Imagine growing up in the 70’s—the 1870’s, that is. You live on the vast, mostly unsettled prairie in what is now the Midwestern United States. It takes a whole day to travel the forty miles by wagon to the nearest town, and your closest neighbor lives two miles away on the other side of the creek. This same creek is your family’s main souce of water. Your family built its own one-room house and everyone has to work hard, sunup to sundown and beyond. You have few possessions of your own.

One girl who experienced this wrote down her memories as an adult so that children would know about pioneer life on the Western frontier, a life that by then had vanished. Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) began publishing the beloved Little House series of books in the 1930s, and they quickly became children’s classics. Alas, Professor Carol missed reading them as a girl, and thus she invited me to write this Advent entry in her place.

Like Laura Ingalls Wilder, I grew up in the 70’s, but 100 years later, in the 1970’s. I loved reading the Little House books as a girl. At that time and now, many years later, what stands out most in my mind is the sheer delight of the Ingalls sisters at the very simple Christmas presents they received.

Before the Ingalls family went to the prairie, they lived in Wisconsin. The first book of the series, Little House in the Big Woods, describes a Christmas when Laura, her older sister Mary, and their three cousins each received presents of a new pair of red mittens and a stick of peppermint candy. Laura wrote that the children “were all so happy they could hardly speak at first. They just looked with shining eyes at those lovely Christmas presents.” Laura also received a rag doll, but the “other girls were not jealous because Laura had mittens, and candy, and a doll, because Laura was the littlest girl,” except for the babies. Imagine that kind of joy for only mittens and candy, and no envy for the one child who received an extra present.

The scene I remember best took place on the family’s first prairie Christmas. The creek flooded, so Laura and Mary knew that Santa Claus could not get there to bring them presents, but to everyone’s surprise, their neighbor, Mr. Edwards, swam the swollen, frigid creek and brought their gifts. Each girl received a new tin cup, a stick of peppermint candy, a small sugar cake and a “shining bright, new penny.” Laura described the girls’ joy.

They had never even thought of such a thing as having a penny. Think of having a whole penny for your very own. Think of having a cup and a cake and a stick of candy and a penny. There never had been such a Christmas.

I was around Mary’s age in that book when I first read it, and my child’s mind found it hard to grasp that these girls did not have their own cups already, candy was rare, and they had never had a penny of their own. My family had many cups and had candy occasionally. I even got a weekly allowance and thus knew that a penny would not buy anything! Laura’s and Mary’s joy at such simple gifts stuck with me through the years. Now, revisiting the books, I am struck anew by their delight. I want to be that grateful for small blessings in my life, and feel such joy at unexpected gifts that come my way. Don’t you?

This Christmas perhaps you might want to talk to your children or grandchildren about the hard life experienced by the many sturdy people who settled the Western United States. You could read (to yourself or out loud) Chapter 19 of Little House on the Prairie about the first prairie Christmas, or Chapter 4 of Little House in the Big Woods about the mitten Christmas (your local library will have both books).

I encourage you to join me in looking for little things to bring wonder and joy to your celebration of Advent. I am going to find a shiny, new penny to put on my dresser to remind me to look for the surprising, simple gifts, a baby’s smile, a child’s hug, reading a touching story, beautiful Christmas lights on a house, even finding an unexpected, yet perfect gift for one you love. What can you find to delight your heart during this season of Advent?