Wanda E. Brunstetter (11 page)

“Open the locket,” he prompted.

She did—and soon discovered there was a picture of Amy on one side and a picture of Dan on the other.

“I’m in love with you, Bev,” Dan said, as he leaned over and kissed her.

Bev’s eyes filled with tears, and at first she could only nod in reply. When she finally found her voice, she whispered, “I love you, too.”

Amy grinned from ear to ear then handed Dan a large gift wrapped in green paper. “Here, Uncle Dan. This is for you, from me and Mommy.”

Dan tore open the wrapping and lifted a brown teddy bear from the box. It had new eyes, patched paws, a pretty blue ribbon around its neck, and a sign on the front of its stomach that read: I
AM
T
WICE
L
OVED
.

He tipped his head in question, and Bev smiled in response. “It was Amy’s idea.”

Dan gave Amy a hug then lifted Bev’s chin with his thumb. He kissed her once more and murmured, “I believe God brought the three of us together, and just like this bear and the quilt I gave Amy, we have been twice loved.”

“This is the Christmas that a war-weary world has prayed for through long and awful years. With peace come joy and gladness. The gloom of the war years fades as once more we light the National Community Christmas Tree.”—President Harry S. Truman, National Tree Lighting Ceremony, December 24, 1945.

The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and subsequent entry into World War II made many Americans fearful that Christmas would not be joyfully celebrated again for a long time. But on December 24, 1941, with Winston Churchill, who was in town for the Arcadia Conference, by his side, President Roosevelt did go ahead and light the national Christmas tree on the lawn of the White House. Over 20,000 Americans attended the celebration.

Then from 1942 through 1944, the national Christmas tree was erected on the South Lawn and decorated, but it was not lit due to both the need to conserve electricity and to black out Washington from any potential nighttime air raids.

With the surrender of Germany in May and Japan in September of 1945, Americans once again had liberty to celebrate special holidays. But Christmas 1945 remained a sad time for those who had lost loved ones in the war and those waiting for word on the missing. Still there was renewed hope as troops were returning home and the war effort had pulled the country out of the Great Depression into a new era of prosperity. President Truman encouraged the country to take time to celebrate Christmas with goodwill toward all men and to look ahead to a time of peace.

For further reading see the Harry S.Truman years at
www.whitehousechristmascards.com
or
Christmas 1945: The Story of the Greatest Celebration in American History
by Matthew Litt (2010).

Home-front cooks during World War II were restricted on what they could fix to eat by what food rations they were allowed to buy. Meat, sugar, butter, and cheese were the most commonly rationed items, but later they included processed and canned foods and any imported foods like coffee. Backyard gardening and animal husbandry were encouraged to help provide a family what the grocery stores could not. Often recipes of the time were aimed at ways to make a little stretch into a filling dish.

Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast

This preserved meat recipe became a staple in army mess halls and soon made its way to home-front kitchens. Spam was another canned meat that could be used in place of the beef.

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add beef, stirring to coat in butter. Add flour, stirring to coat beef, and cook for about 5 minutes. Slowly add milk, stirring continuously as it comes to a boil and thickens. Pepper to taste. Serve over toast.

Combine flour and salt with egg, until mixture is crumbly. Bring broth to boil. Sprinkle in mixture crumbles. Reduce heat and cook 10 to 15 minutes. Add chicken during last five minutes of cooking if desired.

Melt butter in saucepan; add flour. Stir over medium heat until flour is bubbly and lightly browned. Slowly add milk and stir until bubbly and thickened. Remove from heat. Add green pepper, corn, oysters, and eggs. Stir until well blended then add crackers and seasoning. Pour into buttered casserole dish. Top with buttered bread crumbs and cheese. Bake for 30 minute at 350 degrees.

Bring water, candies, and food coloring to boil in large heavy kettle. Place apples in syrup. Cook, turning only once. Add more candies as you cook apples. Judge readiness by color of apples. They should also be fork tender but not mushy. Cook one floating layer of apples at a time. Boil remaining syrup down to jelly—ready when it fills the prongs of a cold fork. Pour some jelly over apples. Store remainder of jelly in glass jar for later use on bread and butter. Serves 8–16.

In saucepan over medium heat, heat honey then add raisins and rice. Pour into shallow buttered dish. Dot with butter. Bake 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown. Transfer to bowl and mix in lemon juice and vanilla. Sprinkle with nuts and cinnamon before serving.

Ration Cake

No egg, no milk, no butter, no problem as long as you still had some sugar rations left.

In saucepan over medium high heat, combine water, sugar, shortening, raisins, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Bring gently to boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Sift in flour and baking soda, stirring only until combined. Add nuts and fruit. Place in greased 9-inch square pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

In saucepan, bring to boil margarine, water, shortening, and cocoa. Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Combine dry mix with liquid. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in milk, soda, and vinegar. Place in greased 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Blend all ingredients in saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Fill a baked 9-inch pie crust. Can be topped with a meringue made with leftover egg whites that is browned in the oven.

Faked Whipped Cream

An option for when you were out of rations for dairy products.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Slowly add half the sugar while beating. Then add grated apple and the rest of sugar, alternately while continuing to beat. Quickly stir in lemon juice. Serve on cakes, pudding, and the like.

Stuffed Camel

In a few easy steps, you can create a cute stuffed camel toy. This pattern was inspired by Rag Bag Toys, a 1940s-era booklet with patterns to create cost-conscious, homemade toys during the thrifty war years. Use spare scraps of fabric or worn-out clothing for the body of your camel. For stuffing in a pinch, try cotton cosmetic balls—just pull the fibers apart and fluff before stuffing.

Materials—

Remnant fabric (about ¼ yd)

Thread

Embroidery floss

Stuffing

Instructions—

1.  Enlarge pattern to ¼ inch larger than desired finished size. (Sample toy is 9 inches tall.)

2.  Fold fabric in half, wrong sides together, and cut using pattern.

3.  Sew two fabric pieces with right sides together, leaving small opening at belly.

4.  Turn right side out.

5.  Using embroidery floss, embellish as desired. Add eyes, eyelashes, mouth, hooves, etc. Braid three lengths of floss together, knot at one end, and tack in place for tail.

6.  Stuff.

7.  Whipstitch opening closed.

Wanda E. Brunstetter
is a bestselling author who enjoys writing Amish-themed, as well as historical, novels. Descended from Anabaptists herself, Wanda became deeply interested in the Plain People when she married her husband, Richard who grew up in a Mennonite church in Pennsylvania. Wanda and her husband live in Washington State, but take every opportunity to visit their Amish friends in various communities across the country, gathering further information about the Amish way of life.

Wanda and her husband have two grown children and six grandchildren. In her spare time, Wanda enjoys photography, ventriloquism, gardening, reading, beach-combing, and having fun with her family.

In addition to her novels, Wanda has written Amish cookbooks, Amish devotionals, several Amish children’s books, as well as numerous novellas, stories, articles, poems, and puppet scripts.

Visit Wanda’s Web site at
www.wandabrunstetter.com
.