Christmas books
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to read books with hot cocoa all day, hey!
So, sometimes this month or last, I forget exactly when, I went to the library. Maybe you read my post After a Recent Trip to the Library... and you already knew this. In any case, I went. And as it just so happens, since it has now been December for officially five days, I figured I am allowed to start reading Christmas stories. One of them is a classic little chapter book called: The Christmas Doll and it's by Elvira Woodruff. I haven't read it yet, but I'll type up the back cover of the book for you in case I don't get to read it until after Christmas.
"Lucy and Glory Wolcott are sisters and the best of friends. They have no one but each other to rely on. They have little to eat and their nights are cold and damp. To keep their spirits up, Lucy invents stories about a family she barely remembers--and a lost doll named Morning Glory who Lucy is sure they will find again one day. When a deadly fever sweeps through the workhouse where the girls live, Lucy and Glory flee for their lives into the mean streets of London. Now they must learn how to survive on their own. One day the sisters find an old, discarded rag doll by the river that Glory is sure is their lost doll. But Morning Glory is no ordinary doll.... And she works her magic on everyone around her." (The Christmas Doll by Elvira Woodruff, Back cover)
I remember when I was little my mom would read me this book and it was one of my favorites.
The other one I have is called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. I feel like this one is a little more well known. It focuses around six mean kids. The Herdmans. They lie, steal, set fire to things, smoke cigars, and worst of all, they joined this year's Christmas pageant. With the lady who normally runs the Christmas pageant in the hospital, someone's mother is left to run things. And since no one else volunteered for the parts of Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, and the Angel of the Lord, the Herdmans get the six most important parts in the pageant. Although.. "there is no small parts, only small actors." Imogene Herdman is going to be Mary, and she smokes cigars in the ladies room! Ralph Herman is Joseph, Ollie, Leroy, and Claude are the Wise Men, and Gladys the youngest, meanest Herdman, is the Angel. The thing is, the Herdmans have never heard the Christmas story about how Jesus was born. They know it's Jesus' birthday, but that's it. So when they are indignant that Jesus had to sleep in a manger, in a barn, it gets people thinking about that. And when they want to know what happened to King Herod, what happened to him for wanting to kill Jesus?, people start thinking about that. And Gladys wants to know why the Angel of the Lord didn't say more than "Unto you a child is born!" Shouldn't the Angel have been more specific, maybe like "A child is born and it's Jesus and he's that way in a barn!" Then the shepherds would have gotten there faster. And why did the Wise Men leave so fast? They just got there, they should at least stay for a little while. The Herdmans have their own idea of how Christmas should go, and they start to make people think more on the subject.
Not a single one of the rehearsals gets run all the way through until the end and suddenly it's the day of the pageant. What will the Herdmans do next! It will definitely be a surprise!
So, sometimes this month or last, I forget exactly when, I went to the library. Maybe you read my post After a Recent Trip to the Library... and you already knew this. In any case, I went. And as it just so happens, since it has now been December for officially five days, I figured I am allowed to start reading Christmas stories. One of them is a classic little chapter book called: The Christmas Doll and it's by Elvira Woodruff. I haven't read it yet, but I'll type up the back cover of the book for you in case I don't get to read it until after Christmas.
"Lucy and Glory Wolcott are sisters and the best of friends. They have no one but each other to rely on. They have little to eat and their nights are cold and damp. To keep their spirits up, Lucy invents stories about a family she barely remembers--and a lost doll named Morning Glory who Lucy is sure they will find again one day. When a deadly fever sweeps through the workhouse where the girls live, Lucy and Glory flee for their lives into the mean streets of London. Now they must learn how to survive on their own. One day the sisters find an old, discarded rag doll by the river that Glory is sure is their lost doll. But Morning Glory is no ordinary doll.... And she works her magic on everyone around her." (The Christmas Doll by Elvira Woodruff, Back cover)
I remember when I was little my mom would read me this book and it was one of my favorites.
The other one I have is called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. I feel like this one is a little more well known. It focuses around six mean kids. The Herdmans. They lie, steal, set fire to things, smoke cigars, and worst of all, they joined this year's Christmas pageant. With the lady who normally runs the Christmas pageant in the hospital, someone's mother is left to run things. And since no one else volunteered for the parts of Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, and the Angel of the Lord, the Herdmans get the six most important parts in the pageant. Although.. "there is no small parts, only small actors." Imogene Herdman is going to be Mary, and she smokes cigars in the ladies room! Ralph Herman is Joseph, Ollie, Leroy, and Claude are the Wise Men, and Gladys the youngest, meanest Herdman, is the Angel. The thing is, the Herdmans have never heard the Christmas story about how Jesus was born. They know it's Jesus' birthday, but that's it. So when they are indignant that Jesus had to sleep in a manger, in a barn, it gets people thinking about that. And when they want to know what happened to King Herod, what happened to him for wanting to kill Jesus?, people start thinking about that. And Gladys wants to know why the Angel of the Lord didn't say more than "Unto you a child is born!" Shouldn't the Angel have been more specific, maybe like "A child is born and it's Jesus and he's that way in a barn!" Then the shepherds would have gotten there faster. And why did the Wise Men leave so fast? They just got there, they should at least stay for a little while. The Herdmans have their own idea of how Christmas should go, and they start to make people think more on the subject.
Not a single one of the rehearsals gets run all the way through until the end and suddenly it's the day of the pageant. What will the Herdmans do next! It will definitely be a surprise!
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