Friday, December 21, 2012

Speaking of Books


Every Christmas I put out a selection of Christmas books and stories. This year Trinity helped me design the table. Here they are for anyone to read and enjoy. Sometimes I am anyone.


The first book I usually read is by Sandra Boynton, Christmastime. It is full of her delightful and fun drawings and off beat clever humor. She starts by reminding us that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ and that she might have a better chance of hitting this spiritual center if she didn't aim directly at it. 
Given that understanding, her wit and humor remind us of many Christmas times and all the festivities, parties, shopping, singing and gift giving that surround that center. I love Christmas, and I love how Boynton tells the story. 


This is a very old book. Not just by publication date but because I was read to as child from this very book. The Tall book of Christmas includes a number of stories from the Biblical story itself to the story of Giant Grummer, who was a "very bad giant" ~ and as children we learned to know when those words were going to show up and we would all recite them very loudly and with great glee. When I became an adult I wrote to the woman who read to us from this book and asked the name of the book. She sent me her copy - the very copy from which I had learned the story of Giant Grummer. In later years, I discovered it one day in book store and bought several copies, one for each daughter and for some of my grands as well. The tradition continues. 


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