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 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. 

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.

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 and administer the last rites, shortly before she died.

More Betsy-Tacy Ornament Exchange

My older nieces always participate in the Betsy-Tacy ornament exchange with me, and the 11 year old wanted to share a picture of the replica of Miss Bangeter she received to adorn her Christmas tree:Miss Bangeter is the "tall, erect, and queenly" principal of Deep Valley High, originally from Boston, so a very suitable choice for an ornament to my family!

Betsy-Tacy Annual Ornament Exchange

Every year for the past 13 years the Betsy-Tacy listserv has done an ornament exchange to commemorate the famous shopping expedition made by Betsy, Tacy and Tib in Chapter 10 of Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. First organized by Elizabeth K and then taken over by energetic head elf Betsy Sundquist as a sort of Secret Santa, it is an event that is anticipated with great pleasure by Betsy-Tacy fans. The idea is to send an ornament that is somehow tied into a BT event or character. Some years I have very clever ideas and some I can barely get my sadly ordinary ornament mailed in time to be received by Christmas. For several years, I have included my nieces in the preparation. Although they have not read *all* the books, they were very familiar with Betsy and Tacy from an early age and have enjoyed choosing ornaments and composing notes to their recipients.

This year my ornament sender was incredibly creative! My package was addressed to Emily Webster, the heroine of Emily of Deep Valley, who comes to terms with missing out on a traditional college education when she becomes involved in Deep Valley activities as an adult. Among other things, she befriends the Syrian community, which begins when two boys, Kalil and Yusef, offer to sell her frogs' legs. When Emily realizes that these lively outgoing boys are having a hard time with their American-born classmates, she is determined to help them make friends with children their own age. When she visits their family, she is overwhelmed by the lavish hospitality.

My ornament package, which arrived most appropriately on Christmas Eve, actually included four small glass bowls full of the delicacies offered to Emily by the Syrian families: raisins, dates, nuts, and chocolate beans: Under these carefully wrapped glass bowls (which we unwrapped and immediately sampled) were three beautiful nested boxes (both my mother and I love little boxes so I can't wait to use these). My family watched with interest as each layer was revealed - my nieces and I often open our ornaments together but my parents had never participated in this holiday ritual before:

Inside the pretty boxes was a frog ornament, reminiscent of the frogs' legs sold to Emily Webster by Kalil and Yusef.

Here is the final decorated tree in my living room. After positioning it, I went outside to make sure the lights were visible from the street. Next year, I may try it in another room right in front of a window.

For thos unfamiliar with the Betsy-Tacy books, Emily of Deep Valley is more of standalone title about one of Betsy's younger friends. It is back in print, in a lovely new edition with a forward from Mitali Perkins, a talented author who has been a delightful recruit to the Boston area Betsy-Tacy fans. Even if you haven't read the other Betsy-Tacy books, Emily of Deep Valley will appeal to teen and adult readers who love a good coming of age story.

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.