Nancy and Plum by Betty McDonald, for the #1952Club

It is Christmas Eve, and Nancy and Plum are alone at Mrs. Monday’s Boarding Home in so-called Heavenly Valley, while Mrs. M, her spoiled niece, Marybelle, and the other orphans are enjoying the holiday in the city.  When the sisters dash outside to watch some merry sleighs go by, they are accidentally locked out of the house on a very cold night. But Nancy and Plum are intrepid: they take refuge in the barn, find a lantern, play with some kittens, crank the stove in the harness room so they can roast some potatoes they extract from the root cellar, and play imaginary games about having a family. They are stunned to find an empty box from their Uncle John, showing that although he left the girls at this boarding house years ago, he has sent gifts they never received.

WWW Wednesday – March 1, 2023

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Living with a Dead Language by Ann Patty

Title: Living with a Dead Language: My Romance with Latin
Author: Ann Patty
Publication: Viking, hardcover, 2016
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir
Setting: Upstate New York

Description: When editor Ann Patty retired from Manhattan’s publishing world to her weekend retreat in Rhinebeck, NY, she was unexpectedly bored and afraid her mind would atrophy through lack of intellectual stimulation.

Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh

Title: Tied up in Tinsel
Author: Ngaio Marsh
Publication: Aeonian Press, hardcover, 1976 (originally published 1972)
Genre: Mystery/series

Description: Noted artist Agatha Troy (known to all simply as Troy) has come to Hilary Bill-Tasman’s remote country estate just before Christmas to paint his portrait. Hilary chatters as she paints him about his unconventional upbringing by his maternal relatives, Colonel and Mrs. Forrester. He also reveals his humble origins, describing how his father and courtesy-uncle Bert Smith began with a mere cart in London and grew their business to become a vast antiques enterprise. Hilary has become wealthy and bought back the family’s Tudor estate on the moors which had fallen into disrepair. Hilary reveals to Troy that in order to staff Halberds, which he is expensively restoring, he has hired five former inmates of the nearby prison, who served their time for murder and now need gainful employment. 

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Chapter 10

Chapter 10, Christmas Shopping

Wondering about her story, Flossie’s Accident (which I keep wanting to call Flossie’s Head – I think that must be how it has been colloquially discussed over the years), Betsy asks her father how long it takes a letter to go to Philadelphia.   He says two or three days.   Except that Betsy waits and waits and The Ladies Home Journal does not send her $100.  Julia is curious about who Betsy knows in Philadelphia.  As an older sister, I know that feeling of wondering what on earth your sibling is up to now!

“The King of Spain maybe,” said her father.  He was teasing.  For when Betsy, Tacy and Tib were only ten years old and didn’t know any better, they had written a letter to the King of Spain.  They had received an answer, too.

Virtual Advent Calendar

Thank you to Sprite Writes for including me in the Virtual Advent Tour she has organized for five years. For those who don’t know, Advent is the liturgical season leading up to Christmas which includes the four preceding Sundays. 

Can you guess?  See below.

This post is about a family tradition started by my father, who we lost three years ago.  I think about him whenever I wrap a present because, although he was not good at shopping, when he came up with a gift he enjoyed making tricky tags!  He would add a message to the tag but put dashes instead of some of the letters so the recipient would have to guess what was inside.   The first one I remember was a little datebook when I was in high school or college, with a tag said something like, “For CLM, so she will K _ _ W   WH _  _  E  TO  G _.

They got more complicated over the years and the rest of the family occasionally joins in.  You have to strike the right balance between a little mystery but not so obscure no one can hazard a guess! 

I think Buddy was telling me to look in the box for some awesome gardener's gloves that go practically to my elbows, protecting me from poison ivy!   (Not that they keep the plants alive - now, that would be quite a gift!)

I found this one from several years ago stuck to some wrapping paper.  I am trying to guess what it stands for!  We'll have to see if my brother remembers.

* * *

Answer to Samantha's tag:  Quiet Moment.  Yes, any working mother with three children and a dog finds that quiet moments are in short supply. 

Virtual Advent Calendar

Thank you to Sprite Writes for including me in the Virtual Advent Tour she has organized for four years. For those who don’t know, Advent is a liturgical season leading up to Christmas which includes the four preceding Sundays. Growing up, my family often had an advent wreath with pink and purple candles which we loved lighting before dinner.

Katherine reads the enclosed note to Winona

As an adult, my favorite holiday tradition is the Betsy-Tacy ornament exchange. Every year, the fans of Maud Hart Lovelace’s beloved Betsy-Tacy series, set in turn of the century Minnesota, participate in secret ornament exchange to honor a Christmas shopping expedition our heroines made in 1903 or so with their friend Winona Root:

There on a long table Christmas tree ornaments were set out for sale.  There were boxes and boxes full of them, their colors mingling in bewildering iridescence.  There were large fragile balls of vivid hues, there were gold and silver balls; there were tinsel angels, shining harps and trumpets, gleaming stars.

“Here,” said Betsy, “here we buy.”She looked at Winona, bright-eyed, and Winona looked from her to the resplendent table.“Nothing,” Tacy tried to explain, “is so much like Christmas as a Christmas-tree ornament.” “You get a lot for ten cents,” said Tib. 

Christmas on the Island (Book Review)

Title: Christmas on the Island

Author: Jenny Colgan

Publication: William Morrow, trade paperback, October 2018

Genre: Fiction

Plot: On the remote Scottish island of Mure, winter is stark, windy, and icy—yet the Christmas season is warm and festive . . .

It’s a time for getting cozy in front of a fire and spending time in the one pub on the island with the people you love—unless, of course, you’ve accidentally gotten pregnant by your ex-boss, and don’t know how to tell him. In the season for peace and good cheer, will Flora find the nerve to reveal the truth to her nearest and dearest? Will handsome but troubled future-father Joel think she’s the bearer of glad tidings—or is this Christmas going to be as bleak as the Highlands in midwinter? 

Christmas Camp (Book Review)

Title: Christmas Camp
Author: Karen Schaler
Publication: William Morrow, trade paperback, 2018
Genre: Fiction/Romance

Plot: Haley Hanson is an up and coming brand strategist at Bergman Advertising, and is about to bring in a huge client, Tyler Toys, which should deliver her the partnership she craves. Instead, her boss sends her to Christmas Camp, a feel good week at a quaint country inn where he hopes Haley will learn the true meaning of Christmas. After she returns, he’ll let Haley compete with jovial Tom for the right to pitch the business to Tyler Toys (which is complete unfair, as Haley did all the finagling to get the meeting in the first place; maybe she has a discrimination lawsuit).

Christmas Traditions in Boston (Book Review)

Title: Christmas Traditions in Boston
Author: Anthony M. Sammarco
Publication: Fonthill/Arcadia Publishing, paperback, 2017
Genre: History/Illustrated Nonfiction

Description: This is a warm and delightful description of the celebration of Christmas in Boston from 17th century Puritan days to the present. Anthony Sammarco, a Boston native who spends all of his free time researching, writing, and speaking on iconic historical aspects of local history Is a delightful raconteur, both in person and through his books. He describes the restrictions on celebration in the Bay Colony’s early history, followed by the development of new traditions as Anglicans and Catholics emigrate to and settle in the Boston area.

Betsy-Tacy Annual Ornament Exchange

For about 20 years, members of the Betsy-Tacy listserv have participated in a sort of Secret Santa ornament exchange, inspired by Betsy, Tacy and Tib's historic (so to speak) shopping expedition in Betsy-Tacy Go Downtown.  It is always a special moment when the mail arrives with that box, often addressed to a character from the famous tomes.  This year's ornament exchange brought a note from Betsy Ray:

Dear Tib, Do you think Gaston would have appreciated
our herbariums more if our specimens has been a little sparklier?
I'm sure we'll never do anything like that again - but it was fun,
just this once!   Merry Christmas!
Love, Betsy

I love this leaf ornament that looks as if it had been dipped in silver!  If you don't remember Betsy, Tacy and Tib's herbarium adventure, you can read about it here.

I have decided next year I will move the tree to a window that is not obscured by shrubbery - I like the way it looks in front of the fireplace but I also want people walking or driving past to be able to see the lights.  Where do you put your tree?

Thank you, kind sender, and thanks to all the elves who manage the ornament exchange!  My nieces and I always have fun participating.

Heavenly Chocolate Pie

Back in the 60s my great aunt Justine had a temp job at Nestle's headquarters in White Plains, NY where they gave her a slender chocolate cookbook with wiro binding as a thank you.  Because she did not cook, she gave it to my mother who tried the recipe for Heavenly Chocolate Pie, which became a Christmas Day favorite in our house.  This morning was my first time making it and it turned out beautifully:

Christmas is coming!

It is never too soon to introduce a little girl to Betsy, Tacy and Tib!

I was able to personalize these dolls, and am pleased with the results.  The hair color worked, even though I couldn't get ringlets for Tacy and a fluff of hair for Tib.



Christmas 2011

How sad it is to take down the tree, which I just (belatedly) began tonight! However, it looked very pretty in my newly painted living room.

This year's Betsy-Tacy ornament exchange was a lovely glass basketball from Tib's friends at Browner Academy in Milwaukee, but very suitable for me, given my love of hoop.

The blue chair in the corner is old and shabby but beloved by my father because Cardinal Cushing, Boston's most beloved cardinal in the 20th century, sat it in when he came to visit my Aunt Lillian, shortly before she died.

Betsy-Tacy annual ornament exchange

Every year the Betsy-Tacy listserv has an elaborate (and anonymous, due to the hard work of Betsy Sundquist and her elves) ornament exchange which pays tribute to the Christmas shopping expedition that Betsy, Tacy, and Tib make in Betsy-Tacy Go Downtown. Here is my tree with many Betsy-Tacy ornaments prominently displayed! You can't see all of them clearly but quite visible are the canoe and lantern from the Indian guide on Carney and Sam's honeymoon, a Big Ben ornament representing Betsy's sojourn in London, a dressmaker's dummy from Miss Mix, a purple ornament from the Deep Valley Class of 1910, and various dog ornaments received this year from Tony Markham . . .

For those who like to examine bookscases, as you can tell from the Dummies books in the background (some from before we were careful to design all the spines to match), these are primarily nonfiction shelves.