Fave Christmas Stories

I was in the library today (to get books, not study, which I still find delightful) and I saw a display of children's Christmas books which got me thinking about all of my old favorite Christmas books from childhood and beyond. Once I thought about it, I realized there are quite a few!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: This book is really funny and all of the Characters are so real. I thought everyone had read this book, but for whoever hasn't (JUSTIN) here is a summary: The narrator is a girl in elementary school and her mom is wrangled in to being the director of the church Christmas pageant even though she dreads it. The girl and her brother also dread it and hope for small parts. Meanwhile, there is a big family of really badly behaved kids named the Herdmans who are always in trouble and terrorizing the whole neigborhood. To everyone's suprise, they show up at the first practice because they heard there would be food there and end up having main roles because none of the other kids want to be in their way (even the perfect minister's daughter who assumes she will get the role of Mary). Chaos ensues, but by the end everything works out and everyone realizes that the nativity with the Herdmans, who are outcasts and kind of ragged looking and scared on stage, is more realistic that the perfect display that is usually portrayed in nativity scenes.

Christmas Day in the Morning: This story is by the author Pearl S. Buck. It's about a boy sometime in the "old days" who feels bad because he doesn't have money to buy his hardworking farmer father a nice Christmas present. He has the idea of sneaking out of the houes in the middle of the night and doing the farm chores like milking the cows all by himself as a suprise for his dad so he can be with the younger kids when they see the Christmas tree and presents in the morning instead of in the barn doing chores like he has had to do in the past. Very touching.

Winter's Gift: This one could make anyone choke up. It's about an elderly man who is reminiscing about choosing a Christmas tree with his wife and getting out their special Christmas star to put on the top. Sadly, the wife has passed away and he is having his first Christmas alone. He is too sad to get out the Christmas decorations. On Christmas Eve, he hears noise outside his farm house and discovers a lost and starving horse that seems to be in pain. He brings it into his barn and feeds it and makes it a bed. The next morning, he finds that the horse has given birth during the night and the baby has a star pattern on its head! He takes it as a message from his wife to continue living and enjoying life. Kind of an adult theme for a children's book, but it has a good message.

The Sweet Smell of Christmas: This book is for very young children and entails a family of bears where the parents are preparing their little bear for Christmas. Every page explains some aspect of Christmas and has a scratch and sniff stickers to tie in the smell. I remember it had a candy cane, hot chocolate, a pine tree, and an orange. For as long as I can remember, my family's copy of the book has had stickers that were scratched to capacity and didn't smell anymore. I think they still make it because I know my mom has given it as a baby gift.

A Christmas Sonata: Gary Paulsen wrote this and I love his writing. This is a "chapter" book for elementary school kids and is about a boy and his mom who take a long train ride to Northern Minnesota to spend Christmas with the mom's sister's family. They have a son who is dying of cancer. It is set during WWII and the boy's father is at war. On top of his confusion about his cousin dying soon, they boy sees a drunk man in his apartment building dressed in a shabby Santa suit and is worried Santa might not be real. The uncle overhears the two cousins talking about whether Santa is real and makes arrangements to prove to them that he is. Their belief is affirmed at the sight of Santa complete with a sleigh and reindeer on Christmas Eve. I hadn't read this book for years because my family's stash of Christmas books somehow got lost in our attic, so I looked it up on the Internet for a refresher. I came to a site where people recommend and rate children's books and there is a system to rate any aspects that parents might dissaprove of. This book got a negative rating for alcohol use because it "portrays a man dressed as Santa Clause drinking wine"! Also, it portrays a child with cancer. If any parent wouldn't allow their children to read this for those reasons they have problems. People like that must want to promote illiteracy and ignorance in society. If a kid is smart enough to read a chapter book with no pictures, I think they should be able to handle reading about a kid with cancer. Anway, great book for Christmas time. It is sad but also uplifting. I remember a part where the boy is baffled by seeing how happy his mom is and how she laughs until she is doubled over while she is working in the kitchen with her sister. He's not the first male to be awed by the behavior of women.

I could think of more, but this is getting long so I'll stop for now. No one reads blogs to read extensive essays.