In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Book Review by Lisa Norato

In The Heart Of The Sea

The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
by Nathaniel Philbrick
Penguin Books © 2000

Several years ago, I received a copy of this amazing book. A good friend and critique partner urged me to read it, but because I felt squeamish about the mention of cannibalism in the description, I decided I wouldn’t enjoy it and tucked it away. Then recently, I caught the trailer for the upcoming 2015 movie based on the book. Wow! On the screen were New England sailors of the Federal era on a dangerous sea journey – the very same period and setting of which I write my novels. I searched out my copy and, for curiosity’s sake, read the preface. I was hooked. More than hooked, I was sucked into an unbelievable yet true, suspense-filled sea voyage. A monumental historical event that not only made for one of the best reads I’ve even experienced, but a rich resource of everything seafaring and a peek into early nineteenth century society.

In its day the tragedy of the whaling ship Essex was received with the same global shock and horror as the sinking of the Titanic. It is the true story which later inspired Herman Melville to pen his classic novel, Moby Dick.

In August of 1819, the Essex left Nantucket with a newly-promoted captain and a crew of twenty to hunt and harvest whales for their oil. Shortly after leaving port, the Essex was caught in a storm of such proportions it knocked down the great sailing vessel, leaving her crew clinging to the rails for their lives. To my mind, there could be no coming back from that, but the Essex is put to straights and sails again. Against his better instincts, her captain is persuaded by his mates to continue the expedition despite damage to the ship and the loss of much-needed whaleboats. What ensues is a harrowing journey of disaster and setbacks, the most amazing of which is the attack of a giant sperm whale out for vengeance. It rams the Essex with humanlike intent and calculation, striking a devastating blow in defense of his own kind. The Essex crumbles and sinks beneath the whale’s massive skull, yet not a single seaman is lost.



Actual drawing my Essex cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson, of the whale's attack. Notice the whaleboats on the bottom edge manned with crew members.

Nathaniel Philbrick has pulled together extensive research and firsthand accounts to tell a tale that reads like a suspense novel and puts you right there in the open boats, bobbing on a vast ocean, along with the awestruck survivors.  I felt their breathless shock at the loss of their ship as they sat divided among three whaleboats, unable to believe their eyes. Fearing tales of cannibalism, they chart a course to avoid the nearby islands and instead head towards South America, over 2000 miles away. Although I find nothing heroic about the business of whaling, I felt deeply for these whaling men and was amazed at their courage and fortitude as they persevered in a desperate battle for survival.

If seafaring adventure is your passion, I promise you will be swept into this detailed historical account with the same enjoyment as you would a novel or a movie. Like me, you will have to stop and remind yourself – this really happened!  For writers and nautical history buffs, In the Heart of the Sea is a valuable resource on ships, sailing, navigation, boat construction, whales, rank aboard ship, Nantucket and social class during the Federal era. Also included are pages of informative notes and a bibliography.

A major motion picture based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea is set to be released March 2015, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Helmsworth (People magazine’s sexiest man of the year 2014). I can’t wait to see this story on the big screen! I hope to come back then with a review of the movie. To view the trailer that led me to discover this incredible book, click here.

New Year's Blessings to All!

Lisa Norato is the author of the seafaring inspirational suspense novels Prize of My Heart and The Promise Keeper.  She lives with her family on the New England coast in a cozy historic village with homes and churches dating into the eighteenth century.

Boxing Day with General Washington

I'm not an expert on Revolutionary war battles by any means. That said, I think there's a majority of us who might know Washington crossing the Delaware but little else that happened before or after that event.

Washington Crossing the Delaware is an 1851 oil-on-canvas painting by
the German American artist Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze

Washington's forces crossed on a miserable Christmas Day 1776. Morale was low. Boxing Day, December 26th--a very British holiday--involved a long cold, early morning march toward Trenton. In fact it became known as the battle of Trenton and proved to be a major win for the revolutionary forces.

Boxing day is the traditional day when employers gave holiday gifts to their employees, and for former British subjects would have been part of the annual holiday season. With the eventual success--when the colonies won independence--the new United States put off the celebration. (Our neighbors to the north still celebrate...mostly as a shopping day similar to our Black Friday).

Battle of Trenton, by H. Charles McBarron, Jr., 1975

Today, we  at Colonial Quills take this opportunity to wish you all the joys of the season, Merry Christmas! and thank you for being part of our year and sharing our love of history.

How Santa Claus Came to the New World

by Roseanna M. White

Stories of St. Nicholas go back for centuries. Growing up in a protestant family, I knew next to nothing about the saint so well beloved by Europeans. All I knew was Santa Claus--the jolly old elf who brought presents on Christmas Eve.

As I grew up I ran into more and more people who eschewed the tradition of Santa--and I understood why. Santa takes the focus off Jesus, right? And that's where it belongs. 

But this year, I wanted to dig a little deeper into the traditions that shaped American Christmases into what they've become...and where better to start than with St. Nicholas of Myra?

The saint was, from childhood, considered a wonder-worker. A miracle-doer. A boy of astounding faith. Not a magician, let it be noted--a Christian who believed fully in the awe-inspiring power of the Holy Spirit, and that he, as a believer, could call on that power to heal, to save those in danger, to work wonders. When his wealthy parents died when he was still young, his uncle, the bishop of Patara, raised him. He was soon, at a young age, named a reader in the church, and then a priest.

Nicholas had a large inheritance from his parents...but no desire to spend it. Instead, he gave it to those in need. The most famous story of his generosity was when a local family in Patara lost all they had. Destitute, the three daughters of the family, now without dowries, couldn't be given in marriage. The only choice open to them was prostitution. When Nicholas heard of this impending tragedy, he took a bag of gold and tossed it through the family's window one night--a dowry for the eldest daughter. He did it again for the second daughter. But when he tried to toss a third bag of gold through the window, he found the family was waiting for him.

Now, Nicholas took seriously Jesus's command to give our gifts in secret. He wanted no notice, no thanks, just to help. So he climbed up onto the roof and dropped the gold down the chimney, where it's said to have landed in a shoe or stocking left there to dry.

That, my friends, is where the stocking tradition comes from.

The father of the girls rushed out into the street to catch up with their mysterious benefactor, and he did indeed catch the young man...who begged him not to tell anyone of what he'd done, not while he lived. The father promised.

But after Nicholas's death, stories of his generosity came out. Story upon story of how this miracle-worker gave from his own wealth to help those in need around him. Always quietly. Always anonymously. Always out of Christian love.

When Nicholas was named a saint shortly after his death, his feast day was established on his day of death--December 6th. And to honor the memory of the man who gave so generously, people would also give anonymous gifts--and sign them St. Nicholas. It was around the same time that Christmas was established on December 25th. Pretty close to each other, and over the centuries the two celebrations merged into one.

The Dutch especially loved their stories of Saint Nicholas...or as they called him, Sinterklaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas). But with the advent of protestantism, feast days were abolished. Still, the Dutch people refused to give up their gift-giving, even when Martin Luther insisted it is the Christ Child who gives us all the gifts we need, not some saint. So the people, in the way people do, said, "Okay...so our gifts are now from the Christ Child." Or as they would say in Dutch, the Christ-Kindl.

When the Dutch arrived in the New World, they brought their Christmas traditions with them. British colonists latched hold of them, though they mis-pronounced Christ-Kindl and called him Kris Kringle...which they took to be another name for the one the same Dutch settlers called Sinterklaas, which they also mispronounced, LOL, and called Santa Claus. The anonymous gift-giver...

Traditional interpretation of Dutch Sinterklaas

But of course, stories get changed over the years. As the centuries went by, people forgot that Nicholas performed God-given miracles, not magic. They forgot that he gave in secret so that no one would praise him. They forgot that he was a man who, above all, sought to bring honor to God. Instead, he became an elf in our new mythology. A magical being who watched our children and gave gifts only to the good, coal to the naughty. He became a symbol of Christmas-when-you-stop-focusing-on-Christ.

Sad, since focusing on Christ was all he ever did.

Examining this story made me examine more than the role Santa Claus plays in modern America. It made me examine our gift-giving in general. Because while so many of us today are quick to say, "No Santa in my house!" we're not so quick to actually focus on Christ. It's still largely about the gifts in this day and age...we just sign them with our own names. Something Nicholas never did, lest he take pride in the praises it brought him.

But when the country was founded, when Christmas traditions were first begun here, that's not what it was about. Gifts were simple, small--an orange, candy, perhaps a small toy for each child. Christmas, if it was celebrated (the Puritans, of course, didn't celebrate the day at all), was begun with church, followed with a family dinner, and only then introduced any gifts to be given.

Santa Claus was a way to give a gift anonymously. A way to capture a bit of the wonder of all God gives us. Not an excuse for children to make an "I want" list a mile long, not a way to take the focus away from where it should be...but an invitation for you to look around you and see where there is need. A way to meet that need quietly--not for praise, not even for the joy of seeing their faces, but just out of Christian love.

This year, whether you have any Santa figures in your house or not, I pray you play Santa for someone. Not just for the kids or grandkids that already have a house bursting with toys, but for someone around you in need. Meet it. Meet it quietly. Meet it anonymously.

And remember who the man the Dutch brought to these shores as Santa Claus or the Christ-Kindl really was--one of the most generous, faithful men I've ever read about. He may not be a jolly old elf, or have a broad face and a little round belly...but you can be sure that he would be the first to wish:

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

One of the carols/hymns that Colonial Americans sang after moving away from the Puritan banning of Christmas celebrations was "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" by Charles Wesley.

Charles Wesley

Wesley was the youngest of eighteen children born to a Church of England minister and his wife. He wrote an average of ten verses every day for more than fifty years, estimated at almost 9,000 hymns.

The original version of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” wouldn't be recognizable to many listeners today, because, when Wesley published this hymn in 1739, its first words were "Hark! How All the Welkin Rings," and it was sung in a slow and solemn way to the tune of his Easter hymn, “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.” You see, for Wesley, Christ’s birth was inextricably connected to His death and resurrection, and he wanted to make that point by using the same tune for both songs.

Wesley's brother, John, and other friends often altered Charles’s works when they thought it would serve a good purpose. "Welkin," which means "vault of heaven," was already an antiquated word in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. The evangelist George Whitefield thought the word "welkin" would confuse people and changed the first line of Wesley's hymn to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and included it in his own anthology of hymns published in 1753.

In the preface to the 1780 edition of Hymns and Sacred Poems, John Wesley expressed his disfavor toward people who changed his music saying, “Many gentlemen have done my brother and me (though without naming us) the honour to reprint many of our Hymns. Now they are perfectly welcome so to do, provided they print them just as they are. But I desire they would not attempt to mend them; for they really are not able. None of them is able to mend either the sense or the verse. Therefore, I must beg of them one of these two favours; either to let them stand just as they are, to take them for better or worse; or to add the true reading in the margin, or at the bottom of the page; that we may no longer be accountable either for the nonsense or for the doggerel of other men.”

In 1840, Mendelssohn composed a cantata to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, and it is music from this cantata that the English musician William H. Cummings adapted to fit the lyrics of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”—the version we are most familiar with today.




Here's a link to an older version --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjYobIhPUVI

and this is the modern version --
http://www.yourepeat.com/watch/?v=SFjMPaOBzXc

Susan F. Craft is the award-winning author of a Revolutionary War romantic suspense, The Chamomile. Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas will release two of her post-Revolutionary War books -- Laurel on January 12, 2015, and Cassia on September 14, 2014.

Moravian Christmas Traditions Dating Back to Colonial Times

 

Moravian Christmas Traditions

by Tamera Lynn Kraft

 

In my novella, A Christmas Promise, I write about Moravian missionaries in Schoenbrunn Village, circa 1773. The Moravians brought many Christmas traditions to America that we use to celebrate Christ’s birth today. Here are a few of them.

The Christmas Tree: Moravians brought the idea of decorating Christmas trees in their homes in the early 1700s, long before it became a popular tradition in the United States.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Services: Most churches have Christmas Eve services where they sing Christmas carols and light candles to show Jesus came to be the light of the world. The Moravian Church has been doing that for centuries. They call their services lovefeasts because they also have a part of the service where they serve sweetbuns and coffee – juice for the kids – and share Christ’s love with each other. For candles, Moravians use bleached beeswax with a red ribbon tied around them. The white symbolizes the purity of Christ and red symbolizes that His blood was shed for us.

The Moravian Star: In the 1840s at a Moravian school, students made 24 point stars out of triangles for their geometry lessons. Soon those Moravian stars started making their way on the tops of Christmas trees. The star as a Christmas tree topper is still popular today.

The Putz: The putz is a Christmas nativity scene surrounded by villages or other Biblical scenes. Moravian children in the 1700s would make a putz to put under their Christmas tree. Today, nativity scenes and Christmas villages are popular decorations.

Saving Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock

With the first day of winter nigh upon us, let's look back upon the first day of winter nearly four hundred years ago, December 21, 1620, when weary voyagers from the Mayflower chose their first permanent dwelling place in North America. Landing on the frigid coast just above Cape Cod, the Pilgrims embarked on the shores of Plymouth, Massachusetts. And stepped onto a huge rock.

"Plymouth Rock" has since become an American icon as a symbol of discovery and liberty. A quest for religious freedom and pursuit of a better life. It cannot be verified that the rock that exists today is actually the rock that the Pilgrims stepped onto, or if they stepped onto such a rock at all. Yet tradition has firmly held through verbal transmission that the large piece of granite provided a steady landing for the sojourners, as sure as their convictions.

One Thomas Faunce was the son of John, who came to Plymouth in the Ann in 1623. John was considered one of the "First Comers"along with the original Mayflower passengers and raised his son, Thomas, contemporaneously with other second generation settlers. From his childhood, Thomas was told by his father and others about coming to America including the report about the rock. Thomas, who became the last elder of the First Church of Plymouth, brought his own children and grandchildren there to continue transmitting the story on each anniversary of the Pilgrim's landing.

Then in 1741 a wharf was to be built over the rock and 95 year old Elder Faunce was taken by chair to see the rock for one last time. At Founder's Day in 1817 a Mrs. White and Deacon Spoon transmitted their testimony that Elder Faunce had publicly proclaimed the history of the consecrated rock with tear filled eyes.


In 1775 inhabitants of the town decided to consecrate the rock as a shrine of liberty. Twenty yoke of oxen attempted to move it only to have it split in two when a team attempted to raise it. The upper portion, however, was placed at the foot of the Liberty Pole as a reminder of the values that first brought the Pilgrims to their beloved country.

Piece of Plymouth Rock taken by Lewis Bradford.

18th and 19th century souvenir hunters have chipped at the rock through the years to take a piece of its legend and legacy. A piece was taken in 1850 by a descendant of Gov. William Bradford and is inscribed "Broken from the Mother Rock by Mr. Lewis Bradford on Tues. 28th of Dec. 1850 4 1/2 o’clock p.m.”. But since 1921, Plymouth Rock has been protected by a monumental enclosure which stands in Massachusetts' Plymouth Rock State Park on the shore of Plymouth harbor. It's current size is believed to be only 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the original piece of granite.

Plymouth Rock in 1867

On the Fourth of July in 1834 the rock was moved to a position in front of Pilgrim Hall where it remained enclosed by a fancy iron fence for forty six years. In 1867 a canopy was errected which sheltered the original piece of the rock. In 1880 the the two fragments were reunited after a separation of over a century. It was that the inscription "1620" was carved into Plymouth Rock.

"We have come to this Rock, to record here our homage for our Pilgrim Fathers; our sympathy in their sufferings; our gratitude for their labours; our admiration of their virtues; our veneration for their piety; and our attachment to those principles of civil and religious liberty, which they encountered the dangers of the ocean, the storms of heaven, the violence of savages, disease, exile, and famine, to enjoy and establish. – And we would leave here, also, for the generations which are rising up rapidly to fill our places, some proof, that we have endeavored to transmit the great inheritance unimpaired; that in our estimate of public principles, and private virtue; in our veneration of religion and piety; in our devotion to civil and religious liberty; in our regard to whatever advances human knowledge, or improves human happiness, we are not altogether unworthy of our origin…"  ~ Daniel Webster, 1820

Plymouth Rock's current enclosure.

  This link will take you to a panoramic view of Plymouth Rock.

Sherwood Forest Plantation - By Carrie Fancett Pagels

Last year I had the privilege of going on the Charles City "pilgrimage" of homes along the James River. One of the magnificent estates was Sherwood Forest.  As indicated on their website, Sherwood Forest is the longest presidential home in the nation.

Left side of the house - Sherwood Forest

This home is about as long as a football field! And my, oh my, are there stories waiting to be told there!  Above is a picture of the left side of the home and below is the right side.

On the day I visited, we were blessed to be greeted at the house by President John Tyler's grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, who owns the property.

Harrison Ruffin Tyler, 2013

He was very gracious in answering questions and explaining about the property.  I think the most fascinating thing to me was President John Tyler's wife, Julia, who was thirty years his junior.  I really felt their love story would be a fascinating one to write up as a historical romance!

And YES President Tyler was this gentleman's grandfather, despite John Tyler having been born in 1790. Here's an article that explains (click here.) Basically, President Tyler was in his 60's when his son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler (former president of the College of William and Mary) was born and   Professor Tyler was in his 70's when Harrison was born. (And I thought we had some long gaps in our family tree! My grandfather was born in 1886 and his youngest great-grandchild in 2002.)

The estate is a private home and is only open on special occasions. There was another recent viewing in December, 2013. The proceeds from the Pilgrimage (which included Sherwood Forest and several other plantations) I attended in 2013 went to a program through the local Westover Episcopal Church.



Dog statuary marks the front porch! I think this may be a "nod" to the Princess Anne Hunt Club which hunts on the property.

Dog statuary on the porch of Sherwood Forest

I loved this old bell in the back of the house!

The house is a series of chambers that connect one to another, forming a very long home indeed! At the end on the river side is a huge ballroom that was added so visitors could dance during celebrations. It is most impressive, especially considering how long ago it was built! The James River  runs adjacent to the land, but the house does not have a view. For that, you must walk down to the water. Below is the circular drive to the home.

This is Part 1 on Sherwood Plantation. Watch for a Part 2.

Question: Have you ever visited this private estate?  What impressed you most?

The American Revolution vs. The Civil War

I enjoy chatting history with fellow history buffs. I'm a total geek about things of the past—and not afraid to admit it!

So when engaging in conversation with a customer at a recent Barnes & Noble book signing, I inwardly shuddered while smiling on the outside. The gentleman referred to the topic of my American Revolutionary novel as being from "the Civil War."

After gently reminding the man that Fields of the Fatherless was a story from the Revolutionary War, I was once again reminded of how often two very important wars in our nation are confused.

I once saw a reviewer of my novel—the one from my book-signing—write that it was a novel about the Civil War. This reviewer had gone so far as to describe the clearly-designated British soldier as "A Confederate soldier."

Wow. Perhaps we could all use a brief history lesson...

The American Revolution was the war that changed Colonial America into the United States of America. It was fought between the American colonists against Great Britain, the mother nation.

It began in 1775 and lasted eight years. The signing of the Declaration of Independence, for which we celebrate the 4^th of July and the birth of our nation, occurred in 1776. So 2014 celebrates our 238^th Birthday.

George Washington became the 1^st president of the United States, starting after the first election in 1789.

The Civil War started on April 12, 1861 and was fought between the Northern states and the Southern states of this country. It ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered the last Confederate (Southern) Army to General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865 (although the last battle was actually fought in Texas on May 13, 1865).

The core conflict was the issue of slavery and states rights.

The war took place during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, the nation’s 16^th president.

                                                          *     *     *     *     *

As you can see from this extremely brief history lesson, the wars occurred in completely different centuries and had conflicts born of varying concerns.

As a writer of historical fiction set in the American Revolution, I hope that my work brings to light the issues that led to the birth of the United States. And as a believer in freedom wrought with such difficulty by so many, I pray that our liberty continues to ring as we hold to the Christian principles that were so evident in the founding of this nation.

May your Christmas be blessed!

(Photos Courtesy of Thomas Deitner)

Elaine Marie Cooper is the author of Fields of the Fatherless, as well as the newly-released, Bethany's Calendar, a memoir of her daughter.

Re-creating a Historical Christmas

One very cold Christmas during the Revolution...image by Wikipedia

Writing about Christmas in the backcountry of North Carolina (now east Tennessee) for my first novella, Defending Truth in A Pioneer Christmas Collection, held the challenge of creating that "Christmasy" feel for modern readers while absolutely respecting the probable opinions and practices of the time and region. What a contrast to the highly commercial affair the holiday has become in our own time!

Previous posts, especially this excellent one on colonial Christmases by Lori Benton, have covered how Christmas itself was a modest affair in the colonial era, with most of the focus on parties and church attendance. Often the celebrations continued through the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany, culminating in "Twelfth Night" on January.

Certain religious groups and denominations celebrated with far less fervor than others. How much, or even whether one celebrated. also differed across social strata and region. In the western reaches of the colonies, there tended to be no celebration at all, at least not in contrast with those in the east. The Colonial Williamsburg Official History site on their page, Another Look at Christmas in the Eighteenth Century, comments,

One notable exception to the Christmas Day in 1775 must have been a great disappointment for the Presbyterian missionary, Philip Fithian. A year earlier he had experienced the finest of Virginia Christmases the residence of Robert Carter, Nomini Hall. But in 1775, Fithian toiled as a missionary in the western counties of Virginia among the Scotch and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. The following is part of his diary entry for December 25:

Christmas Morning--Not A Gun is heard--Not a Shout--No company or Cabal assembled--To Day is like other Days every Way calm & temperate-- People go about their daily Business with the same Readiness, & apply themselves to it with the same Industry.

Could it be that settlers felt the need to keep things "calm & temperate" because of the almost constant threat of Indian attack?

The site goes on to say:

Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Moravians celebrated the traditional Christmas season with both religious and secular observances. These celebrations in eighteenth- century America were observed by the aforementioned communities in cities such as New York and Philadelphia, in the Middle Atlantic colonies of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and in the South. 

Some of the differences can be chalked up to denominational practice. Scotch-Irish Presbyterians tended to regard any sort of Christmas observance as papist and thus worse than heathen, a perversion of the purity of God’s word. The Presbyterian Heritage Center site states:

Presbyterians have not always celebrated Christmas. 

Separating themselves from the Roman Catholic Church practices, Protestant Reformation leaders were generally critical of the existing “feast and saint days” of the Catholic Church.

The celebration of Christmas became a point of contention among many Protestants. Reformation leader Martin Luther permitted the celebration of certain feast days, including Christmas. Other reformers, including John Calvin and John Knox, preferred to worship only where specifically commanded in the Bible.

The Quakers likewise ignored the holiday:

On Dec. 25, 1749, Finnish-Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm (believed to be pictured below) was in Philadelphia. He made the following observation in his diary: “Christmas Day.... The Quakers did not regard this day any more remarkable than other days. Stores were open, and anyone might sell or purchase what he wanted.... There was no more baking of bread for the Christmas festival than for other days; and no Christmas porridge on Christmas Eve!”

Kalm went on to note that: “One did not seem to know what it meant to wish anyone a merry Christmas.... first the Presbyterians did not care much for celebrating Christmas, but when they saw most of their members going to the English (Anglican) church on that day, they also started to have services.”

It's fascinating to me to see how customs differed, and how they changed over the years.

What is a Christmas custom you'd like to see brought back? Anything you think is best left in the past?

December New Releases & Christmas Books Tea Party ~ Lovefeast at Schoenbrunn

At Schoenbrunn Village in the 1770s, in the heart of the Ohio wilderness, Moravians celebrate Christmas with a Lovefeast. They serve sweet buns, coffee or tea, and juice for the children. They are the first to have candlelight services and indoor decorated Christmas trees along with a Putz, a nativity scene with a whole village attached. The Moravians of that area love Christmas, so this year, we will join their Christmas celebration at Schoenbrunn Village.

Anna Brunner welcomes you to the Lovefeast where they are serving tea, coffee, and sweet buns at the church. It's the only building large enough for the party. They've decided to do something special for you and also serve a Moravian Christmas feast with roast turkey, corn bread, potatoes, beans, and for desert, squash pie. They always use the three sisters, corn, beans, and squash, in their celebrations.

Come by the fire and warm yourself. Our Ohio winters are much colder than your tepid Virginia weather. We Moravians are normally coffee drinkers, but we bought tea when the traders came around so we would have some for you visit. So which would you like to start with, coffee or tea?

Let's begin our celebration by introducing you to this wonderful array of Christmas novels and novellas from our Colonial Quills/CACW Authors with some fabulous GIVEAWAYS!

From Tamera Lynn Kraft
A Christmas Promise

A Moravian Holiday Story

During colonial times, John and Anna settle in an Ohio village to become Moravian missionaries to the Lenape. When John is called away to help at another settlement two days before Christmas, he promises he’ll be back by Christmas Day.

When he doesn’t show up, Anna works hard to not fear the worst while she provides her children with a traditional Moravian Christmas.

Through it all, she discovers a Christmas promise that will give her the peace she craves.

“Revel in the spirit of a Colonial Christmas with this achingly tender love story that will warm both your heart and your faith. With rich historical detail and characters who live and breathe on the page, Tamera Lynn Kraft has penned a haunting tale of Moravian missionaries who selflessly bring the promise of Christ to the Lenape Indians. A beautiful way to set your season aglow, A Christmas Promise is truly a promise kept for a heartwarming holiday tale.” ~ Author Julie Lessman

Amazon Kindle | Barnes and Noble Nook |Pelican Book Group | ChristianBook

From Susan F. Craft
Christmas Treasures

Anthology of Christmas Short Stories

My story, His Eye Is on the Sparrah, is the fictionalization of something that happened to my mother years ago.

It's among eighteen heartwarming stories of Christmas that will become favorites to read year after year. 

One of my favorite characters in my short story is my main character Eleanor Stevens' best friend Isabel Ravenel. Both in their late seventies, they've been friends for over fifty years. Isabel speaks in a Low Country Charleston, South Carolina drawl - an accent born of 300-year-old-family money, elongated by the Gullah dialect of former slaves who inhabited the sea islands, tempered by the stubborn pride of stiff-necked Secessionists, and softened by the whispers of Spanish-moss shawls draping from live oak trees.

Isabel often mixes up her theological metaphors: "Take heart, Sugah, the Lord always comes through and makes our lemons into lemonade."

When Eleanor resists praying to God for such a trivial thing as losing her walking cane, Isabel reminds her, "Not at all. Remembah, His eye is on the sparrah..."

Join us for a stroll through America, yesterday and today, where hearts are joined at Christmastime.

Susan F. Craft will offer a signed copy of Christmas Treasures to one commenter selected at random. Here is the link to Christmas Treasures on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Treasures-Collection-Short-Stories/dp/1503007901/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417561103&sr=1-1&keywords=Christmas+Treasures+anthology

From J. M. Hochstetler
One Holy Night

As on that night so long ago . . . in a world torn by sin and strife . . . to a family that has suffered heart-wrenching loss . . . there will be born a baby . . .

It’s 1967, and the Vietnam War is tearing the country apart, slicing through generations and shattering families. Because of Japanese atrocities he witnessed as a Marine in the South Pacific during WWII, Frank McRae despises all Asians. Now his son, Mike, is a grunt in Viet Nam, and his wife, Maggie, is fighting her own battle against cancer. 

When Mike falls in love with Thi Nhuong, a young Buddhist woman, and marries her in spite of his father’s objections, Frank disowns him. Then, as Christmas approaches, Frank’s world is torn apart, and he turns bitter, closing his heart to God and to his family.

But on this bleak Christmas Eve, God has in mind a miracle. As on that holy night so long ago, a baby will be born and laid in a manger—a baby who will bring forgiveness, healing, and peace to a family that has suffered heart-wrenching loss.

Christianbook | Amazon |B&N | iTunes

From Carla Olson Gade
Christmas stories that feature German and Dutch Christmas traditions.

 

Misteletoe Memories (ECPA Best seller)
’Tis the Season

Spend a heartfelt Christmas on Schooley’s Mountain as four generations make a house a home.(1820) Dutchman, Stephan Yost, resident carpenter of Schooley’s Mountain, New Jersey’s fashionable resort, spends off-season working on repairs, renovations, and constructing new buildings. When he is hired to build a permanent home for the resort's German physician and his spirited daughter, Annaliese Braun, in time for Christmas, Stephan finds himself enamored by the precocious spinster. But will he be able to compete for her affections against the advances of a manipulative iron baron?

Amazon: Paperback, Kindle only $1.99

A Cup of Christmas Cheer (2013)

Upon A Christmas Tree Schooner, A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Vol. 1 & 2 (Guideposts Books)

(1880) A ship’s captain takes his schooner upon icy Lake Michigan in his last haul of the season for Christmas trees for the German immigrants in his town.

Purchase directly from Guideposts BooksThe Memory Shop, A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Vol. 3 & 4 (Guideposts Books)
The proprietor of a Midwestern Main Street memorabilia shop finds his own cherished memories rekindled and relationships renewed at Christmastime.

Purchase directly from Guideposts Books

From Carrie Fancett Pagels
The Fruitcake Challenge, Book 3 in The Christmas Traditions Series

The Fruitcake Challenge by Carrie Fancett Pagels

(1890) Christmas set in a lumber camp outside of Mackinac City, Michigan. When new lumberjack, Tom Jeffries, tells the camp cook, Jo Christy, that he’ll marry her if she can make a fruitcake, “as good as the one my mother makes,” she rises to the occasion. After all, he’s the handsomest, smartest, and strongest axman her camp-boss father has ever had in his camp—and the cockiest. And she intends to bring this lumberjack down a notch or three by refusing his proposal. The fruitcake wars are on!

Snowed In, A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Vol. 1 & 2 (Guideposts Books)
(1945) WWII veteran helps make a special Christmas for his girlfriend and her little sisters. His grandma and uncle keep them in their log cabin as a blizzard sets in. Set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and inspired by Carrie's parents.

Giveaway: Pick either a set of the Guidepost Books or a paperback copy of The Fruitcake Challenge (or ebook of Carrie's new novella if preferred!) 

From Shannon McNear

A Pioneer Christmas Collection,  9 Stories of Finding Shelter and Love in a Wintry Frontier

Defending Truth
(Note from CFP: Shannon is too modest to mention that her story was a RITA finalist!!! A huge honor!)

On the frontier of western North Carolina, which will someday become east Tennessee, Truth Bledsoe keeps her family fed while her father is away fighting the British. When she discovers a half-starved, fugitive Tory, she’s not above feeding him, but to go past simple Christian charity to forgiveness seems impossible. To love would be unthinkable. 

Micah Elliot has fled capture after the massacre at King’s Mountain, heartsick, battle weary, and ashamed of the cowardice that sent him westward over the mountains instead of eastward to home. Groping his way through a crisis of faith, he must discover and embrace what might finally be worth laying his life down for.

Shannon will be offering one signed print copy to a commenter selected at random. (Print copies are harder to find, but e-books are still widely available.)

Christianbook | Amazon | DeeperShopping.com

From Elaine Marie Cooper, A Different Story for Christmas...
Bethany's Calendar

While Christmas is often a celebration of joy, it can be a bittersweet time for those experiencing loss.

Colonial Quill's Elaine Marie Cooper usually writes historical fiction, but her book release this December is the memoir of her daughter who passed away from a brain tumor 11 years ago. She felt prompted to write about her daughter's diagnosis and journey through cancer, as well as the numerous insights gleaned from the most painful trial of the author's life.

Bethany's Calendar tells the story of Elaine and Bethany's journey and the many ways God helped their family to survive. It is a story of fear and faith, commitment and compassion, told with gut-wrenching honesty while sharing unwavering faith in God.

It is a memoir written to help those who are caregivers, cancer patients and anyone who knows someone struggling with a serious illness. It is a story that offers hope and help to those who are traveling uncharted territory.

"One might expect a book about the death of a child to be overwhelmingly sad, but Bethany’s Calendar is so much more. It is also a story of a family’s faith and the visible ways that they experienced God’s provision, power, and presence during and after this very difficult time in their lives." — CQ's Janet Grunst

Elaine will be offering a signed copy of Bethany's Calendar to one commenter who expresses a desire to read this memoir. 

Elaine's Website   You can order Bethany's Calendar  here 

 OUR CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAYS!!

We are celebrating at this tea party by giving away a digital copy of A Christmas Promise by Tamera Lynn Kraft along with a Schoenbrunn pewter ornament and a Schoenbrunn pouch to keep you valuables in.


Carla Olson Gade is also giving away a set of A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Vol. 3 & 4, featuring her story "The Memory Shop" to one winner. To another winner, a copy of Mistletoe Memories  with a pair of Dutch wooden shoes Christmas ornament.


To enter please leave a comment about your favorite part of the Christmas season or let us know if you have any ethnic Christmas traditions that you follow?

Please be sure to watch for replies to your comments as we always enjoy lively conversations at our tea parties!