Category: Prequel
Any time before the episode, A Rose for Lotta
Timber! (by DJK)
Summary: Oh, what fun there is on the Ponderosa at Christmas
Rating: G (110 words)
Written for the 2025 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
The Meaning of Christmas (by PatD in PA)
Summary: An explanation of Christmas, between brothers.
Rating: G (120 words)
Written for the 2025 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
Standing on the Bow Rail (by AC1830)
Summary: As a conclusion to BettyHT’s Advent story, Leaning on the Taffrail, young Adam, along with Ben and little Hoss, finally settle into their first real home in the Sierra mountains just as Christmas arrives.
Word Count: 5603
Written for the 2025 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
The First Thaw (by Puchi Ann)
Summary: The weather isn’t the only thing frosty that first Christmas after Marie joins the Cartwright family, but through the magic of story and song, they all find new warmth, acceptance and heartfelt love.
Rating: G (6,520 words)
Written for the 2025 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
A Letter To Dickens (by BettyHT)
Summary: Loosely based on the Advent 2025 stories of BettyHT and AC1830 as well as the work of Charles Dickens. Many years after Abel writes to Adam about how Elizabeth’s spirit influenced him to change, Adam pitches a story idea to Dickens.
Rating: PG Word count: 936
Mr. Adam and Them Boys (by DJK)
Summary: Adam loses a bet and must take Little Joe and four friends hunting in the high country. His fears of catastrophe come true in an unexpected way. This prequel was written for the Chaps and Spurs Quarter Four Challenge. The five mandated words were: percolate, earthquake, pipeline, surgeon, amendment. Rating: teen Word count: 7373
Peace on Earth (by Pat D in PA)
Summary: A blizzard and a case of the flu conspire to make the Cartwright boys wonder if Christmas would find it’s way to the Ponderosa
Rating: K/G (10,837 words)
Little Joe’s Seventh Birthday (by muffinstuffin)
Summary: This is a story I wrote many years ago. Thought you might like to read it. It’s just a bit of a fun birthday story.
Rating: G, Word Count: 757
The Declaration (by Pat D in PA)
SUMMARY: An older brother mourns his believed failure in keeping a promise. Written for the 3rd Quarter 2025 Chaps and Spurs Writing Challenge.
RATING: K/G WORD COUNT: 1,335
Fireworks, Friends, and Innocent Prayers (by DJK)
Summary: Little Joe and friends managed to arrange “the grandest sight the town has ever seen”, and it only required a little deceit and disobeying. This prequel was written for the 3rd Quarter 2025 Chaps & Spurs Challenge.
Rating: Teen Word Count: 5822
The Weaker Sex (by Pat D in PA)
Summary: Marie Cartwright comes home from assisting a neighboring woman to find … Written for the 3rd Quarter Chaps and Spurs Challenge.
Rating: K/G
Word Count: 2,067
Let’s Play Chess (by LillianMontane)
Sumary: Hoss teaches Joe how to play chess. Written for 3rd quarter chaps and spurs.
Rating: G Word count: 1280
Saucy Sally and the Birthday Surprise (by Pat D in PA)
RATING: MA/R
SUMMARY: Not long after Adam returns from college, he begins to wonder if he should have come back at all, as his father doesn’t seem to recognize he’s not the stripling youth he’d been when he left home more than four years earlier. It takes a wise young woman of the world to potentially set both Cartwright men straight and help heal a rift that threatens to destroy the family.
Written in answer to the 2025 Brandaversary R-Rated Story challenge.
(10,230 words)
The Infinite Curse of a Lonely Heart (by Pat D in PA)
Summary: Unrequited affection, if not actually love, permeates this prequel tale of the Cartwrights as a church social becomes an unexpected source of disappointment and frustration for some, and wonder for others. Written for the 2025 Ponderosa Paddlewheel Poker Tournament.
Rating: K+/T Word Count: 13,275
First Drive (by Puchi Ann)
Summary: There’s a first time for everything and everyone.
Rating:K+/T Word Count: 12,449
