Old Farm Country Christmas

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Favorite Recipes, Homespun Crafts, and Merry Memories

Jerry Apps and Susan Apps-Bodilly

A festive and nostalgic celebration of family Christmas traditions—chock-full of recipes, craft projects, and stories through the generations.

192 pages, 7 x 9, 85 color and b&w photos and illustrations
Paperback: $30.00 | ISBN: 978-1-9766-0083-8
Ebook: $19.99 | ISBN: 978-1-9766-0084-5
Publication Date: 10/6/2026

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Front cover of Old Farm Country Christmas

Description

From the beloved father-daughter team behind the bestseller Old Farm Country Cookbook comes a heartwarming celebration of Christmases past—when the first snowfall signaled the start of the season, neighbors gathered close, and simple joys lit up the long Midwestern winter. In Old Farm Country Christmas, Jerry Apps and Susan Apps-Bodilly invite readers inside farmhouse kitchens, one-room schoolhouses, rural churches, and snow-packed fields, sharing Christmas stories from the mid-twentieth century. Drawing on vivid family memories, interviews, and historical research, the authors re-create a time when holiday magic was handmade, heartfelt, and shared generously.

Readers will savor more than 80 cherished Apps family recipes, from First Snow Peppermint Butter Cookies and Lucia Buns to Spiced Cider, Krumkake, Seven Layer Bars, Cheesy Potatoes and Ham, and other festive favorites for every gathering. Paired with these culinary classics are twelve simple, old-fashioned craft projects—think paper chains, evergreen garlands, applesauce ornaments, and cozy sock snow people—along with seven timeless activities perfect for wintry afternoons with friends and family.

With 50 vintage photographs and illustrations, this heartfelt collection captures the laughter of school Christmas programs, the excitement of long-hoped-for gifts, the aroma of butter and spices drifting from the oven, and the deep meaning of the traditions that knit rural communities together.

More than a book, Old Farm Country Christmas is an invitation to slow down and rediscover the warmth, wonder, and shared traditions that make the season shine.

Author Bios

Jerry Apps

Celebrated storyteller and rural historian Jerry Apps was born and raised on a central Wisconsin farm. He was a former county extension agent and professor at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Apps authored more than fifty fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, including Every Farm Tells a Story: A Tale of Farm Family Values, The Quiet Season: Remembering Country Winters, When the White Pine Was King, and Barns of Wisconsin, all published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

Susan Apps-Bodilly

Susan Apps-Bodilly is a retired elementary and middle-school educator. She is the author of One Room Schools and Seeds in Soil and coauthor with Jerry Apps of Timber! and Old Farm Country Cookbook, all published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.