MONDAY MUSING--Christmas books
Over the past few years, I have started a collection of books that get packed away with our Christmas decorations. They come out of the ornament trunk in early December bearing the scent of pine and beeswax from the candles that are nestled beside them. As my boys set up the G scale train that is also a Christmas-only treat, I put these special books out in a basket by our fireplace. We read them for several weeks and before the newness or magic of them is gone, they get packed away again on the 26th of December.
Here are the Hoffspring cozied up for a story, and some favorites from our fireside basket:
Jan Brett's Christmas Treasury--this classic, weighty collection with it's gorgeous colors is a decoration all in itself. Between the covers are a smattering of stories that you may know from other times of year, like "The Mitten" and "The Hat". But there are some special holiday favorites, like "Trouble with Trolls", about Treeva and her dog Tuffi who encounter rascally but dim trolls as they try to scale Mount Baldy. When Treeva has outwitted the trolls the final time, when she sighs, "Okay, I'll hold the dog," and zooms down the mountain on her painted skis, my kids always collapse into laughter. "Christmas Trolls" features the same girl and a new set of naughty, bickering trolls.
The collections has Brett's trademark rich illustrations and corner details on classics like "The Night Before Christmas" and "12 Days of Christmas."
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey--My aunt introduced us to this gorgeously illustrated story of a widow and widower in Pioneer times when Christmas could carry with it the sadness of those lost, "Because those were the days before hospitals and medicines and skilled doctors." It is a love story with hauntingly realistic illustrations that highlights the innocence of children, and the possibility of miracles. Every time I read this, I am awed by both the simplicity and complexity of this tale, the weaving of objects and symbolism. It reaches each of my children on a different level.
The Christ Child by Maud and Miska Petersham-- We grew up on this version of the Christmas story, illustrated by Maud and Miska Petersham and adapted from various parts of the Bible. The illustrations are so nostalgic and touching--the animals couldn't look more benevolent, and Mary and Joseph are as radiant as Herod is sinister.
Pippin The Christmas Pig by Jean Little -- I picked this up at a book fair the year that we had our own little Piper, who sometimes goes by nicknames like Pippa, Pippi and even Pippin. It is an odd tale of a little pig who wants to know the true meaning of Christmas and is shunned from the barn by the boastful animals as one who has nothing to offer. Pippin the pig is leaving her barn in shame and sadness when she encounters what my sister and I interpret as a woman and baby girl fleeing a domestic violence situation in the middle of a snowstorm. Pippin leads them back to her barn and gives them shelter, the animals own little nativity. It gets more bizarre when the farmer and his wife discover this woman under the donkey's blanket and the baby girl asleep in their hay manger, and the story ends without us ever knowing what happens for any of the humans in the story. Because of this, I would have long ago donated this book to the thrift barn if it weren't for a snip of dialogue between Noddy, the curmudgeonly donkey and innocent little Pippin as she is ordering all the animals to help the woman and baby who stumble into the barn on the wings of a blizzard:
"But that's not a special baby," Noddy protested.
"Of course she is," said Pippin. "All babies are special."
Noddy gazed into the small, sleeping face.
"You are right," he said. "I'd forgotten."
Somehow, it is hard for me to read this aloud without choking up. All babies are special indeed.
My latest addition to our Christmas basket is an out of print story by Leon Garfield: Fair's Fair. I remember hearing my Uncle Dean read this story aloud to his children as we lolled in the bunk beds in the Catskill mountains one Christmas, haunted by his deep baritone and the story of a huge black dog who seeks out starving, homeless orphans in the the middle of a blinding snowstorm and leads them to a mansion the week before Christmas. It took some digging to find a battered, retired library copy of the book, but it has quickly become one of my kids' favorites. A big black dog? Rescued orphans, a blizzard and a mansion? How could it not be?
Question: I would love to hear what holiday or Christmas stories your family cherishes?