Oh, Tannenbaum

By: Peggy L Henderson

This post isn’t about anything western related, but since it’s December and almost Christmas, and since I grew up in Germany, I thought I’d explore the history and traditions about a classic Christmas symbol – the Christmas Tree. Where did the idea of bringing an evergreen tree into the house and adorning it with colorful decorations come from?

Long before the advent of Christianity, plant and trees that remained green all year, especially during the cold winter months were considered special to many cultures. They were considered to be symbols of life during a time when many plants were dormant or could not survive the harsh conditions. Many ancient people hung evergreens from their doors and windows to keep evil spirits and illness out of the home.

Legend has it that St. Boniface, a 7^th Century monk, used the triangular shape of the evergreen fir tree to teach about the holy trinity when he went to Germany to teach about Christianity.  In the early 16^th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small tree with candles to show his children how the stars twinkled in the night.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition we know today. As early as the 16^th century, Germans brought trees into their homes and decorated them.  Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles. The early trees were biblically symbolic of the Paradise Tree in the Garden of Eden.

Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children

Most 19^th century Americans found Christmas trees to be strange and odd. The first record of a tree on display was in the 1830’s by the German settlers in Pennsylvania. Even as late as the 1840’s, Christmas trees were seen as a pagan symbol and not accepted by most Americans. In 1846, Queen Victoria and her German Prince Albert, were shown in a sketch in a London paper as standing around a Christmas tree with their children.  Since Victoria was so popular among her subjects, it soon became fashionable to imitate her, not only in Britain, but also the fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas Tree quickly gained popularity, and by the 1890’s, acceptance was on the rise. While the trees in  European homes were usually no taller than 4 feet, Americans liked their trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

In the early 20^th Century, Americans decorated their trees mostly with home made ornaments, while the German-Americans used apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn dyed a red color soon joined the decorations, interlaced with nuts and berries.

Christmas also wouldn’t be complete without baking up a batch of Lebkuchen. Formerly called Honigkucken (honeycake), the Lebkucken is the German variation of gingerbread.

Here is a recipe my mother used to make her Lebkuchen every Christmas:

(Bear with me, as I had to translate this from the German into English)

Ingredients:

500g Flour

500g honey

3 tablespoons Cocoa powder

3 tablespoons Lebkuchen spice (a ready mix of spices including cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, ginger, mace, cloves, allspice, and maybe a few others, but you can cheat and use apple pie spices or pumpkin pie spice as well)

1 tablespoon baking powder

5 tablespoons  milk

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

 Sift the flour into a large bowl, and add all dry ingredients. Mix well. Mix the wet ingredients and slowly incorporate into the dry until the dough is smooth.

Pour dough into shallow baking pan lined with wax paper. Bake at 350 degrees (do not preheat the oven) for 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool completely, and cut into squares or use cookie cutter cutouts.

 

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

In my Christmas Novella, A Yellowstone Christmas, Aimee Osborne holds firmly to the tradition of a Christmas Tree that she grew up with in the 21st Century, even though she now lives in the 19^th Century with her mountain man husband, Daniel Osborne. Growing up among the Indians, he isn’t familiar with her traditions, but indulges her anyways. Here’s a short excerpt:

Daniel shook the snow from the young pine tree, holding it out to the side like a warrior holding a war lance. He planned to join the trunk of the tree to a base of two flat boards of wood and have the tree standing beside the window in the cabin before Aimee was awake. The warmth of the cabin would melt away any remaining frost on the needles.

He was sorry her plans had been interrupted the day before. His wife always looked forward to this time of year, and decorating her tree was one tradition she never wavered from. Daniel participated in the ritual because it brought such joy to Aimee, even if he didn’t fully understand it. As an added incentive for his cooperation with her traditions, Aimee always baked gingerbread on the day of her tree decorating. She’d been nearly beside herself with happiness when she’d seen the aromatic spice at the dry goods shop in St. Louis the first time he took her to the city four years ago. Along with nutmeg and cinnamon, ginger was one of her most guarded pantry items.

The Christmas Card

The Christmas season is upon us. Folks are rushing from store to store, or combing through Amazon’s gazillion pages, to find the perfect present at the lowest price. Cookies bake in the oven, turkeys and hams are bought in anticipation of a scrumptious meal, and somewhere in between attending parties and wrapping gifts, many people take the time to address and send Christmas cards to their loved ones and friends

Horsley's Christmas card

The Christmas card was first introduced in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. Cole worked as a civil servant and wanted to find a way for the average person to use the Public Post Office. Up until this time, only rich folk could afford the price of postage. When the UK began using trains instead of horses and carriages to ship mail, the Penny Post was created, making it possible for the common person to afford the price of postage.

Having little time to keep up on his own correspondence, Cole hired his friend, John Horsley, to design a Christmas card he could send to family and friends in lieu of writing long missives. Horsley crafted a card with three panels. The outer panels depicted scenes of people caring for the poor. The middle panel featured a family enjoying Christmas dinner. One thousand cards were printed and sold for a schilling. When people realized these cards could be mailed in an unsealed envelope for half a penny, they became very popular in the UK.

Christmas cards were also introduced to the United States in the 1840’s. Since they were costly, most Americans couldn’t afford to buy them. R.H Pease is credited with crafting and distributing the first American made Christmas card in the United States. Pease owned a variety store in Albany, N.Y and his cards depicted scenes of families, reindeer, Santa, and Christmas presents and foods. 

One of Prang's Christmas cards

In 1875, Louis Prang began mass producing greeting cards in the United States. Originally from Germany and a printer, Prang arrived in the States in the 1850’s. He’d previously worked in the UK on their earlier cards. By 1870, Prang owned two-thirds of America’s steam presses and had perfected the colour printing process of chromolithography. Upon distributing his cards at an 1873 exposition, his agent’s wife suggested he add Christmas cards to his line. He did and the cards were an instant success with the American people, so much so Prang had difficulty keeping up with the demand for them. He later took up the English printers’ practice of offering prizes to artists with the best designs for his cards. Many of the winners crafted Biblical scenes, putting religious significance into the Christmas card, which had been lacking until that time.

Hallmark is the greeting card giant in today’s society.  John C. Hall and two of his brothers developed Hallmark Cards in 1915. It’s estimated that 1.6 – 1.9 billion Christmas cards are purchased in the United States each year. Though my list has dwindled through the years, I’m happy to say I’m one of those purchasers.            

Holiday Goodies - Old West Style

 by Shanna Hatfield

I love to bake, especially during the holiday season. There is nothing like the smell of gingerbread or some cinnamon-laden concoction creating mouth-watering aroma as it bakes in the oven on a cold wintery day.

It's like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket of sweet comfort.

Because of my interest in baking and recipes, it's always incredibly fun for me when one of my characters also likes to bake or cook.

The challenge comes in making sure the food I mention in the stories is appropriate to the time-period.

One resource that has been so helpful to me is FoodTimeline.org

Want to know when salt was first used (neolithic times), you can find all the details on the site.

Did you know ginger as a spice goes back to 5000 B.C.?

Or that vanilla came onto the scene in 1500 B.C., a New World flavoring used by the Aztecs to add a little oomph to their chocolate?

Egg nog, that creamy staple at so many holiday celebrations, was first introduced in 1760.

Ever received an orange in your stocking Christmas morning? Blood oranges first arrived in the US in 1878.

In addition, you'll find when certain recipes and dishes first debuted. The 1880s were a sweet success for bakers, ushering in such classics as angel food cake, chocolate pie and pumpkin pie.

Brownies and banana cream pie made 1906 a great year! Divinity, one of my dad's favorite holiday treats, debuted in 1907.

Hungry yet?

In my sweet holiday romance, The Christmas Bargain, the heroine, Filly Granger, is an amazing cook. It was her cooking that made it possible for her to marry her husband, Luke, the town's banker. 

He went out to her father's farm to collect on a long overdue loan and, after eating dinner with them, accepted Filly in lieu of the payment. The pastor insists Luke marry the girl before he takes her home, and Luke reluctantly agrees. Although he plans for her to be his housekeeper and cook,  it doesn't take long for him to realize he's gotten the best end of the bargain with a wife who turns out to be sweet, gentle, sassy, and an incredible cook.

***

Luke glanced at her. “I have observed, dear woman, that you put others before yourself, you are a dedicated and caring friend, and that you have a keen mind with a quick wit. You are clever, smart, and not afraid of hard work. Also, you’re very talented with domestic skills and inspiring as a cook. Your chocolate pudding could make grown men weep.”

Filly offered him a perturbed glare. “So, Mr. Granger, I have missed my calling as a schoolteacher or perhaps a cook at the restaurant. If my chocolate pudding makes grown men weep, what will my peach pie do to the male population? Bring them to their knees? Make them beg for mercy?”

***

It was interesting to me to research the types of foods, especially the holiday treats, Filly would have made in the early 1890s. She creates pralines, caramels and sweet breads, along with Boston cream pie (she had to dig through a recipe book for that one), and a variety of cookies, including sugar cookies.

Here's my favorite recipe for Sugar Cookies. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Soft Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

dash of lemon juice

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups flour

Frosting

Cream together butter and sugars. Add in eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Mix dry ingredients together and gradually add into creamed mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Generously flour a flat surface and your rolling pin. Scoop out half the dough and roll until about 1/4 inch thick. You want to work quickly at this point because the warmer the dough gets, the stickier it becomes and you don’t want to add more flour. Cut into shapes and bake about 6-8 minutes or until cookies are just set. You do not want them to get brown (unless you like crispy cookies, then go ahead). Cool in pan for one minute. Remove to wire rack to cool completely. Frost and decorate then watch them disappear.

You can use a royal icing if you are of a mind to stir up a batch or, if you are a lazy slug like me, whip out a can of Betty Crocker vanilla frosting and frost away. I like to use decorator gels, especially the sparkly variety, along with sprinkles to finish the cookies - if I get to them before Captain Cavedweller starts eating them!

Makes about three dozen, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

***

Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund®

Now through Dec. 24, I'll donate 10 percent of the net proceeds from all book sales to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. The JCCF is a non-profit organization that assists rodeo athletes who’ve sustained catastrophic injuries and are unable to work for an extended period.

About Shanna Hatfield

A hopeless romantic with a bit of sarcasm thrown in for good measure, Shanna Hatfield is a bestselling author of sweet romantic fiction written with a healthy dose of humor. In addition to blogging and eating too much chocolate, she is completely smitten with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna creates character-driven romances with realistic heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

She is a member of Western Writers of America, Women Writing the West, and Romance Writers of America.

Find Shanna’s books at:

Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Apple

Shanna loves to hear from readers! Follow her online:

ShannaHatfield | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | You Tube | Twitter

 

Naming A Series After Birds by Kristy McCaffrey #OldWest #Romance

By Kristy McCaffrey

I wrote my first novel, The Wren, more than ten years ago. I was a young stay-at-home mom with four kids all under the age of five running amuck. I'd been writing since I was seven years old, but I didn't envision penning a novel until I was too tired from mothering to realize that what I was about to attempt would be tremendously difficult, yet so rewarding. Not much different than becoming a mom, right?

I'm sometimes asked how I came up with the titles for my Wings of the West series. The simple version is that they just came to me, which for the most part is true. I've long known the titles, and the order in which they appear, before I had a clear picture of characters and storylines—The Wren, The Dove, The Sparrow, The Blackbird, and the final installment, The Bluebird. But there are deeper meanings as well.

Many years ago I enjoyed a television show called "Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times," starring Brad Johnson. Maybe some of you remember it. A recurring character was a woman in town—a soiled dove—who was secretly in love with Ned. She was called "the Wren." For some reason, that stuck with me when, years later, I began developing my Old West series. In my story, however, the heroine, Molly, isn't a prostitute (that theme is addressed in the next book, the aptly titled The Dove). As a child, Molly is quite adept with a slingshot, which she's named "the Wren" because she believes that the rocks she uses may have been dropped by wrens. Rock Wrens have a habit of leaving a stone path to their nests. This encompasses the broader theme of Molly trying to find her way home after she was thought dead at the hands of the Comanche ten years prior.

In the second book, The Dove, I dealt with the well-used theme of prostitution. The heroine in this story, Claire, lives in a saloon, run by her mama. While Claire herself isn't a soiled dove, she still faces the decisions many women face—does she live a life for herself, or for others? How many times do women prostitute themselves because they don't feel they're worthy, or they perceive they have no choice? How do we 'use' others to gain our own ends?

In The Sparrow, my heroine Emma undergoes a shamanic journey of initiation while traversing the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. During this process, she is helped by her power animal, Sparrow. I will admit, this is a novel that took a strange turn, but I did my best to follow the bones laid before me, and write the story as best I could. Sparrows are known as common birds who speak to the inherent magnificence that can be present in all of us. As I wrote the tale, I knew this bird encompassed perfectly the tone of Emma's pilgrimage.

I'm in the midst of writing The Blackbird, so am not certain how the bird angle will play out. I've learned to trust that the muses will offer me insights along the way. I found a Tennyson quote that mentions blackbirds. The heroine, Tess, while of Mexican descent also has an Irish papa, and through him a connection to Tennyson. Blackbirds are mystical birds, linking us to the world of enchantment. Tess is a storyteller, a Keeper of the Old Ways; this is, and always has been, connected with imparting wisdom and magic to listeners through the telling of tales. I look forward to learning more as I continue to write this manuscript.

Coming March 2015

The last book, The Bluebird, is still just a fragment of ideas, but I have faith that the pieces will reveal themselves in time. This story jumps ahead several years and features Molly Rose, niece to the first Molly from The Wren. While the bird references have helped to shape the series, I always knew I'd begin with a Molly and end with a Molly, which was the nickname of my great-grandmother.

My hope is to release THE BLUEBIRD in December 2015.
Fingers crossed!

 Available in digital formats for only 99cents.

THE WREN

Wings of the West Series: Book One

Rating: Steamy

Ten years have passed since her ranch was attacked, her folks murdered and Molly Hart was abducted. Now, at nineteen, she’s finally returning home to north Texas after spending the remainder of her childhood with a tribe of Kwahadi Comanche. What she finds is a deserted home coated with dust and the passage of time, the chilling discovery of her own gravesite, and the presence of a man she thought never to see again.

Matt Ryan is pushed by a restless wind to the broken-down remains of the Hart ranch. Recently recovered from an imprisonment that nearly ended his life, the drive for truth and fairness has all but abandoned him. For ten years he faithfully served the U.S. Army and the Texas Rangers, seeking justice for the brutal murder of a little girl, only to find closure and healing beyond his grasp. Returning to the place where it all began, he’s surprised to stumble across a woman with the same blue eyes as the child he can’t put out of his mind.

Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks | Smashwords | Scribd

The History and Philosophy of Branding

A New York family bought a ranch out West where they intended to raise cattle. Friends visited and asked if the ranch had a name.
  "Well," said the would-be cattleman, "I wanted to name it the Bar-J. My wife favored Suzy-Q, one son liked the Flying-W, and the other wanted the Lazy-Y. So we're calling it the Bar-J-Suzy-Q-Flying-W-Lazy-Y." 
   "But where are all your cattle?" the friends asked. 
  "None survived the branding." 
D.A.C. News

We know from Egyptian hieroglyphics that branding livestock dates back to 2700 BCE. The Romans used symbols that were part of a magic spell to protect the animals... at least until the owner wanted to slaughter them. By the Middle Ages, the custom had spread through Europe. From Europe it emigrated with colonists to North America where, even with our modern technology, it is still one of the most effective means of establishing ownership -- or proving theft.

The term brand may come from "firebrand" or heated stick, which was the oldest way of applying your brand. (Or from the Norse "brandr" meaning burn. Take your pick.)

Obviously, only one end of the stick was brought to a smouldering temperature. That lead to the term being applied to people who were hot-headed. An iron rod, or running iron, eventually took the place of the stick, but don't be caught with one in the Old West. Honest ranchers had their brands made by blacksmiths. Carrying a running iron suggested you might be a rustler, adept at changing one brand to another.

To work, brands must be unique. Like Coca Cola and Pepsi, the marks are registered. Unlike other product brands, however, the blacksmith hammer (and the beeves' hides) can only handle so many flourishes. So a simple hieroglyphic language was developed.

2 Lazy-2 P Ranch - from The Smithsonian site

Letters and numbers can be boxed, walking, winged, rocking or lazy. Bars can be T'ed, doubled or crossed. In Under A Texas Star, I refer to the Rocking-R (whose owner breeds horses) and the Bar-B Ranch.

I promised a little philosophy and for that I'm going to go back to Coca Cola and Pepsi and brand loyalty.

Branding livestock was a practical necessity. Menkahf had to make sure that his goats didn't find themselves in Sebni's herd when it was time to bring them in from the pasture. Branding merchandise started about a thousand years later to identify the product with the maker. Both types of brand engendered brand loyalty.

Product loyalty is pretty easy to recognize. If you doubt it, offer a Coke drinker a Pepsi. (My ex once said, if dying of thirst in the desert, he'd rather eat a lizard than drink a Pepsi.)

The cowboy's loyalty to the brand is an ethical issue. I learned the concept from Louis L'Amour, particularly in his collection Riding for the Brand, but best expressed by Conn Conagher:

"I've covered a lot of country in my time but when I take a man's money I ride for the brand."
Louis L'Amour, Conagher

If you have a problem with your employer, you come out with it. If it can't be solved, you suck it up or ride on. An ally who wasn't loyal might have to be tolerated, but he'd never be respected. An enemy who stood by his villainous employer until the end, would be respected and couldn't be seen as entirely evil. He was redeemed by his loyalty.

References:
The History of Branding, Smithsonian Magazine
Livestock Branding, Wikipedia
The History of Brands, Wikipedia
US Legal Definitions

Thanksgiving Poem and link to more #thanksgiving

A Roar from the Bunkhouse

Nary a thing to eat Thanksgivin'

   Only tin can truck!

Gettin' tired of such a livin',

   Blame the orn'ry luck!

Nothin' only beans an' bacon—

   Pard, excuse these tears!

Seems jest like we've been fursaken—

   Darn this punchin' steers!

Folks back home are jest a-stuffin'

   Turkey-meat an' pie;

At them feed-fests there's no bluffin';

   Gosh, it makes me sigh!

No sich dinner for us fellers

   In this camp appears;

Turkey ain't fer cowboys' smellers—

   Darn this punchin' steers!

Weather soggy-like an' murky;

   Makes me mighty blue;

Thinkin' of Thanksgivin' turkey

   Makes me h'umsick, too.

Sour-dough bread an' canned tomaters

   Ain't th' grub that cheers;

Oh fer pie an' mashed pertaters!

   Darn this punchin' steers!

Bunkhouse bunch are sick as blazes

   Bein' fed this way;

Gettin' so th' maynoo raises

  Sam Hill ev'ry day!

ev'ry mother's son a-kickin'

  When th' truck appears!

Never git a sniff o' chicken—

   Darn this punchin' steers!

Same ol' bread an' beans furever!

   Gosh, we'd like a change!

Reck'n we won't git it never

   While we ride th' range!

Oh, fer some o' mother's cookin;—

   That's th' dope that cheers!

Guess my callin' I've mistooken—

   DARN this punchin' steers!

by E. A. Brininstool, from Trail Dust of a Maverick, 1914

I'm so sorry that I didn't come across the Thanksgiving poetry page sooner so I could obtain permission to reprint all those pertinent, but the best I can do is share the url and hope you will enjoy the works of some talented poets who capture the essence of Thanksgiving in the Old West.

http://www.cowboypoetry.com/


Here's wishing all my friends the happiest of Thanksgivings!!!