Happy Birthday, Laura Ingalls Wilder!

Now this looks like a woman you could pull up a chair next to, pour a glass of lemonade and just sit back to listen to all the delicious stories she could tell.

One of my favourite stocking stuffers this year was a gift from my Mom. It came in the form of a paperback book. It was this year’s edition of the The Old Farmer’s Almanac. I LOVE the Almanac. I find it a fascinating piece of living history and I can’t wait to read whatever tidbit they have listed for the current date.

As I flipped the pages open, on this frosty morning, to the month of February, I saw that today in 1867, Laura Ingalls Wilder was born. I was a big fan of the Little House books growing up. I dreamed of living in a little cabin in the woods, driving in the covered wagon to the store where I could get a peppermint stick and helping Ma bake bread in our little home. I wanted a prairie bonnet so badly, so I could look like her. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s writing, conjured up a lot for my imagination and I have always adored Garth Williams’ illustrations. There is something so very comforting about his work. He was the illustrator for some of my most beloved childhood stories.

I was also a big fan of the TV show and used to watch it over my bowl of cereal in the morning. Who didn’t want to be “Half-Pint”?

I love the cowboy hats they are wearing in this photograph of Laura and her husband Almanzo. Don’t you just know that Anne Shirley would be going crazy for those puffed sleeves!

I know that her stories were embellished, that not everything was at it appears and some people are hung up on that. But that is the mark of a good storyteller, these weren’t true biographies, they were her stories and they filled my head with all kinds of wonderful things.

She is a woman I would have been intrigued to meet. She was a true pioneer woman, a lady of great endurance and a woman of strong faith. Happy Birthday Laura Ingalls Wilder, you little prairie girl.

{Photograph of Laura in her rocking chair found HERE // Photograph of Laura and Almanzo Wilder found HERE}

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