first to decorate Christmas trees. But the custom spread slowly. The Puritans banned Christmas in New England. Even as late as 1851, a Cleveland minister nearly lost his job because he allowed a tree in his church.
Tracy Garrett's Tree
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.
The Christmas tree market was born in 1851 when Catskill farmer 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 20 years later, the custom was nearly universal.
Christmas tree farms sprang up during the depression. Nurserymen couldn’t sell their evergreens for landscaping, so they cut them for Christmas trees. Cultivated trees were preferred because they have a more symmetrical shape then wild ones. A F.W. Woolworth brought the glass ornament tradition from Germany to the United States in 1890. I love vintage ornaments, how about you?
If you don’t have a copy of Snowflakes and Stetsons yet, order a copy so you can read it sitting by the tree, sipping hot cocoa.
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.
ndle for just over a year now. I use it every day, though not quite like I expected when I found it under the Christmas tree. I thought I’d buy lots of ebooks, and that my paperback shelves would be a thing of the past. I’m sure my husband had that thought when he bought it for me. When we moved from Virginia to Kentucky, he loaded dozens of heavy boxes of books into the storage pod. By volume, the only thing outnumbering my book-boxes were the Christmas decorations. By weight, the b
ooks won.
I love romances. Really. I write them and read them. But there are some things in romance novels that just make me crazy, and I know I’m not the only one.
4. Jumping in and out of heads/point of view. Do readers notice or care when we know what the cab driver is thinking?
8. Heroines who giggle.
14. Ridiculous dialogue tags: “He barked” Excuse me? Are you barking at me? Down boy.
20. Purple eyes. Do you know ANYONE with purple eyes?
