Historical Christmas Party

 

All of us at Colonial Quills blog and Colonial American Christian Writers welcome you to our party! We also have a Facebook Event from 2-4 pm Eastern Time Wednesday, December 15, where you can show off your party gowns and interact with our authors even more! We're sharing that event with friends from the HHH blog, too, so one or more will join us in the afternoon! 

Shannon McNear

Greetings and salutations, gentle readers! I am so excited to get to share this story with all of you.

The daughter of a renowned English artist and explorer, Elinor White Dare journeys to the New World seeking a fresh start and a place to put down roots. What she finds will shake the very foundations of her faith and yet rebuild what she knows of God’s goodness and mercy, even in loss.

This "what if" historical explores the possible fate of the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island, the first attempt at English settlement in America, 20 years before Jamestown.

To celebrate the release of this novel, I am giving away a small "Reader's Retreat" gift bundle, with a signed copy of Elinor (or any of my other books of your choice) accompanied by an "adventure" journal, cranberry rose candle, and two other books by friends of mine, which I had signed at this past July's Mississippi River Readers Retreat. For a chance to win, please comment with your favorite place to curl up and read!

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Pegg Thomas

Merry Christmas!

I'm showcasing my newest release, Maggie's Strength, for today's party.

Maggie Kerr is a survivor. Taken captive at age eleven during the battle at Fort McCord, she's learned to adapt and to trust no one. Promised in marriage to a Huron warrior she fears, Maggie risks everything in a run for her freedom.

Content to ignore the rising animosity between the British and the Ottawa villagers he calls his friends, Baptiste Geroux plants his fields, limping behind his oxen and waiting for his brother to return from the west. Until the day a woman in danger arrives on his farm.

When more tribes join Pontiac in an all-out war, Maggie and Baptiste take refuge at Fort Detroit. He’s distrusted for being French. She’s scorned for being raised by the Hurons. Together they forge a fragile bond—until Maggie's past threatens their chance at happiness.

Follow me on my newsletter for updates and announcements! 

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Naomi Musch

Many happy returns of the season to one and all! I'm happy to hang out with you here today and over on the FB event page. My featured NEW book that releases in just a couple weeks is called Song for the Hunter, and I'm giving away a Kindle copy here on the blog.

30% off through Dec. 16 at the
publisher's site with the
code BESTFRIEND

Song for the Hunter is a sequel to my 2019 Selah and Book of the Year finalist Mist O'er the Voyageur. Here's a brief description of the story:

Métis hunter Bemidii Marchal has never played his flute to court a maiden but considers the possibility at Fort William’s Great Rendezvous. However, when rescuing his sister causes an influential man’s death, the hunter becomes the hunted. Bemidii flees to Lake Superior's Madeline Island. Carrying a secret, Camilla Bonnet travels into the wilderness with her husband where tragedy awaits. Left alone, she fears Bemidii but is forced to trust him. Friendship grows and turns to deeper feelings. Then Bemidii discovers more about the man he killed. Now the secret he hides might turn Camilla’s heart away—and demand his life.

You can read the first chapter on the publisher's site here: https://shoplpc.com/song-for-the-hunter/ or if you want to listen to me reading, you can hear the first few pages (not the whole chapter) on my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/qtogfNVqTsQ

To enter for an e-copy of Song for the Hunter, just leave a comment about your Christmas plans--what you're excited about, what you're reading, your favorite food, anything! And don't forget to mention your interest in Song for the Hunter!

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Gabrielle Meyer

Merry Christmas, to one and all! I'm thrilled to be back at Colonial Quills sharing in the Christmas festivities. I can't wait to join everyone at the live Facebook party.

Today, I'll be chatting about my upcoming release, When the Day Comes. It will release on May 3, 2022 with Bethany House Publishers. Here's a little more about the story.

How will she choose, knowing all she must sacrifice?

Libby has been given a powerful gift: to live one life in 1774 Colonial Williamsburg and the other in 1914 Gilded Age New York City. When she falls asleep in one life, she wakes up in the other. While she's the same person at her core in both times, she's leading two vastly different lives.

In Colonial Williamsburg, Libby is a public printer for the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor, trying to provide for her family and support the Patriot cause. The man she loves, Henry Montgomery, has his own secrets. As the revolution draws near, both their lives--and any hope of love--are put in jeopardy.

Libby's life in 1914 New York is filled with wealth, drawing room conversations, and bachelors. But the only work she cares about--women's suffrage--is discouraged, and her mother is intent on marrying her off to an English marquess. The growing talk of war in Europe only complicates matters.

But Libby knows she's not destined to live two lives forever. On her twenty-first birthday, she must choose one path and forfeit the other forever--but how can she choose when she has so much to lose in each life?

In honor of my new release, I would like to give away an advanced reader copy. They won't be available until February, but the winner will be one of the first to get a copy in the mail! I will choose a winner from among the comments on this blog post. Merry Christmas!

Be sure to follow me on Facebook and subscribe to my newsletter!

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Carrie Fancett Pagels 

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas, as my English ancestors would say! 

Did you know that at the end of my colonial novella, Mercy in a Red Cloak, there is a Christmas scene? This book, like my two 2021 releases Behind Love's Wall and Butterfly Cottage, is set at the Straits of Mackinac and on Mackinac Island! I do have an audiobook of Mercy in a Red Cloak, also, and will be giving away reader's choice of format, including audio code if preferred! And in 2021 my pre-War of 1812 book, Holt Medallion finalist The Steepchase, released in audiobook and I have audiobook codes for Christmas giveaway, too!

From all of us at Colonial Quills blog, we would like to thank you for your readership! You're a blessing to us and we pray our blog posts have blessed you as well!

The wreaths pictured in the post are from Colonial Williamsburg. We hope you'll allow us to serve you a cup of tea, or a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, and bring around some trays of Christmas treats for you to enjoy! 

The blessings of the season to you all!

Christmas Banned in Massachetts

We hear a lot of talk these days about the war on Christmas. About businesses and government offices that won't allow any decorations, the playing of Christmas carols, or even wishing "Merry Christmas" to people who enter. It's a bit disconcerting for those of us who grew up in the traditions of a festive Christmas season. But it's not new.

In 1659 the Puritans passed a law against anyone celebrating Christmas in Massachusetts. A law banning Christmas! They put muscle behind their law with a five-shilling fine to anyone caught celebrating.

To understand their desire to ban Christmas, we need to understand a bit about the Puritans. They were, as their name suggests, purists about their Christianity. There is nothing in the Bible about celebrating the nativity. They were correct about that. The Bible also never tells us the season, much less the date, on which Jesus was born. They were correct about that as well. The date chosen by the Catholic Church to celebrate Christmas was - in fact - the same date that the pagan Romans used to celebrate Saturnalia. They were correct about that, too.

But it was more the way Christmas was celebrated that infuriated the Puritans of Massachusetts. “Men dishonor Christ more in the 12 days of Christmas than in all the 12 months besides,” wrote 16th-century clergyman Hugh Latimer.

To say there was nothing holy about their methods is an understatement. Drunken feasting, vandalism, and even violence were not unknown at the time. The celebration was more of a frat house party than a solemn occasion. Feasting, drinking, gambling, and other unsavory pastimes were the norm.

The prohibition on Christmas lasted until 1681 when King Charles II threatened to revoke the Puritan's charter if they didn't relax their intolerant laws, which included the ban on Christmas. Yet for years after this - well into the 1800s - schools and businesses stayed open on Christmas in Massachusetts. It wasn't until 1856 that the state recognized Christmas as a public holiday.

Bethlehem: The Beginnings of Pennsylvania's Christmas City

Growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania, I learned at a young age that many of the neighboring town names were also found within the pages of the Bible. To our west sat towns like Akron and Ephrata (spelling changed slightly from the biblical Ephrathah), and to the north sat places with names such as Emmaus and Nazareth. Probably the best-known biblical town name in the state, however, is Bethlehem (now also called “Christmas City”), whose beginnings go back to a Christmas Eve during Colonial times.

Moravian Bethlehem (courtesy of the Moravian Archives)

In 1741, on the banks of the Lehigh River not far from the Monocacy Creek, a small group of Moravian missionaries began clearing the land on five hundred acres they had purchased. They were a missional people who had previously worked among the Mohicans in New York, and planned to now minister to the Lenape tribes in Pennsylvania. On Christmas Eve of that year, Moravian leader Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf christened the town Bethlehem in a stable while the people sang “Jesus, Call Thou Me,” a hymn that includes the lyrics “not Jerusalem, lowly Bethlehem.”

Bethlehem became a thriving Moravian community, with members living in separate quarters depending on their age, gender, and marital status. By 1747, the Moravians had established thirty-five crafts, trades, and industries, supporting themselves and all the missionaries they sent out to work among Native American tribes. They then purchased 5,000 acres four miles north of Bethlehem and began building a second community, Nazareth, and went on to found more missionary communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. Bethlehem remained their headquarters, and to this day is a stronghold of the Moravian church, although members no longer live communally.

Bethlehem is now widely known for its steel production (Bethlehem Steel was America’s second-largest steel company and largest shipbuilder from 1904 until 2001), music festivals, and very popular Christkindlmarkt, but its historical sites cannot be overlooked. Historic Moravian Bethlehem National Historic Landmark District encompasses fourteen acres in Bethlehem, and includes many buildings that have stood for two hundred and fifty years. Tours, exhibits, and places to visit abound, all celebrating a people whose beliefs—that women and men should have equal rights; that boys and girls should receive the same education; and that everyone should work together for the community’s good, with no prejudices toward gender or ethnicity—would take centuries to become societal norms.

Bethlehem's star (from an undated newspaper article courtesy
of Bethlehem Area Public Library)

Still today, a lit star forged of Bethlehem steel sits high atop South Mountain, shining down on Bethlehem. As a child, I remember looking for it as we returned home at night from my cousins’ house in nearby Allentown, and it still evokes an emotion response to this day. May it forever be a reminder to all of Christ’s birth, at Christmas and every day.

Christmas Eve and Candles

Christmas Eve is my favorite part of the Christmas season. As a child, we went to church, sang a few old Christmas hymns, someone read the story of the birth of Christ, and then the lights were dimmed. The pastor would light two large candles from the altar candles. He'd pass them to a couple of teenagers pre-chosen for the event. He'd nod to the pianist who would begin Silent Night as the teenagers progressed slowly down the center aisle, holding their large candles. Those on the inside of the pews would light their little candles, then turn and light the candle next to them, and this continued as the congregation sang and the light grew brighter and brighter.

It was a magical moment for me as a child. A holy moment as I grew to understand it better. A life-affirming moment the year I was chosen to hold one of the large candles. An illustration of the Light entering our world. An explanation that made sense to even the youngest in attendance. Christ came to give His light to the world. So simple. So beautiful. So true.

Our churches are full of technology today with movie screens, microphones, powerpoint presentations, wifi, and spotlights. But this Christmas Eve, let's take a moment to remember the simplicity that was the gift of Christ. A light. One Light came into the world and spread, from person to person, to bring us hope.

Pegg Thomas

   

Happy Christmas from the Colonial Quills

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
                                                    Luke 2:10-11

Wishing you a blessed and happy Christmas from your friends at the Colonial Quills.

Colonial Christmas and Hogmanay

Finding things to share about colonial Christmas celebrations can be an interesting experience. Others have written about the importance of Advent to colonial folk, and how Christmas was seen more as a season with a spiritual focus rather than a particular holiday or event. The Colonial Williamsburg history website has an excellent article discussing colonial Christmas traditions, which I found very useful when researching for my Pioneer Christmas novella, Defending Truth. Along with the spiritual focus, and various traditions that included decorating the churches with green boughs, Christmas included plenty of gaeity and frivolity, especially in the eastern, more populated parts of the colonies. Presbyterian missionary Philip Fithian shared in a 1774 diary entry:

When it grew to dark to dance. . . . we conversed til half after six; Nothing is now to be heard of in conversation, but the Balls, the Fox-hunts, the fine entertainments, and the good fellowship, which are to be exhibited at the approaching Christmas.

But Christmas was considered so strongly a Catholic or even Anglican tradition (Christmas does, after all, come from the term "Christ Mass") that many denominations either didn't think it worthy of notice (Peter Kalm notes that the Quakers ignored the holiday at first) or because of doctrinal differences, felt it ungodly to indulge in the frivolity of the holiday. David DeSimone mentions how after sharing eastern Virginia's lavish Christmas celebrations, Philip Fithian must have been disappointed while serving in the backcountry of Virginia the following year:

Christmas Morning--Not A Gun is heard--Not a Shout--No company or Cabal assembled--To Day is like other Days every Way calm & temperate-- People go about their daily Business with the same Readiness, & apply themselves to it with the same Industry.

Robbie Shade - Fireworks over Edinburgh (Wikipedia)

The Scots-Irish Presbyterians in particular frowned upon Christmas, but there's evidence that the New Year was well observed. The Scottish New Year, or Hogmanay, a word which means the last day of the year, roots from Norse, Gaelic, and French terms and traditions, some of which involve children going door-to-door to request small gifts and sweets (sound familiar?), and some which involve giving special gifts to the poor. There's also much made of the "first foot," or the first person to set foot inside your house on the new year, beginning at midnight, and the traditional giving of gifts to the household for good luck, and then the hospitality shared with guests

We really don't have any way of knowing how extensively Scottish settlers held to the old traditions, but in recent years Colonial Williamsburg has included Hogmanay in its New Year's celebrations. With such a rich history of Advent, Christmas, and New Year's combined, is it any wonder that the month of December often feels like one long party?

O Christmas Tree

Writing the title made me think of the Christmas song by this name, but the German folk song didn't even become associated with Christmas until the early 20th century. We're going back a little further. The early 1800s saw little for the celebration of Christmas in Colonial America. Most simply followed whatever traditions they had brought from the old world, or like many Puritans, none at all. It wasn't until mid century that the desire to celebrate Christmas began to take deep root in the hearts of Americans...along with the Christmas tree.

As early as 1749 it is recorded that evergreen boughs were used to decorate the pews and alter of a Catholic church in Philadelphia, but it took a little while before people began hauling the whole tree into their houses. Not until the 1830s do we hear about the first fur trees placed with care and

decorated. Than in 1848, Prince Albert had one set up at Windsor Castle. The print of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria and their family around the tree appeared in the Illustrated London News. The fashion spread fast and by the 1850s Christmas trees had become a staple for the celebration of Christmas.

Christmas trees were at first decorated by what was available: nuts, strings of popcorn, fruit, dried fruit, candies and homemade trinkets. Then newspapers and magazines began to set the bar, offering ideas that soon made people want to set aside homey ornaments for sophisticated and uniform ones. Soon businesses stepped in, providing glittery baubles, wax figurines, and tin shapes in abundance, importing many from Germany.

In my recently released short story, "I Heard the Bells", included in the anthology A Bit of Christmas, the main character decides a Christmas tree might ease the tension between him and his brother. It is 1864 and Gabriel Morgan is home in Virginia for a couple of days at Christmas...after spending the last three years fighting for the Union Army while his family staked their allegiances with the Confederacy.

~~~

Clara’s head jerked up as Gabriel plunked a scraggly spruce just inside the door of the bedroom. “What is that?”
     He flashed a grin as he knelt to tack a makeshift stand onto the trunk. “Surely you’ve seen a Christmas tree before.”
     “Yes, but it looked nothing like that.”
     “Don’t be so quick to judge. There’s potential.” He glanced at his brother. “Remember that year Pa was away? We didn’t want to wait, so we went out ourselves. You must have been six or seven, and me maybe ten. I still remember the look on Mama’s face.”
    Probably because you saw it again when you hauled this tree past her. Clara bit her tongue.
    With no reply from Lawrence, Gabriel stood the tree upright and left. A few minutes later, he returned with a handful of nuts, a single candle, some string and clusters of crimson berries that he began to distribute amongst the branches.
     “Are those rosehips?”
     “We needed something to brighten this room.”
   

~~~

So how do you decorate your tree? With homemade trinkets, or store-bought baubles and bows?

Boxing Day with General Washington

I'm not an expert on Revolutionary war battles by any means. That said, I think there's a majority of us who might know Washington crossing the Delaware but little else that happened before or after that event.

Washington Crossing the Delaware is an 1851 oil-on-canvas painting by
the German American artist Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze

Washington's forces crossed on a miserable Christmas Day 1776. Morale was low. Boxing Day, December 26th--a very British holiday--involved a long cold, early morning march toward Trenton. In fact it became known as the battle of Trenton and proved to be a major win for the revolutionary forces.

Boxing day is the traditional day when employers gave holiday gifts to their employees, and for former British subjects would have been part of the annual holiday season. With the eventual success--when the colonies won independence--the new United States put off the celebration. (Our neighbors to the north still celebrate...mostly as a shopping day similar to our Black Friday).

Battle of Trenton, by H. Charles McBarron, Jr., 1975

Today, we  at Colonial Quills take this opportunity to wish you all the joys of the season, Merry Christmas! and thank you for being part of our year and sharing our love of history.

How Santa Claus Came to the New World

by Roseanna M. White

Stories of St. Nicholas go back for centuries. Growing up in a protestant family, I knew next to nothing about the saint so well beloved by Europeans. All I knew was Santa Claus--the jolly old elf who brought presents on Christmas Eve.

As I grew up I ran into more and more people who eschewed the tradition of Santa--and I understood why. Santa takes the focus off Jesus, right? And that's where it belongs. 

But this year, I wanted to dig a little deeper into the traditions that shaped American Christmases into what they've become...and where better to start than with St. Nicholas of Myra?

The saint was, from childhood, considered a wonder-worker. A miracle-doer. A boy of astounding faith. Not a magician, let it be noted--a Christian who believed fully in the awe-inspiring power of the Holy Spirit, and that he, as a believer, could call on that power to heal, to save those in danger, to work wonders. When his wealthy parents died when he was still young, his uncle, the bishop of Patara, raised him. He was soon, at a young age, named a reader in the church, and then a priest.

Nicholas had a large inheritance from his parents...but no desire to spend it. Instead, he gave it to those in need. The most famous story of his generosity was when a local family in Patara lost all they had. Destitute, the three daughters of the family, now without dowries, couldn't be given in marriage. The only choice open to them was prostitution. When Nicholas heard of this impending tragedy, he took a bag of gold and tossed it through the family's window one night--a dowry for the eldest daughter. He did it again for the second daughter. But when he tried to toss a third bag of gold through the window, he found the family was waiting for him.

Now, Nicholas took seriously Jesus's command to give our gifts in secret. He wanted no notice, no thanks, just to help. So he climbed up onto the roof and dropped the gold down the chimney, where it's said to have landed in a shoe or stocking left there to dry.

That, my friends, is where the stocking tradition comes from.

The father of the girls rushed out into the street to catch up with their mysterious benefactor, and he did indeed catch the young man...who begged him not to tell anyone of what he'd done, not while he lived. The father promised.

But after Nicholas's death, stories of his generosity came out. Story upon story of how this miracle-worker gave from his own wealth to help those in need around him. Always quietly. Always anonymously. Always out of Christian love.

When Nicholas was named a saint shortly after his death, his feast day was established on his day of death--December 6th. And to honor the memory of the man who gave so generously, people would also give anonymous gifts--and sign them St. Nicholas. It was around the same time that Christmas was established on December 25th. Pretty close to each other, and over the centuries the two celebrations merged into one.

The Dutch especially loved their stories of Saint Nicholas...or as they called him, Sinterklaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas). But with the advent of protestantism, feast days were abolished. Still, the Dutch people refused to give up their gift-giving, even when Martin Luther insisted it is the Christ Child who gives us all the gifts we need, not some saint. So the people, in the way people do, said, "Okay...so our gifts are now from the Christ Child." Or as they would say in Dutch, the Christ-Kindl.

When the Dutch arrived in the New World, they brought their Christmas traditions with them. British colonists latched hold of them, though they mis-pronounced Christ-Kindl and called him Kris Kringle...which they took to be another name for the one the same Dutch settlers called Sinterklaas, which they also mispronounced, LOL, and called Santa Claus. The anonymous gift-giver...

Traditional interpretation of Dutch Sinterklaas

But of course, stories get changed over the years. As the centuries went by, people forgot that Nicholas performed God-given miracles, not magic. They forgot that he gave in secret so that no one would praise him. They forgot that he was a man who, above all, sought to bring honor to God. Instead, he became an elf in our new mythology. A magical being who watched our children and gave gifts only to the good, coal to the naughty. He became a symbol of Christmas-when-you-stop-focusing-on-Christ.

Sad, since focusing on Christ was all he ever did.

Examining this story made me examine more than the role Santa Claus plays in modern America. It made me examine our gift-giving in general. Because while so many of us today are quick to say, "No Santa in my house!" we're not so quick to actually focus on Christ. It's still largely about the gifts in this day and age...we just sign them with our own names. Something Nicholas never did, lest he take pride in the praises it brought him.

But when the country was founded, when Christmas traditions were first begun here, that's not what it was about. Gifts were simple, small--an orange, candy, perhaps a small toy for each child. Christmas, if it was celebrated (the Puritans, of course, didn't celebrate the day at all), was begun with church, followed with a family dinner, and only then introduced any gifts to be given.

Santa Claus was a way to give a gift anonymously. A way to capture a bit of the wonder of all God gives us. Not an excuse for children to make an "I want" list a mile long, not a way to take the focus away from where it should be...but an invitation for you to look around you and see where there is need. A way to meet that need quietly--not for praise, not even for the joy of seeing their faces, but just out of Christian love.

This year, whether you have any Santa figures in your house or not, I pray you play Santa for someone. Not just for the kids or grandkids that already have a house bursting with toys, but for someone around you in need. Meet it. Meet it quietly. Meet it anonymously.

And remember who the man the Dutch brought to these shores as Santa Claus or the Christ-Kindl really was--one of the most generous, faithful men I've ever read about. He may not be a jolly old elf, or have a broad face and a little round belly...but you can be sure that he would be the first to wish:

Moravian Christmas Traditions Dating Back to Colonial Times

 

Moravian Christmas Traditions

by Tamera Lynn Kraft

 

In my novella, A Christmas Promise, I write about Moravian missionaries in Schoenbrunn Village, circa 1773. The Moravians brought many Christmas traditions to America that we use to celebrate Christ’s birth today. Here are a few of them.

The Christmas Tree: Moravians brought the idea of decorating Christmas trees in their homes in the early 1700s, long before it became a popular tradition in the United States.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Services: Most churches have Christmas Eve services where they sing Christmas carols and light candles to show Jesus came to be the light of the world. The Moravian Church has been doing that for centuries. They call their services lovefeasts because they also have a part of the service where they serve sweetbuns and coffee – juice for the kids – and share Christ’s love with each other. For candles, Moravians use bleached beeswax with a red ribbon tied around them. The white symbolizes the purity of Christ and red symbolizes that His blood was shed for us.

The Moravian Star: In the 1840s at a Moravian school, students made 24 point stars out of triangles for their geometry lessons. Soon those Moravian stars started making their way on the tops of Christmas trees. The star as a Christmas tree topper is still popular today.

The Putz: The putz is a Christmas nativity scene surrounded by villages or other Biblical scenes. Moravian children in the 1700s would make a putz to put under their Christmas tree. Today, nativity scenes and Christmas villages are popular decorations.

Re-creating a Historical Christmas

One very cold Christmas during the Revolution...image by Wikipedia

Writing about Christmas in the backcountry of North Carolina (now east Tennessee) for my first novella, Defending Truth in A Pioneer Christmas Collection, held the challenge of creating that "Christmasy" feel for modern readers while absolutely respecting the probable opinions and practices of the time and region. What a contrast to the highly commercial affair the holiday has become in our own time!

Previous posts, especially this excellent one on colonial Christmases by Lori Benton, have covered how Christmas itself was a modest affair in the colonial era, with most of the focus on parties and church attendance. Often the celebrations continued through the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany, culminating in "Twelfth Night" on January.

Certain religious groups and denominations celebrated with far less fervor than others. How much, or even whether one celebrated. also differed across social strata and region. In the western reaches of the colonies, there tended to be no celebration at all, at least not in contrast with those in the east. The Colonial Williamsburg Official History site on their page, Another Look at Christmas in the Eighteenth Century, comments,

One notable exception to the Christmas Day in 1775 must have been a great disappointment for the Presbyterian missionary, Philip Fithian. A year earlier he had experienced the finest of Virginia Christmases the residence of Robert Carter, Nomini Hall. But in 1775, Fithian toiled as a missionary in the western counties of Virginia among the Scotch and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. The following is part of his diary entry for December 25:

Christmas Morning--Not A Gun is heard--Not a Shout--No company or Cabal assembled--To Day is like other Days every Way calm & temperate-- People go about their daily Business with the same Readiness, & apply themselves to it with the same Industry.

Could it be that settlers felt the need to keep things "calm & temperate" because of the almost constant threat of Indian attack?

The site goes on to say:

Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Moravians celebrated the traditional Christmas season with both religious and secular observances. These celebrations in eighteenth- century America were observed by the aforementioned communities in cities such as New York and Philadelphia, in the Middle Atlantic colonies of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and in the South. 

Some of the differences can be chalked up to denominational practice. Scotch-Irish Presbyterians tended to regard any sort of Christmas observance as papist and thus worse than heathen, a perversion of the purity of God’s word. The Presbyterian Heritage Center site states:

Presbyterians have not always celebrated Christmas. 

Separating themselves from the Roman Catholic Church practices, Protestant Reformation leaders were generally critical of the existing “feast and saint days” of the Catholic Church.

The celebration of Christmas became a point of contention among many Protestants. Reformation leader Martin Luther permitted the celebration of certain feast days, including Christmas. Other reformers, including John Calvin and John Knox, preferred to worship only where specifically commanded in the Bible.

The Quakers likewise ignored the holiday:

On Dec. 25, 1749, Finnish-Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm (believed to be pictured below) was in Philadelphia. He made the following observation in his diary: “Christmas Day.... The Quakers did not regard this day any more remarkable than other days. Stores were open, and anyone might sell or purchase what he wanted.... There was no more baking of bread for the Christmas festival than for other days; and no Christmas porridge on Christmas Eve!”

Kalm went on to note that: “One did not seem to know what it meant to wish anyone a merry Christmas.... first the Presbyterians did not care much for celebrating Christmas, but when they saw most of their members going to the English (Anglican) church on that day, they also started to have services.”

It's fascinating to me to see how customs differed, and how they changed over the years.

What is a Christmas custom you'd like to see brought back? Anything you think is best left in the past?

December New Releases & Christmas Books Tea Party ~ Lovefeast at Schoenbrunn

At Schoenbrunn Village in the 1770s, in the heart of the Ohio wilderness, Moravians celebrate Christmas with a Lovefeast. They serve sweet buns, coffee or tea, and juice for the children. They are the first to have candlelight services and indoor decorated Christmas trees along with a Putz, a nativity scene with a whole village attached. The Moravians of that area love Christmas, so this year, we will join their Christmas celebration at Schoenbrunn Village.

Anna Brunner welcomes you to the Lovefeast where they are serving tea, coffee, and sweet buns at the church. It's the only building large enough for the party. They've decided to do something special for you and also serve a Moravian Christmas feast with roast turkey, corn bread, potatoes, beans, and for desert, squash pie. They always use the three sisters, corn, beans, and squash, in their celebrations.

Come by the fire and warm yourself. Our Ohio winters are much colder than your tepid Virginia weather. We Moravians are normally coffee drinkers, but we bought tea when the traders came around so we would have some for you visit. So which would you like to start with, coffee or tea?

Let's begin our celebration by introducing you to this wonderful array of Christmas novels and novellas from our Colonial Quills/CACW Authors with some fabulous GIVEAWAYS!

From Tamera Lynn Kraft
A Christmas Promise

A Moravian Holiday Story

During colonial times, John and Anna settle in an Ohio village to become Moravian missionaries to the Lenape. When John is called away to help at another settlement two days before Christmas, he promises he’ll be back by Christmas Day.

When he doesn’t show up, Anna works hard to not fear the worst while she provides her children with a traditional Moravian Christmas.

Through it all, she discovers a Christmas promise that will give her the peace she craves.

“Revel in the spirit of a Colonial Christmas with this achingly tender love story that will warm both your heart and your faith. With rich historical detail and characters who live and breathe on the page, Tamera Lynn Kraft has penned a haunting tale of Moravian missionaries who selflessly bring the promise of Christ to the Lenape Indians. A beautiful way to set your season aglow, A Christmas Promise is truly a promise kept for a heartwarming holiday tale.” ~ Author Julie Lessman

Amazon Kindle | Barnes and Noble Nook |Pelican Book Group | ChristianBook

From Susan F. Craft
Christmas Treasures

Anthology of Christmas Short Stories

My story, His Eye Is on the Sparrah, is the fictionalization of something that happened to my mother years ago.

It's among eighteen heartwarming stories of Christmas that will become favorites to read year after year. 

One of my favorite characters in my short story is my main character Eleanor Stevens' best friend Isabel Ravenel. Both in their late seventies, they've been friends for over fifty years. Isabel speaks in a Low Country Charleston, South Carolina drawl - an accent born of 300-year-old-family money, elongated by the Gullah dialect of former slaves who inhabited the sea islands, tempered by the stubborn pride of stiff-necked Secessionists, and softened by the whispers of Spanish-moss shawls draping from live oak trees.

Isabel often mixes up her theological metaphors: "Take heart, Sugah, the Lord always comes through and makes our lemons into lemonade."

When Eleanor resists praying to God for such a trivial thing as losing her walking cane, Isabel reminds her, "Not at all. Remembah, His eye is on the sparrah..."

Join us for a stroll through America, yesterday and today, where hearts are joined at Christmastime.

Susan F. Craft will offer a signed copy of Christmas Treasures to one commenter selected at random. Here is the link to Christmas Treasures on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Treasures-Collection-Short-Stories/dp/1503007901/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417561103&sr=1-1&keywords=Christmas+Treasures+anthology

From J. M. Hochstetler
One Holy Night

As on that night so long ago . . . in a world torn by sin and strife . . . to a family that has suffered heart-wrenching loss . . . there will be born a baby . . .

It’s 1967, and the Vietnam War is tearing the country apart, slicing through generations and shattering families. Because of Japanese atrocities he witnessed as a Marine in the South Pacific during WWII, Frank McRae despises all Asians. Now his son, Mike, is a grunt in Viet Nam, and his wife, Maggie, is fighting her own battle against cancer. 

When Mike falls in love with Thi Nhuong, a young Buddhist woman, and marries her in spite of his father’s objections, Frank disowns him. Then, as Christmas approaches, Frank’s world is torn apart, and he turns bitter, closing his heart to God and to his family.

But on this bleak Christmas Eve, God has in mind a miracle. As on that holy night so long ago, a baby will be born and laid in a manger—a baby who will bring forgiveness, healing, and peace to a family that has suffered heart-wrenching loss.

Christianbook | Amazon |B&N | iTunes

From Carla Olson Gade
Christmas stories that feature German and Dutch Christmas traditions.

 

Misteletoe Memories (ECPA Best seller)
’Tis the Season

Spend a heartfelt Christmas on Schooley’s Mountain as four generations make a house a home.(1820) Dutchman, Stephan Yost, resident carpenter of Schooley’s Mountain, New Jersey’s fashionable resort, spends off-season working on repairs, renovations, and constructing new buildings. When he is hired to build a permanent home for the resort's German physician and his spirited daughter, Annaliese Braun, in time for Christmas, Stephan finds himself enamored by the precocious spinster. But will he be able to compete for her affections against the advances of a manipulative iron baron?

Amazon: Paperback, Kindle only $1.99

A Cup of Christmas Cheer (2013)

Upon A Christmas Tree Schooner, A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Vol. 1 & 2 (Guideposts Books)

(1880) A ship’s captain takes his schooner upon icy Lake Michigan in his last haul of the season for Christmas trees for the German immigrants in his town.

Purchase directly from Guideposts BooksThe Memory Shop, A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Vol. 3 & 4 (Guideposts Books)
The proprietor of a Midwestern Main Street memorabilia shop finds his own cherished memories rekindled and relationships renewed at Christmastime.

Purchase directly from Guideposts Books

From Carrie Fancett Pagels
The Fruitcake Challenge, Book 3 in The Christmas Traditions Series

The Fruitcake Challenge by Carrie Fancett Pagels

(1890) Christmas set in a lumber camp outside of Mackinac City, Michigan. When new lumberjack, Tom Jeffries, tells the camp cook, Jo Christy, that he’ll marry her if she can make a fruitcake, “as good as the one my mother makes,” she rises to the occasion. After all, he’s the handsomest, smartest, and strongest axman her camp-boss father has ever had in his camp—and the cockiest. And she intends to bring this lumberjack down a notch or three by refusing his proposal. The fruitcake wars are on!

Snowed In, A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Vol. 1 & 2 (Guideposts Books)
(1945) WWII veteran helps make a special Christmas for his girlfriend and her little sisters. His grandma and uncle keep them in their log cabin as a blizzard sets in. Set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and inspired by Carrie's parents.

Giveaway: Pick either a set of the Guidepost Books or a paperback copy of The Fruitcake Challenge (or ebook of Carrie's new novella if preferred!) 

From Shannon McNear

A Pioneer Christmas Collection,  9 Stories of Finding Shelter and Love in a Wintry Frontier

Defending Truth
(Note from CFP: Shannon is too modest to mention that her story was a RITA finalist!!! A huge honor!)

On the frontier of western North Carolina, which will someday become east Tennessee, Truth Bledsoe keeps her family fed while her father is away fighting the British. When she discovers a half-starved, fugitive Tory, she’s not above feeding him, but to go past simple Christian charity to forgiveness seems impossible. To love would be unthinkable. 

Micah Elliot has fled capture after the massacre at King’s Mountain, heartsick, battle weary, and ashamed of the cowardice that sent him westward over the mountains instead of eastward to home. Groping his way through a crisis of faith, he must discover and embrace what might finally be worth laying his life down for.

Shannon will be offering one signed print copy to a commenter selected at random. (Print copies are harder to find, but e-books are still widely available.)

Christianbook | Amazon | DeeperShopping.com

From Elaine Marie Cooper, A Different Story for Christmas...
Bethany's Calendar

While Christmas is often a celebration of joy, it can be a bittersweet time for those experiencing loss.

Colonial Quill's Elaine Marie Cooper usually writes historical fiction, but her book release this December is the memoir of her daughter who passed away from a brain tumor 11 years ago. She felt prompted to write about her daughter's diagnosis and journey through cancer, as well as the numerous insights gleaned from the most painful trial of the author's life.

Bethany's Calendar tells the story of Elaine and Bethany's journey and the many ways God helped their family to survive. It is a story of fear and faith, commitment and compassion, told with gut-wrenching honesty while sharing unwavering faith in God.

It is a memoir written to help those who are caregivers, cancer patients and anyone who knows someone struggling with a serious illness. It is a story that offers hope and help to those who are traveling uncharted territory.

"One might expect a book about the death of a child to be overwhelmingly sad, but Bethany’s Calendar is so much more. It is also a story of a family’s faith and the visible ways that they experienced God’s provision, power, and presence during and after this very difficult time in their lives." — CQ's Janet Grunst

Elaine will be offering a signed copy of Bethany's Calendar to one commenter who expresses a desire to read this memoir. 

Elaine's Website   You can order Bethany's Calendar  here 

 OUR CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAYS!!

We are celebrating at this tea party by giving away a digital copy of A Christmas Promise by Tamera Lynn Kraft along with a Schoenbrunn pewter ornament and a Schoenbrunn pouch to keep you valuables in.


Carla Olson Gade is also giving away a set of A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Vol. 3 & 4, featuring her story "The Memory Shop" to one winner. To another winner, a copy of Mistletoe Memories  with a pair of Dutch wooden shoes Christmas ornament.


To enter please leave a comment about your favorite part of the Christmas season or let us know if you have any ethnic Christmas traditions that you follow?

Please be sure to watch for replies to your comments as we always enjoy lively conversations at our tea parties!