Michelle Ule's Blog, page 87

Was it Really Well with the Spaffords’s Souls?

I’m sure many of you know the sad story behind Horatio Spafford‘s penning of the famous hymn “It is Well with My Soul.”

(Spoiler alert. If you love the song, don’t read this blog post).

English: Picture of Horatio Spafford (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A lawyer and church elder in Chicago following the Civil War, Horatio Spafford lost almost everything in the famed Chicago fire of October, 1871–the one allegedly caused by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow.

Pretty much ruined, Horatio decided to take his family to Europe in December 1873 to regroup. At the last minute, Horatio had to deal with yet another financial difficulty and sent his wife Anna and four daughters, Annie, Bessie, Maggie and Tanetta, ahead to France on the Ville du Havre.

Halfway across the Atlantic Ocean, the Ville du Havre was struck by another ship.

Anna Spafford grabbed the baby and led the  girls to the top deck where they tried to get into a life boat. Twelve minutes after the accident, the bow broke and eleven-year-old Annie Spafford said, “Don’t be afraid. The seas is His and He made it.”

The girls were swept into the frigid water and the baby was sucked from Anna’s arms as the ship sank. A lifeboat captain later found Anna floating unconscious on a piece of wood.

Once arrived in Wales on a rescue ship, Anna wired to her unsuspecting husband: “Saved Alone.”

Horatio sailed immediately to join her. When they reached the coordinates where the Ville du Havre sank, the captain brought Horatio to see the empty ocean. That night he penned the poem “It is Well With My Soul,” which became the song.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain: It is well, with my soul, It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live: If Jordan above me shall roll, No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait, The sky, not the grave, is our goal; Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord! Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul.

Up until this week, the above was all I knew about the Spaffords. The song itself has always been special to me.

I recently, however, read a biography of Lowell Thomas and he referenced The American Colony in Jerusalem, noting the Spaffords relocated to the Holy Land a few years after the ship sank and spent the rest of their lives there ministering to the local population. Thomas first met Anna Spafford and her two daughters (born after the tragic loss of her other children) during World War I.

Further research took me to a terrific book which details the story: Jane Fletcher Geniesse’s American Priestess: The Extraordinary Story of Anna Spafford and the American Colony in Jerusalem.

In a nutshell, perhaps emotionally damaged because of the fire, the loss of the children, the humility of  financial ruin, Spafford gathered a band of believers and took them [image error]to Jerusalem (on someone else’s money) where they performed charitable acts and waited for the Messiah’s return. Horatio died seven years after their arrival and Anna became the head of a cult-like organization that took Jesus’ words seriously about helping those in need.

They fed and helped educate Muslims, Jews, Christians and Turks in late-nineteenth century Jerusalem. During World War I, as Americans and thus neutral, they ran hospitals in the ancient city.

Anna was a seer who ruled her followers with an iron fist and routine prophecies. A group of industrious Swedish immigrants joined her fellowship in 1896 to await the Messiah’s return. For many years, members of her flock lived in celibacy and poverty; turned over all income and resources to Anna’s religious order; and were separated from the children they brought with them–who received only a meager education. Since Anna preached the Messiah was coming soon, there was no need for education or even book reading.

But they fed the poor and provided a place where Muslims, Turks, Jews, Christians and foreign visitors could mingle and talk. The American Colony Photography studio took most of the significant photos of Jerusalem during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, including documenting the great locust famine of 1915. The fellowship, as a religious organization, ended within a decade of Anna’s 1922 death.

Geniesse summed up Anna Spafford’s life like this:

“Anna Spafford dreamed there would be peace between peoples, frequently declaring to her fellowship that ‘love could conquer disunity,’ and in many ways this is the American dream, rich with the conviction that there should be no distinctions between races, genders, ethnicities, or classes, with freedom and democracy available to all.

“. . . Perplexed, fearful of the future, swept by events out of their control, they did their best under the circumstances. The Spaffords in particular had to find a way to overcome crippling emotional wounds, while the Swedes and other members were overly susceptible to strong religious influences, paying the price in their captivity to Anna, who was hardly the first and certainly will not be the last, to use religion as a tool in the service of goals having more to do with Caesar than with God.”

I wanted the Spafford’s story to be a tale of deep religious faith that overcame the tragedies and pointed people to Jesus, just as that song does. I’m not so sure that’s what happened.

(You can read about Elisabeth Elliott’s tea with Anna’s daughter here.)

Tweetables

What happened to the writer of It Is Well With My Soul? Click to Tweet

 

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2013 Photo Review–Humor and Emotion

I’m finishing up 2013 with a photo review of shots I liked, some funny, some not.

Some people adorn their homes in notable fashion. This carving was in Brooklyn, New York.

 

 My travels took me to places where the whimsical touched my imagination.

 

The machine gun just doesn’t look right with this uniform.

 

 

 

 

 

I’d only read about turbots in English novels; I’d never actually seen one before.

 

This couple indulge, continually, in Budapest.

 

 

 

My research turned up a prize

The most thrilling find of 2013: a photo of my great-grandmother!

Grafitti through the ages . . .

 

 

My launch party provided fun.

 

 

We had cause to mourn.

And joy–all four of my books came out this year! Here’s to a wonderful 2014!

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Random Facts I Learned in 2013

World War One (Photo credit: San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)

To round out 2013, I’m sharing random facts I discovered this year.

Feel free to chime in!

Historical

*Once put into motion, it was physically impossible to recall the Russian call up of reservists–thus World War I

[image error]

Cover via Amazon

*Lawrence of Arabia was illegitimate, as were his four brothers.

*Biddy Chambers was nearly deaf in her left ear

*The last casualties from World War I died only five years ago–four people picked up an old mustard gas shell and it exploded, killing them all.

*British men signed up for the Army at Scotland Yard in 1914 London.

Research-wise

*You can actually learn facts from Pinterest you cannot find on Google! (Check out my Egypt scenes!)

*A lot of people have written books about World War I.

*Truffle oil is expensive

Book Selling

*People who work at Barnes and Noble really should read the “anti-Amazon” book The Everything Store.

*Each book you write is like a child and while you don’t want to favor any of them (particularly when you are marketing four in one year), sometimes you have to go with the most popular just to keep your head above the water.

*While writing a novella for a collection may not be as glamorous as having your name by itself on the cover, it’s a whole lot more fun and easier to sell with eight others!

Book Reading

*You don’t have to finish a book just because you started it. (Thanks, Jamie Chavez!)

*Just because it’s a best-seller doesn’t mean it’s worth reading.  (Think Wild; or better yet, skip it.).

*My time is valuable. If I don’t like a book I can quit reading it.[image error]

*Sometimes a first impression isn’t quite right. If the world adores a book, maybe you should give it a second chance. (Loved , once I gave it a second chance!)

* At least one book made a better movie: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.

Blogging

*The words “nudist” and “colony” will attract a lot of readers.

*”Free gift” works wonders, too.  :-)

(Comment here and tell me if you’d like a copy of our Pioneer Christmas Cookbook! Free!)

*Traveling makes it easy to come up with blog posts. 

 

 

Travel

*Lufthansa is an excellent airline and a fine way to get to Scotland, even if you have to fly to Germany first.

*The Airbus is a comfortable jumbo jet, even if you’re stuck in the middle of five seats.

*Nyquil enables me sleep on a flight to Europe.

*Talking (hands free) to a close friend makes a three-hour drive go quicker.

Personal

*The body really is a giant chemical experiment

*My husband likes Brussel sprouts

* Dancing shoes make you spin faster, but are slippery

*If you’ve never worn makeup and you’re about to appear on television, enlisting your friendly neighborhood Mary Kay expert can help.

Odds and Ends

* A toothbrush should be replaced every six moths, especially one with tough bristles, because those bristles begin to fray into microscopic hairs that do damage on the cellular level to your gums.

*Even when your dog is blind and spends most of her days sleeping, once she’s gone you’ll miss her.

Spiritual

*If Jesus came to earth only to heal people, he could have set up a hospital in Jerusalem and spent his days so doing. Or, better yet, just waved his hand and announced “everyone is healed.”

*Because he didn’t do so, he probably had another purpose in mind, like maybe obedience to his father’s will to demonstrate God’s love to all?

*My free will gives me one basic choice: to follow God or not follow God. (Binary, right? Computer jocks should love it).

Amazing.

What did you learn in 2013?

Tweetables:

Random facts learned in 2013. Click to Tweet

 

 

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Mixed Messages at Christmas

Christmas is a mixed message time of year for me.

My mother’s death at Christmas punched most of the cheerful emotion out of the holiday for many years, and probably always will linger

Being the mother also can strip away the excitement as I work in the background to provide the “magic”–almost like a performer.

But it hasn’t always been so. Every year, I reach back into my memory pocket, remembering the fledgling Christmas I first understood the significance of Jesus’ birth.

Maybe it’s the (relatively) frosty night from that long ago Southern California Christmas, when a touch of mist in the air mingled with Christmas hymns I’d never sung before, that’s needed to conjure up the wonder.

The dark sky sparkled with shiny stars that night and I could imagine shepherds startled out of sheep-watching by a glorious choir of angels announcing astonishing news.

Astonishing news, I, too, had only begun to grasp.

I’d grown up in a mostly secular household. Christmas was stockings and snow scenes on the mantle, gaily wrapped gifts and a trip to our grandparent’s house. The Italian side of the family ate towering bowls of pasta and ate chocolate pie. We played a gift swapping game and admired my cousins’ presents. The adults played poker after the dishes were done and we kids ran around outside. Sometimes we even ate outside if it was warm enough.

I don’t remember ever attending church on Christmas day.

But that fifteenth Christmas, I’d met a group of Christians at Trinity Lutheran Church around the corner. They introduced me to the person of Jesus Christ–not as a baby long ago born and died, but as the Savior of the world who still lived, seated on God‘s right hand.

Like many Americans, I was familiar enough with Jesus. I’d attended catechism for many years.

But, somehow, I never connected the two. I’d never heard of Jesus as the connector between me and the God who created those stars and spun the planets across the universe.

While I had tried to reach him, to understand God, Jesus never held the front of my consciousness.

It changed that Christmas.

The mixed messages of my childhood disappeared into the truth of Jesus. Tweet: The mixed messages of #childhood disappeared with #Jesus

I mirrored Mary’s wonder: who IS this?

http://ctt.ec/t4_Jm+ @michelleule #Christmas

Some of it was the music: Handel‘s Messiah, four-part harmony hymns, Oh Come, oh Come, Emmanuel,  Gloria in Excelsis Deo, the reading of Luke’s gospel.

Much of it had to do with my own reading of the Bible–the person of Jesus and his role on earth became more clear.

I didn’t remember ever hearing the story of Herod sending soldiers to kill all the babies in Bethlehem as a way of suppressing God’s plan.

Jesus looked completely different that Christmas, and something came alive in my heart and soul. Tweet: My heart and soul came alive with #Jesus http://ctt.ec/t4_Jm+ @michelleule #Christmas

I’ve always loved the ditty, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” There’s no point to all of this without him.

Yes, I’m feeling mixed messages today because of mourning my mother. But the reason for the season, Jesus, is also the comfort for that loss. His birth in that manger saved the world.

Gloria in excelsis Deo–Glory to God in the highest!

Merry Christmas

 

 

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A Merry Ule Log to You!

We celebrate Christmas every year with a Ule Log.

And why not?

When you have a Christmasy name, why not flaunt it?

My late mother-in-law always had the last word when she introduced herself in December: “I’m Mary Ule!”

My sister-in-law contemplated changing her middle name to Tide, so that when you said her name backwards you got, “Ule Tide Carol.”

(And our pastor’s wife was taken aback several years ago when a clerk said, “They must love you in the stores at Christmas time.” Why? Her name is Mary Beyer.)

We never sing the second verse of Deck the Halls, by the way.

But enough of the name puns. We’ve got a food pun to share with you: our Christmas bûche de noël, or Ule Log.

Here’s the easy Ule Log  recipe: Click to Tweet

 

Ule Log Recipe

1 c. cake flour or 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

3 eggs

1 c. granulated sugar

1/3 c. water

1 tsp vanilla

1 c. whipping cream, sweetened and whipped

Chocolate Butter Cream frosting

Directions:

Heat over to 375o .  Line jelly roll pan, 15 ½  x 10 ½ x 1 inch, with aluminum foil or waxed paper; grease.  Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In small mixer bowl, beat eggs about 5 minutes or until very thick and lemon colored.  Pour eggs into large mixer bowl; gradually beat in granulated sugar.  On low speed, blend in water and vanilla.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating just until batter is smooth.  Pour into pan, spreading batter to corners.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Loosen cake from edges of pan; invert on towel sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar.  Carefully remove foil; trim off stiff edges if necessary.

While hot, roll cake and towel from narrow end.  Cool on wire rack.  Unroll cake; remove towel.  Spread whipped cream over cake.  Roll up.  Ice with Chocolate butter cream frosting.

Chocolate butter cream frosting: about 4 cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar, 2-4 Tbsp cocoa, 3/4 stick of margarine/butter, 3-4 Tbsp milk (needed to thin).  Beat together until smooth; adjusting amounts to taste.

Here’s a photo of our latest family pun from Halloween: the most recent adorable granddaughter in a costume suggested by her father and created by her mother.

Presenting the 2013 Ule log!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

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A Strange Christmas Carol for Him

Christmas carols always have been important to me–ever since that Christmas I was six and begged my parents for a piano.

They gave me one!

Christmas carols ring through my soul and cheer up each Advent season. Don’t you love the faint whispers of angels singing while shopping in crowded stores?

The concept of the Christ child as Savior of the world, while known in theory, became true in practice for me during my fifteenth Christmas. I’d begun reading the Bible that fall and suddenly I saw connections all around in December.

I also heard Handel‘s Messiah for the first time that year.

(And saw It’s a Wonderful Life, for the first time. Amazing what can happen when you start attending high school!)

I’d never sung in four-part harmony until I attended Trinity Lutheran Church. Gloria rang through my heart and soul for the first time and I delighted to soar up to those high notes.

We’ve all got favorite Christmas carols, but one that has meant much to me for many years comes from 4Him’s 1993 Seasons of Love Christmas album. Composed by Mark Harris, Donald Koch and David Allen Clark, the lyrics catch my wonder and imagination every time I hear their version:

“Strange Way To Save The World”

Sure he must have been surprised
At where this road had taken him
‘Cause never in a million lives
Would he had dreamed of Bethlehem
And standing at the manger
He saw with his own eyes
The message from the angel come to life
And Joseph said…

[CHORUS]

Why me, I’m just a simple man of trade?
Why Him, with all the rulers in the world?
Why here inside a stable filled with hay?
Why her, she’s just an ordinary girl?
Now I’m not one to second guess what angels have to say
But this is such a strange way to save the world


To think of how it could have been
If Jesus had come as He deserved
There would have been no Bethlehem
No lowly shepherds at His birth
But Joseph knew the reason
The love had to reach so far
And as he held the Savior in his arms
He must have thought…

[CHORUS]

Why me, I’m just a simple man of trade?
Why Him, with all the rulers in the world?
Why here inside a stable filled with hay?
Why her, she’s just an ordinary girl?
Now I’m not one to second guess what angels have to say
But this is such a strange way to save the world

Everyone knows Mary is the heroine of the Christmas story, after God himself, but this song reminds me of Joseph’s faith–and really, mine, too, that God would

Joseph and Jesus; San Marco Cathedral, Venice

chose such a curious way to save you and me.

Christmas carols, the music, lights and presents, all are just a small reflection of the truly amazing event which happened when God poured himself into the innocent, feeble body of an infant and presented him to a young woman and a perhaps nervous man to raise.

Jesus is the reason for the season–and God chose ordinary people, in an ordinary time and place, to leave his mark for all humanity.

What Christmas carol means a lot to you?

Many people sing this song, but I like this version:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEN3wNWM1eE

Tweetables:

Tweet: Such a strange way to save the world: #Jesus

http://bit.ly/18PqIgW @michelleule #Christmas

Christmas carols: Tweet: Faint whispers of #angels while shopping! #Jesus http://ctt.ec/pHm0J+ @michelleule #Christmas

The post A Strange Christmas Carol for Him appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.

Oh Christmas Tree and Other Memories (Reprise)

 

We lived in Hawai’i for four years in the mid-1990s and got to experience the joy of Christmas trees in a different culture.

That meant holiday-themed t-shirts instead of hats and mittens and the exciting arrival of the Christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving.

In those years, the arrival was a banner headline across the front page of the newspaper. Only one ship full of trees came and it came on the same weekend every year–usually was a month before Christmas day.

Waiting until closer to Christmas in hopes of purchasing a fresher tree was pointless–no more trees were coming and the traditional evergreens were not grown in the islands. So, we bought our tree early and sought ways to keep the needles on until Jesus’ actual birthday celebration.

Oah’u is only ten degrees above the equator. We luxuriated in a balmy 72 degrees pretty much year round.

Pine needles tend to fall off trees in warm weather. We combated the tree drying out too soon by routinely pouring cool water into the reservoir at its base. By the time Christmas finally arrived, we usually had a few needles left on the tree and a pile covering our gifts like scented confetti.

Fortunately the needles were easy to sweep off the tile floor.

Christmas trees and IV lines

My neighbor, however, was more enterprising, and one year invested in an irrigation system–basically a Christmas tree IV line. She kept the bottle filled (it was a two-liter plastic bottle in our day) and tested the needles for moisture every morning. (Bend them back, do they spring into shape or fall onto the floor?)

It was quite a contraption and required special rigging. Water frequently spilled on the tile floor and she had to be careful not to get the packages wet.

The needles still fell off the tree.

Another neighbor didn’t even bother. They hauled a potted palm tree into the house and hung their ornaments on it.

You could see the ornaments very clearly on the sparse branches and the tree easily adapted to its natural environment when they took it back outside after the holiday.

Those exercises reminded me of an earlier Christmas tree back in our Connecticut years where Douglas firs grew in our yard. We even had snow on the ground on December 25.

This particular Christmas one of my sons was three and very excited about having a tree his father cut down actually inside his house. We’d learned our lessons the year before and knew to hang the precious ornaments high and leave the soft, non-breakable ones on the lower limbs.

Our son had free reign to move those lower ornaments around the tree wherever he liked. He spent a lot of time rearranging the tree, careful to avoid the lights. I left him to his pleasure.

A tree is supposed to be fun, right? Tweet: A #Christmas #tree is supposed to be fun, right? @michelleule http://ctt.ec/c60GP+

A salute to the joyous season and cause for enjoyment, right?

He thought so, too, until the day I heard a crash in the living room.

I dashed in to find the tree had fallen over onto my son, whose arms and legs were waving wildly under the tree.

I had to bite my lip, hard, not to laugh out loud.

If only I’d run for the camera!

Instead, like a good mother, I pulled the tree off the sobbing little boy–who could not believe what had just happened!

His father tethered it to the wall when he got home, but my son didn’t touch the tree the rest of that holiday season.

The next year we set it up in the play pen. Tweet: A #Christmas #tree in the playpen for safety

http://bit.ly/1hS8K5S @michelleule

Our disasters were never as good as in the movies, but they’ve made for fond memories.

Of course there was the year, the boys (now boy scouts) cut down a huge tree and brought it home with a stowaway.

The cat noticed the chirping frog first and huddled at the tree’s base, every single day, waiting.

That little tree frog croaked the entire month of December. We never saw him.

But he entertained us all Christmas as we debated: What did he eat? Why couldn’t we find him? Why did he croak all night?

We can only assume he lived happily ever after once Christmas was over and the tree moved outside!

How about you? Any Christmas tree disasters at your house?

Tweet: Oh #Christmas #trees and other disasters! http://ctt.ec/Gb0Pa+ @michelleule

 

 

 

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Totem Poles and Christmas (Reprise)

David K. Fison’s Christmas Totem Pole, Anchorage, AK

A Christmas-themed totem pole is a key element in my recently published The Gold Rush Christmas, and highlights the creative way in which the nativity story can be expressed.

In my story,  adult twins Samantha and Peter journey to Alaska in search of their missionary father during the 1897 Gold Rush. The boy next door,  seminary student Miles, joins them in an attempt to woo Samantha’s heart. All three learn valuable lessons about how God can use your dreams to fulfill his purposes.

The story ends at Christmas, since this is part of A Pioneer Christmas Collection. The twins finally find their father on December 24, living with a Tlingit tribe along the eastern shore of the Lynn Canal.

He’s just finished carving a totem pole for the native people he loves, that tells the story of Christmas.

While in writing the novella I thought I could probably figure out a totem pole that tells the Christmas story, Google led me to Rev. David K. Fison , who is generously allowing me to share his.

The Tlingits carved totem poles to help them remember their stories as they had no written language. According to Rev. Fison, “the characters and symbols on a pole provided an outline to help them remember stories, legends and events so they could be retold to future generations.”

Rev. Fison has lived and ministered in Alaska since 1961, begining as pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Ketchikan. While serving as an interim pastor at the nearby Tsimshian village of Metlakatla, he decided to translate the Christmas story into the native language.

But traditional Christmas characters such as shepherds and angels were unknown to the Tsimshian people.

Rev. Fison’s further research at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks revealed the cultural equivalents. Shepherds, for example, would be keepers of the village fish traps. Rev. Fison felt the common character Raven could serve as an angel.

In 1987, he completed a twelve-foot tall yellow cedar totem, which you can see in the photo.

He also sells twelve-inch replicas of the totem pole. One sits on a table in my living room today.

I’m fascinated by stories that show us Christianity through the eyes of a different culture. In my first novella, The Dogtrot Christmas, the couple realized that a dogtrot cabin symbolizes how Jesus can bridge cultural difference.

In a post I wrote several years ago, “Slash Marks the Very Good Trail,” I discussed how the Ecuadorian Aucas explained who Jesus is, according to the movie End of the Spear.

It’s important to remember Jesus was not an American.

Click to Tweet

His story is accessible to anyone who wants to understand the son of God came into the world to redeem sinners. Click to Tweet

Thanks be to God.

I’m grateful Rev. Fison took the native traditions and devised a colorful version to remember the good news of the Christ child come to earth. He also provided me a key to the totem. Reading down, the characters are as follows:

Raven (angel) An emissary of “the great Chief of the Heavens” who holds the star of Bethlehem

Joseph is a woodcarver, represented by a man holding a canoe paddle (for the journey to Bethlehem)

Mother and Child, of course, are Jesus and Mary. Rev. Fison notes “the village is filled with visitors to the Potlatch,” the gathering called by a powerful chief to display his wealth and power!

The Bear is the closest he could come to a domestic animal representing Jesus was born in a manger.

The Keepers of the Village Fishtraps, of course, are the equivalent of shepherds.

The Chief is one of the wise men.

The Frog serves as the angel who appeared to Joseph in his dream.

Potlatch Chief represents King Herod. You’ll note he’s upside down and in Frog’s clutches–symbolizing he was outwitted by Frog!

Thank you, Rev. Fison!

Merry Christmas!

The opportunity to win autographed copies of both A Pioneer Christmas Collection and A Log Cabin Christmas Collection, ends on Wednesday December 11. Join the raffle and get a free copy of A Pioneer Christmas Collection’s 31 page Christmas cookbook (sent via PDF)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you have any non-traditional ways of remembering or celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ?

The post Totem Poles and Christmas (Reprise) appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.

A Pioneer Christmas: a Cookbook Gift, a Raffle and the Stories!

The Pioneer Christmas Collection writers are running a raffle (autographed copies of both A Pioneer Christmas Collection AND the New York Times best-selling A Log Cabin Christmas Collection) AND giving away a free recipe booklet via PDF for all who enter.

Introducing A Pioneer Christmas Collection!

When Barbour Publishing announced they were looking for novellas for A Pioneer Christmas Collection, they had just a few parameters: the story needed to take place between the 1700s to the late 1800s, have a pioneer experience, and celebrate Christmas in a unique dwelling.

The stories that appear in A Pioneer Christmas Collection certainly met that criterion.

Ranging in time slots from Shannon McNear’s lead-off Revolutionary War story, to Michelle Ule’s final tale of the 1897 Alaskan gold rush, the novellas sweep across North American locales both familiar and little known.

Shannon McNear portrays a surprising romance between a Tory militiaman hiding after a battle in which his side lost, and a young woman patriot in charge of her siblings when her father goes to fight in Defending Truth. “People were all just struggling to live their lives, and the politics were as upsetting and confusing as today.”

Celebrating Christmas in the cave where her hero was hiding, seemed a terrific idea, and certainly a unique one.

Kathleen Fuller has often driven past her setting for The Calling: the Unionville Tavern in northeast Ohio. “Once I found out the tavern was a stagecoach shop [in the early 19th century], I immediately came up with the idea of a traveler stopping at the tavern on a regular basis.” In The Calling, the traveler is a young man convinced he’s called to preach to those heading west, rather than the settled east. It’s the tavern keeper’s daughter who catches a vision of who he really is.

Have you ever spent Christmas in a tavern? Click to Tweet

Several writers deliberately sought often over-looked times and places. Anna Urquhart had seldom heard of pioneers traveling by water and examined the opening of the Erie Canal in the 1830’s which led to settlements in Michigan Territory. A Silent Night actually begins in Edinburgh, Scotland and follows the challenges of making a life in the big woods of the upper Midwest.

The drama of a marriage lost and found is played out over Christmas in a barn beside a smoldering cabin.

Pony Express Christmas by Margaret Brownley takes readers to a spot most of us think we know—or do we? When a vigorous young woman goes in search of her long-lost express-riding brother, she saves a man from outlaws and pays him to help her search. Set during the Civil War era, A Pony Express Christmas eventually takes us to Chimney Rock and an unusual holiday setting.

What happened to those Pony Express stopping stations and could they make an abandoned spot a holiday site? Click to Tweet

A Christmas Castle by Cynthia Hickey features a mail order bride who arrives in post-Civil War Arizona to discover her intended dead and a small child needing a mother. With outlaws trying to run her off her “inheritance,” she struggles with the help of a handsome neighbor to keep her land. Somehow she’s able to fashion a Christmas celebration in a virtual hole in the ground.

Who knew it could snow in Arizona in the winter? Have you ever had to cram a too-big Christmas tree into a too-small room? Click to Tweet

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lauraine Snelling returns to an area familiar to her readers in The Cowboy’s Angel, set in 1875 Dakota Territory. With her long-overdue husband miles away seeking supplies, a pregnant woman is forced to give birth with a stranger in attendance. Snow socked them into a half-built claim with the farm animals a thin wall away.

Using meager resources in a rough home, a woman finds cause to be thankful. How often have you had to “make do” for Christmas? Click to Tweet

Marcia Gruver takes us to sophisticated 1885 New York City in A Badlands Christmas, though we don’t stay there long. Inspired by the adventures of Theodore Roosevelt in the town of Medora, A Badlands Christmas shows the contrasts between festive scenes in the city and a Christmas spent in a dilapidated sod house in the middle of a brutal Dakota Territory winter..

While you may have dealt with the weather outside being frightful on December 25, were you half under the ground? Click to Tweet

Buckskin Bride by Vickie McDonough introduces us to a capable but desperate young woman who is more comfortable in buckskin than calico. She and her sisters are squatters on land the hero won in the 1889 Oklahoma land run. The handsome Irish landowner is kind but dare she trust him when her father warned her to avoid all men? With Christmas approaching, her father missing, and young sister injured, will she and her sisters spend Christmas alone in their tipi?

Have you ever spent Christmas in a tent, much less a tipi? Click to Tweet

In The Gold Rush Christmas, Michelle Ule takes a pair of twins and the boy-nextdoor to 1897 Skagway, Alaska where they meant to enjoy the season in the newly-constructed Union Church. Searching for a missionary father, however, lands them in a Tlingit cedar-planked long house for a lesson in how to present the gospel in a unique way anyone could understand.

Who can beat salmon for Christmas dinner, even if eaten off a plank? Click to Tweet

Interested in Christmas spent in novel ways, surprising settings, heroes and heroines filled with love and pluck? Why not try the nine stories found in A Pioneer Christmas Collection?

Tweetable:

Looking for #Christmas? #Free #cookbook and a chance for 18 great stories!  Click to Tweet

The post A Pioneer Christmas: a Cookbook Gift, a Raffle and the Stories! appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.

Merry Christmas! A Free Cookbook and a Two Book Raffle!

A Merry Christmas raffle and a free gift!

What could make the season brighter than a chance to win two terrific Christmas Collections and get some new recipes?

The Pioneer Christmas Collection authors want to celebrate the Advent season

by giving our readers a FREE Christmas Cookbook PDF

featuring recipes connected to our stories PLUS family recipes from our own holiday traditions.

If that’s not enough, we’re offering a raffle for two terrific Christmas classics signed by ALL the authors:

our own

A Pioneer Christmas Collection

and

A Log Cabin Christmas Collection.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Like one of us on Facebook, sign up to follow my blog, Shannon’s blog, or Vickie’s newsletter for a chance to win the two books. Rafflecopter contest runs until midnight, Pacific time, Wednesday, December 11.

(The books will be mailed to the winner on December 15, so you should get them in time for Christmas!)

If all else fails, comment on this blog and you’ll get a free PDF of the cookbook sent to your email address!

Questions? Post them in the comments!

 

Win two classic Christmas Collections and get a free cookbook! Click to Tweet

Want an easy entry?    What’s your favorite Christmas memory?

 (The Pioneer Christmas Collection Cookbook is ONLY available as a PDF. No purchase required)

 

The post Merry Christmas! A Free Cookbook and a Two Book Raffle! appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.