The Spirit of Christmas, as Found in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Books

This book contains two Christmases but, without Mary, Christmas is barely mentioned as compared to previous books. The family does seem happier and more optimistic than they did in the previous book – they had been able to bring Mary home for a visit that summer, before she returned to school, and that seemed to allow them to feel happiness again. Laura is in a spin of parties and sleighing trips with Almanzo and her friends. She had taken another job and was able to bring some more money in, for the family.

In the first one, Christmas is tagged onto the end of a chapter about all this fun. The family goes to the new church, and there’s a Christmas tree, like the one that had made such an impression on her as a little girl in Plum Creek. Laura’s joy comes from seeing Grace look at the tree. “While she was waiting for Grace’s Christmas doll to be brought to her from the tree, Laura was given her a package which surprised her so much that she was sure there was some mistake.” It’s an expensive hairbrush and comb set, backed with ivory and set in a silk-lined leather case. “Laura looked again at the wrapping paper; her name was plainly written on it, in handwriting she did not know.”

” ‘Whoever could have given me such a present, Ma?’ she asked.”

“Then Pa leaned in to admire it, too, and his eyes twinkled. ‘I could not swear who gave it to you, Laura,’ he said. ‘But I can tell you one thing. I saw Almanzo Wilder buying that very case at Bradley’s drugstore,’ and he smiled at Laura’s astonishment.”

Whoo! Laura has a beau! And Pa seems to approve!

The next Christmas is bigger. During this next year, Almanzo proposes and Laura accepts. They agree to stay engaged for a few years, so that Laura can continue to work and they can continue to save money. Almanzo heads east with his brother to spend the winter with their family.

Although Mary is not with them that year, the family returns to celebrating Christmas, making gifts in secret and hiding them, like they did in By the Shores of Silver Lake. The church puts up another Christmas tree and they plan to drive in from their country home for the Christmas service, but the falling snow may turn into a blizzard, and they agree to stay home instead. Their country home is warm and insulated now, with several rooms added on, and the pantry is full from their garden, their livestock, and the groceries they were able to buy with the proceeds from Pa’s crops.

Laura makes popcorn and Ma turns them into pop-corn balls with molasses. Carrie and Grace sew little bags for candy Pa had brought from town earlier in the week – and Carrie teases Grace for making an extra bag. Laura reflects on earlier Christmases – Mr. Edwards walking 80 miles to bring them Christmas gifts; Pa being lost in the blizzard and eating the Christmas candy. She wishes Mary were there, and Almanzo, who she has not heard from in weeks. What if he has met someone else or forgotten her? Pa distracts her by playing happy songs on his fiddle, finishing up with one which encourages the listener to “Come in, come in, come in and shut the door!”

And Almanzo appears out of the storm.

He has brought oranges for the family and a gift for Laura: a small gold bar pin, with an etched house by a lake with a spray of grasses and leaves. After Christmas dinner – not described – Almanzo describes the trip that he and Royal took back to visit their parents.

After Almanzo leaves, Carrie and Laura crawl into bed together, Laura happily anticipating their Christmas Day activities: “in the morning, there would be all the surprises from the stockings, and at noon there would be the special Christmas feast, with a big fat hen stuffed and roasted, brown and juice, and Almanzo would be there.”

And there is no blizzard.

This time, when Carrie again says, as she did two books ago, “Isn’t this the nicest Christmas! Do Christmases get better all the time?” Laura agrees that they do.

This Christmas is made all the better by Almanzo’s presence. When he arrives, Laura is as silently stunned as she was by the gifts in her Christmas stocking in Little House in the Big Woods. And, although the family has been missing Mary for the four previous years – and had a frightening Christmas during The Big Winter, filled with blizzards and lacking food and fuel – we find the family celebrating once again.