Sometimes it’s difficult to show others how much we care. Our children are so busy. Our family is sometimes spread out across the country. And our friends are often trying to go a dozen directions at once. What’s a person to do?

I suppose we could shrug our shoulders and say “It’s too hard.” Or we could do what Paul admonished us to do: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

In my story, A Wedding for Julia, my main character finds herself in despair after the death of her father. Not only are she and her mother alone now, but it seems that the dreams she has held so close will never come true. How can they? But what is impossible with man is possible with God, and soon Julia finds her life radically changing as she marries, then opens her new restaurant, and eventually faces one of the worst natural disasters in Wisconsin history. How does she find her way through? How does she help those she has grown to love so dearly?

She prays. Oh, I don’t mean she stops cooking or cleaning or gardening. No, she continues doing all of the things that she’s always done, but she does it with an attitude of prayer. She prays for her husband, her mother, and her community. She prays for strangers who are caught in the storm’s path. She prays for herself, that she might have the strength and wisdom needed.

When my family has problems, my first instinct is to fix them! I want to come up with solutions, lay out a battle plan, and turn things around. But is that the best course? Or should I pause and pray? While I write and clean and attend to my daily chores, should I petition God? When someone near me is hurting, can I trust them to God’s care?

We know what the Bible says to do, and maybe with time—and practice—we can learn to do that very thing. We can begin to “pray without ceasing.” And together, we can invite our heavenly Father into our midst, where He can direct our paths.

Blessings!

***

Vannetta Chapman has published more than 100 articles in Christian family magazines. She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather’s birthplace in Albion, Pennsylvania. Vannetta is a multi-award-winning member of Romance Writers of America. She was a teacher for 15 years and currently resides in the Texas Hill country. Her first two inspirational novels—A Simple Amish Christmas and Falling to Pieces—were Christian Book Distributors bestsellers.

Filed under: Amish Fiction, Devotions, Vannetta Chapman by Amber | AmishReader.com
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We’ve made it to the second month of 2015! And with this new month comes some brand-new Amish/Mennonite books from Harvest House Publishers for your reading pleasure.

Which one(s) are you most excited to read?

New Amish Fiction

The Amish Clockmaker (Book 3 in The Men of Lancaster County series)

Purchase your copy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com

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Miriam’s Secret (Book 1 in the Land of Promise series)

Purchase your copy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com

 New Mennonite Children’s Books

When School Bells Call (Book 3 in the Farm Life series)

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com

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Autumn Days (Book 4 in the Farm Life series)

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com

New Amish Nonfiction

The Amish Book of Prayers for Women

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com

(P.S. Don’t forget that you can enter to win a copy of The Amish Book of Prayers for Women by clicking HERE and leaving a comment on that post! Winner to be announced February 13th.)

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Our Amish Values

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com

Filed under: Amish Fiction, Elva Hurst, Esther Stoll, Jerry Eicher, Lester Beachy, Mindy Starns Clark, Monthly Gathering, News, Susan Meissner by Amber | AmishReader.com
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The Amish Book of Prayers for Women by Esther Stoll (February 2015)

Part of the Plain Living Series

(Other Plain Living books releasing this year: Our Amish Values, The Authentic Amish Cookbook, My Life as An Amish Wife)

About the Book:

Everyone’s prayer closet could use a cool breath of fresh air once in a while. Whether you need to talk with God about your joys or your sorrows, simple pleasures or heartrending pain, you’ll find new inspiration in these brief prayers from the heart of a young Amish wife and mother. They touch on topics from parenting and household responsibilities to personal character and the wonderful attributes of God.

Simple, direct, and brimming with heartfelt devotion—qualities long admired in the Plain people—these prayer starters will calm your heart, guide your thoughts, and lead you into a peaceful sense of God’s presence.

Purchase the Book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com

About the Author:

Esther Stoll and her husband, Philip, are parents of two children and members of the Old Order Amish Church. Esther deeply enjoys her role of homemaking and taking care of her family.

Sample Prayers:

Dear Father in Heaven, thank You for giving me sweet rest. As I kneel each morning and give the new day into Your hands, I feel so free, so light. As I go about my day knowing that You will fight, I rest—all I need to do is work and trust. I know that being at rest in You is one of the greatest gifts I can offer my children. Amen.

Dear Father: As I rock the cradle of our little ones, may it be a fruitful experience because of   You. As our children grow older, may they have a true desire to live a life of denying self, the world, and its lusts. May the children find it easy to follow us as we follow You. Amen.

Giveaway!

Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win a hardcover (padded) copy of this beautiful little book!

Fine print: Giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only, and participants must be 18 years old or older to enter. A winner will be randomly selected and emailed on Friday, February 13th. This giveaway is in no way sponsored by or affiliated with Facebook, WordPress, or Twitter.

Note: To celebrate this new release, we’re featuring an inspirational theme for the blog in February. Be sure to visit throughout the month to read devotional posts by some of your favorite Amish fiction authors!

Filed under: Esther Stoll by Amber | AmishReader.com
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On Tuesday our Facebook fans were asked to vote for the recipe they’d prefer out of three options. With the release of the first book in a new series by Jerry Eicher in February, this month’s recipe options featured characters/stories from some of Jerry’s other series:

1. Aunt Betty’s Country-Fried Venison (from A Hope for Hannah)
2. Ella’s Beef Casserole (from A Wedding Quilt for Ella)
3. Rebecca’s Oatmeal Pancake Mix (from Rebecca’s Promise)

And the winner is…Ella’s Beef Casserole! Sounds like a hearty dish for a potluck or big family dinner, don’t you think?

You can find the casserole recipe (taken from The Amish Family Cookbook by Jerry & Tina Eicher) on our Facebook or Pinterest pages.

And don’t forget that Miriam’s Secret, the first in the “Land of Promise” series, is releasing in a little over a week!

Which book/series by Jerry Eicher is your favorite? 

Filed under: Jerry Eicher, Meats/Main Dishes, Recipes by Amber | AmishReader.com
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The “Clockmaker Countdown” continues, with only 12 more days until the official release of The Amish Clockmaker, Book 3 in The Men of Lancaster County series by Mindy Starns Clark and Susan Meissner.

(But if you just can’t wait to get your hands on the book, it’s currently in stock at Amazon and Christianbook.com!)

In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview to introduce you to the mystery. This is from Part 1 of the book, which takes place in present day and is told from the point of view of the current owner of the clock shop (now a tack and feed store). Enjoy!

***

“Since when do Amish refuse to help other Amish?” I asked as I banged the dust from the pan into the trash bin. “We are always there for one another.”

Amanda let me rant, perhaps sensing I needed to get the frustration and worry out of my system. When I was finished, she didn’t even try to say anything to cheer me up, for which I was grateful. She must have caught on to how dire our situation was growing and knew that mere words would not encourage me now.

After she finished closing out the register, we carried the money to the back room to put it in the safe.

“What’s that?” she asked, looking toward the area that had been partially dismantled when we’d broken down the old bathroom on Wednesday. Glancing over, I realized she was talking about an ancient coal hamper that our work had uncovered. Unused for I didn’t know how many decades, it had been built into the far wall of the original structure and later covered over with plaster.

“Do you know?” she prodded, stepping toward it to get a closer look.

“Ya, that’s an old coal bin,” I explained as I finished locking away the cash. “Which means this building must have used coal heat at some point in the past.”

Located at about knee level, the bin’s metal door was flush to the wall and had been designed to work in tandem with a similar door on the exterior, where the coal would have been dumped into it from the outside. That door was long gone and bricked over, but this one had been made accessible again the other day when we’d broken away some of the wall’s plaster. Amanda leaned down to study it now, and then she gripped the handle and gave it a tug.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I said in warning. “You might end up in a cloud of coal dust.”

But it was too late. She’d pulled it open and was already peering inside.

“No dust,” she said, her voiced echoing against the metal of the bin. “It’s perfectly clean, as a matter of fact. But come look, Matthew. There’s something else in here.”

Skeptical, I joined her and peered down into the hamper. Sure enough, there was something at the back, wrapped in what looked like blue cloth. I reached into the hamper and pulled the bundle gently from its tomb-like niche, hoping it wouldn’t disintegrate at my touch. But the space felt cool and dry, and I was able to easily lift the item from its hiding place. The cloth was soft to the touch, with hand-stitching around the edges, though whatever it encased seemed heavy and hard. I laid the package on a nearby table. Together, Amanda and I peeled back the corners of the blanket.

Inside was a clock, an intricately carved but very dusty mantel clock. For a moment, we just stared at it. It sat on an equally finely carved pedestal, and even though the cabinet was discolored and covered in dust and cobwebs, and the glass over the face of the clock was cloudy, I could see that it had been beautiful and quite fancy in its day.

It was definitely not an Amish clock, but I had a pretty good idea which Amish man had made it.

For a long moment, Amanda and I stood in silence, taking in this unexpected sight.

“Why in the world was a thing this beautiful shoved into a coal bin?” she asked.

My thoughts exactly. “I don’t know. Maybe Clayton or his father used the old bin for storage once the shop converted over to another source of heat.”

Amanda took the clock and studied it more closely, looked in the bin again, and said, “I don’t think it was put there for storage. I think someone was using the coal bin as a hiding place, someone who didn’t want this clock to be found.”

***

Excerpted from The Amish Clockmaker by Mindy Starns Clark and Susan Meissner

Intrigued? If you haven’t read the book yet, what would you guess is the reason why the clock was hidden in the coal bin?

Filed under: Amish Fiction, Mindy Starns Clark, Susan Meissner by Amber | AmishReader.com
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Godliness with contentment is great gain.
1 ᴛɪᴍᴏᴛʜʏ 6:6

With 2015 just beginning, it’s the perfect time to make resolutions and commit to positive change for the coming year. Now, I’m not going to suggest that you buy a gym membership or drastically change your diet and eat nothing but raw vegetables. And I’m certainly not going to give you a list of “20 Ways to Do More in Less Time.” Those kinds of resolutions often fall by the wayside, and then we are left feeling stressed by the seeming failure and resentful that we couldn’t make those lofty new goals stick.

What I’d like to suggest instead is that you and your family embark on a simpler lifestyle—however you choose to define that. Because who of us wouldn’t want to slow down and really savor each moment instead of feeling the need to continually rush around in order to get it all done?

Reasons for Living a Simple Life

• Getting Our Priorities in Order. If we were to list the most important things in life, it’s doubtful that material possessions would top that list. Instead, we would probably list intangibles like “more time with my family,” “a meaningful ministry,” or even “regular, guilt-free time for myself.” By prioritizing, we will have the ability to fashion the kind of satisfying life that addresses what’s important to us and gives us a sense of purpose.

• Encouraging Family Life—The Gift of Time. Give your family the best of what you have to offer in terms of time and energy, and develop good relationships with those around you. You can accrue wonderful memories over the years as a result of simple, everyday activities. Remember: Each day has the potential and power to be memorable and special. When we free up time in our day to be with our family, we get to fill those hours with whatever sparks our individual and collective interests. Work together. Play together. Worship together. Time is precious!

• Reduce Stress—Spend Less. First Timothy 6:10 tells us that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” When we choose to eschew some of life’s extravagances, we’ll find some of our stress melting away. We won’t spend as much time fretting about making ends meet because our ends are closer together. And deciding to live with less stuff also means those possessions won’t be demanding our constant attention to use it, clean it, maintain it, or pay for it. Relief!

• Stewardship. When we satisfy every whim and desire, that abundance makes it easy to forget that all we have comes from God’s hand. We run the risk of believing that it’s our hands that have provided our abundance. But the Bible tells us otherwise: “The Lᴏʀᴅ sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts” (1 Samuel 2:7). Psalm 24:1 states, “The earth is the Lᴏʀᴅ’s, and everything in it.” So as we manage our households, we’re really managing what belongs to the Lord. Now, if what we produce is really God’s, then it stands to reason that we can be generous with His supply and give freely and joyfully to those in need. After all, it’s not as if God will ever run short. Our task is to be good stewards of His stores, sharing with those in need and being grateful for what we are blessed to have.

• Spiritual Blessings. As we go about the business of daily living, we can develop contemplative spirits because we notice again and again the providential hand of God. We can draw close to Him wherever and however we choose to live. Remember that “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). Joy is sure to follow!

Want to learn more about embracing a simple life? Check out What the Amish Can Teach Us About the Simple Life: Homespun Hints for Family Gatherings, Spending Less, and Sharing Your Bounty.

Georgia Varozza, author of the popular Homestyle Amish Kitchen Cookbook (nearly 60,000 copies sold), enjoys teaching people how to prepare and preserve healthy foods, live simply, and get the most from what they have. She works in publishing and lives in a small Oregon community. Visit her online at www.georgiaplainandsimple.blogspot.com.

Filed under: Georgia Varozza by Amber | AmishReader.com
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I love all the talk about New Year’s resolutions. So often, we address this subject like a visit to the dentist (no offense to you dentists out there). But what if we had a different attitude? What if we looked at the new year—and resolutions—as a chance to start on a clean slate?

In my story, A Promise for Miriam, Gabe would understand new beginnings and resolutions very well. Following the death of his wife, he buys land in Wisconsin—hoping for a new beginning and a more peaceful life. When he arrives, he finds the farm he bought is dilapidated, the fields unkempt, and the community too friendly. It’s NOT the new start he had envisioned.

That’s happened to me before on resolutions. Often when I write something down in my journal, it makes perfect sense. But then when I attempt to follow through, things don’t work out like I had planned at all. Over the years, I’ve learned that instead of trashing my resolution, sometimes I need to adjust it a bit. After all, a resolution is an intention. It’s something that we’re dedicating ourselves to doing. Changing the plan doesn’t mean we’ve failed—it means we’ve understood what we need to do to succeed.

Gabe does succeed in his new community, but first God has to grow him spiritually and emotionally. Gabe is forced to become an active part of the community that he would rather have remained anonymous in. Through the troubles that come, he finds himself in relationships that he would have avoided. And as he faces his darkest hour, he finds himself crying out to God for mercy and grace.

Most of us can understand those things. Life is hard sometimes. It can be heartbreaking. And during my darkest hour, I’ve found myself crying out to God for mercy and grace.

What will this year contain? I can’t possibly know. God knows. He’s all-knowing, and there isn’t a thing that is going to happen in 2015 that will surprise Him. I can rest easy in that knowledge. And I can go through the days of January and beyond boldly, because I am certain, without a doubt, that I will be cloaked in His mercy and grace.

Remember that is true for you, as well.

Happy New Year!

Vannetta Chapman has published more than 100 articles in Christian family magazines. She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather’s birthplace in Albion, Pennsylvania. Vannetta is a multi-award-winning member of Romance Writers of America. She was a teacher for 15 years and currently resides in the Texas Hill country. Her first two inspirational novels—A Simple Amish Christmas and Falling to Pieces—were Christian Book Distributors bestsellers.

Filed under: Amish Fiction, Vannetta Chapman by Amber | AmishReader.com
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We’re celebrating a sweet and simple Christmas here at AmishReader.com with a series of fun author interviews! Join some of your favorite Amish authors as they share happy reminiscences of Christmases past, interesting information on the Amish approach to the holiday, and fascinating lists of Christmas/book favorites. Find a cozy place by the fire or looking out on the wintry weather, prepare a mug of hot chocolate, and enjoy Part 3 of this special 3-part interview…

Featured Books:

• Christmas at Pebble Creek by Vannetta Chapman (FREE short story ebook)
• Sarah’s Christmas Miracle by Mary Ellis ($3.99 in ebook format through 1/6/2015)
• An Amish Family Christmas by Murray Pura ($3.99 in ebook format through 1/6/2015)

Welcome back, Vannetta, Mary, and Murray! Today, we’d like to know which one you’d choose out of two Christmas-themed options…

1. White Christmas or a sunny holiday?

• Vannetta: Well, I live in Texas so I usually have SUNNY, but I wouldn’t mind WHITE.

• Mary: Since I’ve lived in northern Ohio my whole life, I would pick a sunny holiday. I believe I’ve only had one once or twice!!

• Murray: White Christmas with tall evergreens and mountains.

Mary Ellis preparing for a draft-horse-drawn sleigh ride in Ohio’s Amish country

2. Riding in a horse-drawn sleigh or sledding downhill?

• Vannetta: Sleigh. Definitely sleigh.

• Mary: Definitely a horse-drawn sleigh. I’ve only done this once, but I loved it! I get too cold and wet while sledding.

• Murray: A sleigh ride is Christmas magic.

3. Lots of presents or one meaningful gift?

• Vannetta: One gift.

• Mary: Lots of small, inexpensive, practical gifts like socks, tablets, pens, or candy. I love opening presents.

• Murray: Too many gifts spoil the event. So a sock and one meaningful gift.

4. Big family dinner or a nice restaurant?

• Vannetta: Big family dinner – that way the dog is allowed to come.

• Mary: If we can get away, then a big dinner with out-of-town family in Kentucky or Texas.

• Murray: Family dinner for sure. There’s nothing like relaxing at home instead of not-really-relaxing at a restaurant.

Mary Ellis’s barn in the winter

5. Home for Christmas or traveling elsewhere?

• Vannetta: Home. I like to be snuggled on the couch with a fire blazing, my dog lying next to me, and holding a good book with everyone around me doing the same.

• Mary: Usually we travel for both Easter and Thanksgiving, so we’re home just the two of us for Christmas.

• Murray: Home is where the people are so if it means travel, fine, so long as road conditions or sky conditions permit, and the trip itself can be a happy part of the celebration, not a huge stress.

Thank you Vannetta, Mary, and Murray for joining us this week and helping us to celebrate Christmas here on AmishReader.com!

Giveaway!

Amish readers, share your choices for all 5 of the either/or scenarios (listed above) in the comments section to enter to win a paperback copy of An Amish Family Christmas by Murray Pura!

Fine print: Giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only, and participants must be 18 years old or older to enter. A winner will be randomly selected and emailed on Friday, December 26th. This giveaway is in no way sponsored by or affiliated with Facebook, WordPress, or Twitter.

Filed under: Amish Fiction, Authors, Mary Ellis, Murray Pura, Vannetta Chapman by Amber | AmishReader.com
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We’re celebrating a sweet and simple Christmas here at AmishReader.com with a series of fun author interviews! Join some of your favorite Amish authors as they share happy reminiscences of Christmases past, interesting information on the Amish approach to the holiday, and fascinating lists of Christmas/book favorites. Find a cozy place by the fire or looking out on the wintry weather, prepare a mug of hot chocolate, and enjoy Part 2 of this special 3-part interview…

(Mary Ellis is pictured left)

Featured Books:

• Christmas at Pebble Creek by Vannetta Chapman (FREE short story ebook)
• Sarah’s Christmas Miracle by Mary Ellis ($3.99 in ebook format through 1/6/2015)
• An Amish Family Christmas by Murray Pura ($3.99 in ebook format through 1/6/2015)

Welcome back, Vannetta, Mary, and Murray! Today, we’re talking favorites.

Please name your favorite…

Amish Christmas recipe

• Vannetta: A yellow cake with homemade chocolate icing.

• Mary: My favorite Amish recipe is the Christmas cake recipe in the back of Sarah’s Christmas Miracle. It contains a pound of butter, a cup of yellow raisins, and 3 cups of chopped pecans. What’s not to like?

• Murray: Oh, I have one that can turn Christmas upside down it’s so good: a 30-day Amish Friendship Cake that includes pecans, walnuts, coconut, peaches, pineapple, cherries, raisins, vanilla, and brandy. Once the 30 days of preparation are completed, and the cake is finally baked to a golden brown, any Amish within a hundred miles will be knocking at your door and asking for a slice, bitte. The recipe is too long to include here, but if you write me via Harvest House I can provide it. Mind you, it will have to be for a late-January cake at this point, but that’s all right; it will help you beat the post-Christmas blues and the long winter doldrums.

Character in your story

• Vannetta: Grace.

• Mary: My heroine, Sarah, is my favorite. She’s complex and confused, as we all are at times, but she’s kind and has a heart for Jesus.

• Murray: Micah, the young man who is estranged from the Amish community after returning from a tour of duty as a medic in Afghanistan. He keeps his cool, fosters love, submits to the shunning, and is ready to help and bless the community despite the harshness of his situation.

Christmas tradition

• Vannetta: Opening one gift with our children on Christmas Eve.

• Mary: Traveling to downtown Cleveland to see the lights and attend services at the Old Stone Church on Public Square. I go with my husband now that my mom is gone.

• Murray: The Christmas Eve Box. Into it goes a selection of gifts that may be opened Christmas Eve. There are beverages to drink and the glasses to drink from; things to eat like specialty cheese and crackers and cold cuts, as well as a cutting board to prepare food on; a Bible and a book to read out loud. Everything you want to eat or drink or do on Christmas Eve is sealed in a beautiful box – either a decorated cardboard one or, in our case, an attractive chest handmade from knotty pine.

Element of your cover

• Vannetta: I love the green bow on the cover! The book looks like it’s been gift-wrapped!

• Mary: I love the model selected to be my Sarah. She’s so sweet and earnest looking.

• Murray: I love the use of burgundy and black on the cover; it’s a very pleasant color mix, in particular the young woman’s black cape contrasting with her maroon or burgundy dress.

Line from your story

• Vannetta: “Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we’d all ridden together, if the buggy I was in had turned left instead of right. But as mamm says, it’s best not to wonder over what-if’s. We did turn right as the sun was slipping toward the horizon, and my life was never the same.”

• Mary: “Sometimes a person didn’t appreciate the goodness the Lord has bestowed until it was almost gone.”

• Murray: “My Lord, so much has changed for the better, and yet for the great change to come so much had to be lost—our pride, our hardness of heart, our tradition, our unwillingness to bend, our reluctance to think something we did not understand could be from you. It has not been easy. It has not been without pain. But neither has it been without its own special glory. And it has been your doing.”

Join us tomorrow (December 18th) for Part 3 of this interview with Vannetta, Mary, and Murray, as we talk about some either/or scenarios!

Filed under: Amish Fiction, Authors, Mary Ellis, Murray Pura, Vannetta Chapman by Amber | AmishReader.com
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We’re celebrating a sweet and simple Christmas here at AmishReader.com with a series of fun author interviews! Join some of your favorite Amish authors as they share happy reminiscences of Christmases past, interesting thoughts on the Amish approach to the holiday, and fascinating lists of Christmas/book favorites. Find a cozy place by the fire or looking out on the wintry weather, prepare a mug of hot chocolate, and enjoy Part 1 of this special 3-part interview…

Featured Books:

• Christmas at Pebble Creek by Vannetta Chapman (FREE short story ebook)
• Sarah’s Christmas Miracle by Mary Ellis ($3.99 in ebook format through 1/6/2015)
• An Amish Family Christmas by Murray Pura ($3.99 in ebook format through 1/6/2015)

AmishReader: Welcome, Vannetta, Mary, and Murray! Wonderful to have you here with us this week before Christmas. Tell us, what did you find most challenging about writing a story set during the Christmas season? Most fun?

• Vannetta: I live in Texas – so sometimes it’s hard to remember exactly what all of that snow and cold weather feels like. Christmas at Pebble Creek is set in Wisconsin, and they certainly have their share of winter weather. I did spend three years as a child living in Connecticut, so it was fun to pull out those pictures, look at the snow and mittens and sleds, and remember.

• Mary: The Old Order Amish celebrate the holiday differently than us, and not all districts celebrate the same way. I had the responsibility to “get it right,” at least for my specific community. The essence of the holiday season makes it fun, no matter what your denomination.

• Murray: You have to write the story well before Christmas occurs, so getting in a “Christmas mood,” and writing in that mood for several weeks and months, isn’t always easy. On the other hand, the process fixes your mind on a time of year that is normally quite pleasant, so it becomes a series of “feel good” writing sessions for the most part.

Amish schoolroom in Wisconsin (Courtesy of Vannetta Chapman)

 AmishReader: Please share one of your favorite Christmas memories. Did it have any bearing on your story?

• Vannetta: The story opens with Grace (the little girl from A Promise for Miriam) grown and now teaching school—they’ve just had the Christmas program and are about to have a short Christmas break. I have many good memories of Christmas from my childhood, but this story brought back memories from my teaching days. I loved teaching, and I especially liked the anticipation and fun during the days preceding Christmas break. I would read stories to my high school students—maybe O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi or Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Most students have seen cartoon renditions of these classics, but when they read the original story they understand why they became a classic. Some of my favorite Christmas memories are of sitting in a classroom, with 30 students around me, hanging on to every word I read and not wanting to leave when the bell rang. We had a lot of fun with snacks and decorations too! I try to put this love for teaching and reading into my stories.

• Mary: One of my favorite memories is riding the bus with my mom downtown to see the beautiful lights and displays on Cleveland’s Public Square. We couldn’t afford to shop in the fancy department stores, but we would ride the escalator to see the decorations on every floor. My Amish character, Sarah, takes a trip to Cleveland from Winesburg and experiences what I did as a child.

• Murray: I used to love to sit in the dark and look at the tree when it was all lit up. We had random blinking lights on the tree as well and, as a boy, I never got tired of watching them. However an Amish Christmas celebration is a different affair in many respects so my fondness for gazing at the tree in the dark never made it into my story.

Vannetta, Shelley, and Amy in Shipshewana

AmishReader: Have you ever visited Amish country during the holidays? What do you especially love about how the Amish celebrate Christmas?

• Vannetta: I have! I had the pleasure of being asked to lead the Christmas parade in Shipshewana, Indiana with Shelley Shephard Gray and Amy Clipston. That was a very special experience. We were put in a sleigh with beautiful horses, a lighted harness, and a warm blanket across our laps. It felt like we were in a fairy tale!

• Mary: I have visited Holmes and Wayne Counties in Ohio, several times during the holidays. I love how they concentrate on friends, family, and most of all, the Lord during this holy season. Englischers put too much importance on the commercial aspect of the season.

• Murray: I have not been in Amish country during the holidays – though Amish country has greatly expanded over the last decade and now there are five locations in nearby Montana – but I have read quite a bit about it. I would have to say I most admire the simplicity of their celebration and the absence of mass commercialization. Their Christmas is very worship-centered and family-centered.

Join us tomorrow (December 17th) for Part 2 of this interview with Vannetta, Mary, and Murray, as we talk about more Christmas favorites!

Filed under: Amish Fiction, Authors, Mary Ellis, Murray Pura, Vannetta Chapman by Amber | AmishReader.com
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