Rural Route Bookstore

Books about Farm Life, Small Town Life, the Midwest, and Scandinavian-Americans

Featuring the Heartwarming Humor of "Those Lutheran Ladies"

Christmas

For more Christmas items, also check out the books and CDs with a next to them in the Children's, Cookbooks, and Music / Video categories.

Swedish Christmas Crafts by Helene S. Lundberg

Lundberg, a talented woman in Sweden, has published numerous books about Swedish crafts, decorating and entertaining. In this recently released book, translated by Annika S. Hipple, Lundberg lists necessary materials, step-by-step directions, 90 full-page colored pictures, and patterns for projects that incorporate traditional crafts from her homeland with design aspects of contemporary Scandinavia: minimalism, functionalism, and inexpensive materials.

Along with Christmas cards and tree ornaments, Lundberg includes patterns for Advent and beaded-tree candle holders, decorations for tabletops and windows, and shares ways to make just about any room in the house more festive using paper, easy-to-find supplies, and the favorite items of Scandinavians: offerings from nature that transform the common into the beautiful. At this price, this book might be the bargain of the season.

CR - 6 Hardcover $14.95

Christmas Remembered   by Ben Logan Two copies remaining; no plans to reprint

As one of my (Suzann Nelson) longtime favorite holiday books, I have recommended this book to Rural Route customers for several years.

Last year I realized this endearing narrative, which combines the importance of nature and the environment on family life, might soon be out-of-print because it was getting hard to find. I bought up as many as I could! Well, it saddens me to tell you that what I had feared has happened. This uplifting book about the Christmas holidays in the 20's and 30's in Southwestern Wisconsin and the impact of surroundings is no longer available from distributors. I am glad I trusted my female intuition and bought as many as I could find last year. At this point we only have three left. Again, as I seem to be stating more and more often, just like lutefisk suppers -- First Come, First Served!

"To keep Christmas safe from careless change and the tarnish of forgetting, I must keep remembering to remember." Award-winning Author Ben Logan

CR - 1 Hardcover $16.95

Christmas in Minnesota   Marilyn Ziebarth & Brian Horrigan, editors

Christmas in Minnesota evokes memories of holidays past: a communal feast in the 1870s, holiday pageants accompanied by stage-fright, forgiving and reconnecting with relatives, the torture of writing the perfect annual Christmas letter, to a drummer boy in the Civil War who lifts other soldiers' spirits with a spontaneous holiday celebration. The fifty short stories are accompanied by vintage recipes, old advertisements and cartoons, and black and white photos including holiday decorations of years gone by.

Over 45 Minnesota authors, covering 150 years of the state's history, demonstrate the spirit of Yuletide cheer in Minnesota — in good and in tough times. This anthology, subtitled "a celebration in memories, stories, and recipes of seasons past", was co-edited by Marilyn Ziebarth (editor at at Historical Society Press) and Brian Horrigan (award-winning author and developer of exhibits at the Minnesota Historical Society). Their titles and access to information strengthen the accuracy of this treasured book.

Christmas in Minnesota would make a wonderful holiday gift for those with a Minnesota connection, or for those who wish they had one.

CR - 2 Hardcover    $24.95



Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land
                                         by Kathleen Stokker

In the last 100 years, Christmas was a warm and regenerative family holiday for many Norwegian-Americans. It was celebrated with family feasts of lutefisk, lefse, rømmegrøt, fattigmann and fruktsuppe. Trees in such homes were decorated with straw ornaments, flags, and heart-shaped baskets.To ensure good luck in the coming year, the hidden nisser in the barn were fed porridge. However, as time passed and families move farther apart, many of these traditions are being lost, but not really forgotten.

For those who want to recapture the Norwegian-American Christmases of the past but can't remember some customs or recipes, this book by Kathleen Stokker, professor of Norwegian at Luther College in Decorah, IA, is an important tool to help pass on family traditions. Detailed with historical facts and tracing the commercial emphases in both Norway and America, and with accounts of ancient and modern Christmases, photographs and recipes, Keeping Christmas reminds Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans of their connections to each other, but also explains how the celebrations in both countries differ.

Does anyone else remember julebukking?

CR - 3 Paperback   $19.95

Christmas in the Trenches    by John McCutcheon

"And suddenly in two tongues one song filled the night sky."

John McCutcheon, nominated for six Grammy Awardss, has been called "America's balladeer" and has been described as a cross between either Pete Seeger and Mr. Rogers, or a mixture of Will Rogers and Bruce Springsteen. In addition to kudos for his music, McCutcheon has won multiple Parent’s Choice and American Library Association awards for his writing, and numerous awards from educational groups for this particular book — geared to all ages.

Along with historically appropriate artistic illustrations (illustrated in beautiful, yet fittingly faded-appearing art by Henri Sørensen, Danish illustrator of many books), recipients of this book will receive the best of two of McCutcheon's talents: his touching story about a Christmas Eve truce instigated by the soldiers who were in mud-soaked trenches 100 feet apart — a place called No Man's Land on the battlefields of Belgium, and an accompanying CD reading of this thought-provoking story that also features two of McCutcheon's songs. The book also has the sheet music for his song, "Christmas in the Trenches."

The narrator ends the story with "...all too soon the dawn reminded us it was time to get back to our own sides. Back to the trenches. Back to the waiting."

CR - 4 Hardcover with CD $18.95

Gift Certificate!

Check the different categories at Rural Route Bookstore for gift ideas. If you still can't decide, why not order a gift certificate from Rural Route Bookstore. Just make sure you include the amount when you place your order online.

Order by using the 'Place an Order' form or you may order by phone (800 494-9124). For payment and shipping charges, see 'Place an Order.'

All Caragana Press products are available at wholesale prices to qualified retailers, organizations, churches, schools, and libraries. Call 800 494-9124 for details.

Scandinavian-American and Rural Humor Books