Come on it's Lovely Weather for Sleigh Bells and Skating Parties!

Winter sports have been popular in America for hundreds of years. But in the 1800s and early 20th century, winter pastimes not only provided fun and exercise, they also served as much-anticipated and enjoyed social gatherings. One of the most popular pastimes of all was ice-skating, described in an 1886 newspaper as “Our National Winter Exercise.” Frozen ponds and rivers were always busy in the winter, and nighttime skating parties like those described in Kate Douglas Wiggin’s Rose O’ the River were favorite amusements, especially for young people:

“Never had there been . . . such wonderful skating. The river was one gleaming, glittering thoroughfare of ice from Milliken’s Mills to the dam at the Edgewood bridge. At sundown bonfires were built here and there on the mirror-like surface, and all the young people from the neighboring villages gathered on the ice.”

Homemade Cheer: Christmas During the Great Depression

From Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol onward, so many stories have been written about people managing to make Christmas merry even under the direst of circumstances, be it fire, flood or famine—or more often, a simple lack of funds. But during America’s Great Depression, this challenge wasn’t confined to storybooks—it was a challenge that nearly everyone faced.

“For many thousands of people this is going to be a different Christmas,” wrote the editor of Successful Farming magazine in the December 1932 issue. “It is fellowship, love, understanding, sympathy that is most needed this year. All the tinsels and lights, all the extravagant show, cannot take the place of the real spirit of Christmas. This should be predominately a children's Christmas. And that need not be done extravagantly [as] the greatest happiness comes from the simple things of life.”

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Wintry weather, holiday gatherings, and cozy evenings by the fire with a good book... ah, how we love this time of year! And we love immersing ourselves in the history of celebrations and traditions of our ancestors. Here, we've gathered a collection of our winter-themed articles for your cozy reading enjoyment!

Come on it's Lovely Weather for Sleigh Bells and Skating Parties!
Winter sports have been popular in America for hundreds of years. But in the 1800s and early 20th century, winter pastimes not only provided fun and exercise, they also served as much-anticipated and enjoyed social gatherings. Keep reading >>>


Worth a Thousand Words:
The Christmas Coach
The Christmas Coach depicts a scene in Philadelphia in 1795 and features a wealthy woman departing the coach just before sunset on Christmas Eve to a snow-covered street filled with a representation of the great diversity of one of early America's largest cities. Keep reading >>>

Vintage Happy Hour with Jenny Q:
It's Champagne, Dahling
Today I'm toasting champagne, that most glamorous of beverages. That decadent, frivolous, sinful, delightful nectar of the gods, adored by royalty and nobility since its invention in 1531, and in later centuries by the masses as it became widely available. Champagne flows freely through many a novel. Keep reading >>>


Book to Reel: A Christmas Carol
for Scrooge
There are many film versions of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, some traditional, some modern, some with a twist. The truth is, I can watch any of them and enjoy it. It is such a powerful tale of redemption that it works regardless of casting, setting, or medium. Keep reading >>>

Sample Sunday: The Romance of a Christmas Card

“My door is on the latch tonight,
The hearth fire is aglow.
I seem to hear swift passing feet—
The Christ Child in the snow.
My heart is open wide tonight
For stranger, kith or kin.
I would not bar a single door
Where Love might enter in!”

Keep reading >>>

Happy Holidays from the Vintage Reader family to yours!

Worth a Thousand Words: The Christmas Coach

This is The Christmas Coach by American painter Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, and it's just one of seventy-eight scenes from American history in his series, The Pageant of a Nation. It is the largest series of American historical paintings by a single artist. Ferris began painting the series in 1895, and when the entire series was completed, it was exhibited in Ferris's hometown of Philadelphia, at Independence Hall from 1913 to 1930.

The Christmas Coach depicts a scene in Philadelphia in 1795 and features a wealthy woman departing the coach just before sunset on Christmas Eve to a snow-covered street filled with a representation of the great diversity of one of early America's largest cities. The street bustles with the spirit of the season as middle class families, soldiers, servants, Native Americans, and frontiersmen dodge covered wagons, horses, and dogs as they run their errands and make their way home for their Christmas celebrations.

Need some help getting into the holiday spirit? Our newest release is a vintage Christmas treat! Heartwarming, inspirational, and full of wit and charm!

The Romance of a Christmas Card by Kate Douglas Wiggin

Professionally edited and formatted for today's e-readers, and featuring chapter artwork, a glossary, and the touching Christmas poem "Das Krist Kindel." Download the Legacy Vintage Collection Enhanced eBook Edition today for 99₵! 

Sample Sunday: The Romance of a Christmas Card

          

Get it today for 99¢!

 

The newest addition to the Legacy Vintage Collection is a heartwarming tale set in Beulah, New Hampshire, in 1916, where one special Christmas card has the power to unite the town in the spirit of the season, as two wayward sons find their way home and a lonely young mother’s prayers are answered. In this sample from Chapter Two, Reba Larrabee, the minister's wife, finds inspiration for a Christmas card in her best friend Letty:

Letty, do you remember I told you I'd been trying my hand on some verses for a Christmas card?"

"Yes; have you sent them anywhere?"

"Not yet. I couldn't think of the right decoration and color scheme and was afraid to trust it all to the publishers. Now I've found just what I need for one of them, and you gave it to me, Letty!"

"I?"

Enhanced eBook: The Romance of a Christmas Card by Kate Douglas Wiggin

      

Get it today for 99¢!

 



From the bestselling author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm!

Settle in for a heartwarming Christmas in Beulah, New Hampshire, where one special Christmas card has the power to unite the town in the spirit of the season, two wayward sons find their way home, and a lonely young mother’s prayers are answered.