THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 21, 1994 TAG: 9412200121
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
For years, I've said that someday, during this hectic time of year, I'll rent a remote cabin somewhere in the mountains, cut a tree from the land, decorate it with pine cones and bird feathers and feast on Christmas Day on wild berries and whatever else Mother Nature sees fit to provide.
And anyone who wants to come to my Christmas party can give only presents they've made. Or maybe something, perhaps, that they already have and genuinely want to give to somebody else so that person can enjoy it for a while. Gifts from the heart.
I know I'm not alone in my desire to get away from the commercialized version of this holiday season. But in one way now, I'm different.
For just a little while, through the eyes of fourth-graders at Hardy Elementary School and through the eyes of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of ``Little House in the Big Woods,'' I saw a simpler life.
The children started reading the book earlier this year, teacher Donna Fontaine said, and a variety of class projects revolved around it. The students got geography lessons from trying to find out where exactly the Ingalls family lived - somewhere in Wisconsin - and where they moved when they left the big woods and settled on the prairie.
It was either Independence, Mo., or Independence, Kan., Fontaine said.
The location was hard to determine since the book talked about crossing the Kansas border and hostile Indians, but it mentioned only ``Independence,'' and there is a city by that name in both states.
As they read the book, Fontaine said, they talked about what it might have been like during a time when you had to make your own clothing, candles and butter.
From all of the activities, a suggestion eventually evolved that the class wrap its holiday party around the story and serve the foods that Laura and her family may have enjoyed during the holidays.
Last Friday morning, the students in Fontaine's class saw the movie, ``Little House on the Prairie,'' preparing for the afternoon party. Notes had already been sent home to parents, asking for help with goodies like gingerbread, sugar cookies, pound cake and homemade bread.
Fontaine's husband contributed venison stew from one of his recent hunts. And there was even a chance the children would get to try bear meat, one of Laura's favorites.
Michael Wilda, a student in the class, had one of his neighbors on alert when he heard that the man was going bear hunting in the mountains.
``They killed a bear,'' Michael said about his neighbor's hunt. ``But by the time they dragged it down the mountain, it was getting so late that my neighbor had to get home.''
No bear meat this year, but Michael said maybe he'd get to try it another time. And he told me about one scene in the book where Pa discovered a bear killing one of his neighbor's pigs. Pa shot the bear, Michael said, took it home, and the family feasted.
Allison Echols, who was dressed for the occasion like Laura may have been dressed, told me that the family left the big woods because there were so many people moving in. Pa was afraid that he would no longer be able to find enough game for the family to eat.
Katie Horner said her favorite part of the book was when Pa was in a tree waiting for a deer. The deer showed up, she said, but Pa was so touched by the beauty of the animal that he couldn't shoot it.
Katie probably didn't eat the venison stew.
In addition to bear meat, little Laura also liked turkey - wild turkey, Emily Anderson told me. She liked the drumstick best.
The Ingallses, the youngster said, had no Christmas tree because it would have taken up too much space in the tiny house. And besides, they had nothing with which to decorate it.
The children in the family hung stockings, but they got only a few little things - peppermint sticks, mittens and oranges.
The one Christmas the author wrote about in the book was the year that Laura got the biggest present, a rag doll. It was her turn for the present that year. Her older sister, Mary, already had a doll. But until then Laura had only a corncob that she wrapped in a handkerchief.
Laura named the doll Charlotte, Virginia Credle told me.
For most of the students at Hardy this year, it is Christmas 1994. But Fontaine's students experienced a Christmas of long ago.
Thanks to a lot of helpful parents, the children ate the stew, molasses cookies, pound cake, homemade bread, apple butter, jelly, cornmeal muffins, gingerbread. The list goes on.
And they talked about how it may have been at Christmas on the frontier during the time Laura lived.
Fontaine even managed to find ``The Little House Cookbook'' by Barbara Walter to give the parents some baking tips.
``In her books, Laura describes everything,'' Fontaine said. ``Life wasn't that simple. The cheese making, collecting of maple syrup. We discussed how we live today and how the children lived then.''
And the kids got a taste of what Christmas may have been like when there were no malls, no Santas, no video games. Surely, some of them, like me, must have longed for a time when the hustle and bustle wasn't anything like it is today.
It was a nice party. I learned a lot. Peace and joy to all. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Bradley White, dressed in bib overalls, serves cornmeal muffins to
Allison Echols, who is wearing her Laura Ingalls Wilder outfit.
by CNB