Hatfield - A cowboy Christmas: Western celebrations, recipes, and traditions

A hopeless romantic with a bit of sarcasm thrown in for good measure, Shanna Hatfield is a USA Today best-selling author of sweet romantic fiction written with a healthy dose of humor. In addition to blogging and eating too much chocolate, this former farm girl is completely smitten with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna creates character-driven romances with realistic heroes and heroines. Her historical Westerns have been described as reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian , while her contemporary works have been called laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.

A lifelong fan of rodeo, Shanna contributes a portion of her book sales to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund during the holiday season.

A
COWBOY
CHRISTMAS

An imprint and registered trademark of The Rowman & Littlefi ld
Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200
Lanham, MD 20706
www.rowman.com

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2019 Shanna Hatfi ld

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hatfi ld, Shanna, author.

Title: A cowboy Christmas : Western celebrations, recipes, and traditions / Shanna Hatfi ld.

Description: Helena, Montana : TwoDot, [2019] | Includes index. |

Identifie s: LCCN 2019014738 (print) | LCCN 2019019087 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493042357 (e-book) | ISBN 9781493042340 (hardback : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Christmas cooking. | Christmas decorations. | Hatfi ld, Shanna, 1971- Friends and associates. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.

Classifiation: LCC TX739.2.C45 (ebook) | LCC TX739.2.C45 H37 2019 (print) | DDC 641.5/686dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019014738

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

I dedicate this book to three very special people:
To Mom and Dad for giving me a love of the
holidays, showing me the joys of opening my
heart and home to others, and providing me with
rural roots that run deep.
To my husband for his love, support, and always
being there for me. You are amazing, and I
am grateful every day for the blessing of being
married to you.

A project like this book would have been impossible to beginlet alone finishwithout the help of some wonderful, generous people.

With a bounty of gratitude, I extend my thanks to the fabulous families who allowed me to interview them and share their stories as well as family recipes: Justin and Tona Andrade, Shana and Justin Bailey, Casey and Kacee Colletti, Amy and Jim Fenley, John and Carla Harrison, Nick and Megan LaDuke, Sue McKinnon, Derek and Jessica Miller, Hank and Renee Moss, and Tate and Kristin Stratton.

I also am so thankful to Erin Turner and the folks at Globe Pequot/TwoDot Books for providing the opportunity to create this book. Erin has been absolutely incredible, and Im so glad I had the privilege of working with her. Her encouragement and professionalism are unparalleled and made the process go so smoothly. Its a dream come true to do this book that combines three of my favorite things in the world: Christmas, cowboys, and cooking!

Friends and family shared ideas for decorations, recipes, and people to contact who might be interested in being included in the book. Im especially thankful to Julie Jutten for putting me in touch with the rodeo families featured here. My thanks also go to the good people at the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund for their help.

And I cant forget to thank my niece, Jessie Friend, who spent hours and hours helping me decorate sugar cookies. She is a trouper!

Finally, my gratitude goes out to my husband, Captain Cavedweller, who put up with months of craziness while I worked on the book along with various other writing projects. He didnt even blink when I asked him to dig Christmas decorations out of the barn in the midst of an August heat wave, or when he came home to find Christ mas cookies covering every surface in the kitchen. As I cooked my way through every single recipe included in this book, he good-naturedly tried each one. When I was running close to deadlines, he took over cooking our meals and offered help whenever and wherever he could. I am so blessed by and thankful for his ongoing support and encouragement.

WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY POPPED UP TO DO THIS BOOK, I was beyond excited. It combines a variety of things Im passionate about: Christmas, country life, and cooking.

A love of all three of these things was cultivated during my childhood. My growing-up years were spent on a farm in eastern Oregon where my family waged battle against sagebrush, rocks, and the random juniper tree to till the soil for crops and plant pasture grass. It wasnt until I found myself far away from home, living in a big city, that I realized how fortunate I was to have a foundation with country roots on which to build my future.

The only thing my dad ever wanted to be was a farmer. During the first dozen years of my parents marriage, he worked for a variety of farmers and ranchers while they saved every penny they could. In the early 1960s, they purchased the farm where they would reside in a small but close-knit community for the next fifty years.

Twenty years into their marriage, with three teenagers in the house, the last thing my parents expected was to discover they were expecting. My formative years were spent running wild and free on the farm where dad raised hay, wheat, corn, and cattle. My childhood brimmed with sunshine, hay fever, and a never-ending supply of rural learning experiences.

With my two brothers and their families living nearby, an ample supply of adults kept their eye on meeven if their vigilant supervision didnt necessarily keep me out of trouble. I always had horses to ride, fences to climb, and an adventure waiting around the corner. My love for cowboys and the western way of life came naturally.

My oldest brother worked as a ranch hand on remote ranches and would come home after weeks (sometimes what seemed like months) away, brimming with hair-raising tales that spurred my interest and imagination. Sometimes, hed bring along a fellow cowpoke in need of a home-cooked meal and a few days of rest before they headed back to the ranch. Id sit in rapt adoration, listening to them talk about a way of life that seemed to be all but disappearing. And they brought with them the fragrances of leather and horses and sage-soaked sunshinea scent I still love to this day.