It is at about this point in the season when I despair of reading every one of the books in our Advent / Christmas / Winter collection.
But then I remember – Christmas lasts 12 days! Of course, we’ll get to them. We only need a few more snow days to help us along.
Here are three more of my favorite books for the time of year.
Madeleine L’Engle’s The Irrational Season (The Crosswicks Journal, Book 3)
There are so many things I could say about L’Engle’s work, I hardly know where to begin. Perhaps my favorite thing is L’Engle’s commitment to asking difficult questions. What I discover in her books – and in the Crosswicks journals, in particular – is that unknowing is not a scary place to be. In fact, L’Engle shows us that we can sometimes experience God’s presence in more beautiful and more comforting ways when we take the time to sit with the questions we do not have answers for.
Also, L’Engle’s family home, Crosswicks, has been described as a “farmhouse of charming confusion,” which pretty much sums up the thing I most hope to attain in life.
Hisako Aoki’s Santa’s Favorite Story: Santa Tells the Story of the First Christmas
This is a beautiful little book in its own right, but it is also a book that fills a very big need. Whether or not yours is a Santa-believing family, children can use our help integrating Santa (who is unavoidable this time of year) and the babe in the manger. Simply and sweetly (but not too sweetly) this book does exactly that.
Santa is still Santa (he works hard to share gifts with everyone, particularly, in this book, small forest animals), but he knows Christmas is not all about presents. In Santa’s words,
“Love was the gift God gave to us on the first Christmas, and it still is, you know.”
I appreciate that this book does not give us another storyline about Santa. It simply uses Santa, a character every child knows, to speak the most important story – the life-changing true story – of the first Christmas.
Lastly, we always make time for at least a few readings of Holly Hobbie’s Let It Snow (Toot & Puddle)
Let me be explicit: Toot and Puddle are not just for kids!
I’ll be sharing a few more seasonal books next Saturday, but I’d love to know … what are you reading?
A Small Miracle by Peter Collington was given to us by a new friend (who knew L’Engle!) to enjoy this Advent. It’s a fantastical picture book without words about helping the needy at Christmas. My toddler went through it with me from the first picture to the last utterly engrossed. A beautiful story. I want my own copy for next year.
This is new to me! Thank you, Summer. Can’t wait to find it.
We don’t have any of these- they all sound wonderful! Kate and I have been reading ‘A Day on Skates’. (Love. I think my favorite thing has been laughing as we figure out how to pronounce the Dutch words.) Kenna’s favorite this year has been Jan Brett’s ‘Home for Christmas’ and Buck’s ‘Christmas Day in the Morning’ (because she is the child who wants to live in a barn one day.) Tristan blazed through the first 3 Harry Potter volumes in the last two weeks. I’ve been enjoying Lucy Shaw’s works (gifts from you, of course:) It was kind if sad to leave our Christmas book piles behind as we travel -we will definitely be keeping them out well past the holidays.
Ha, yes, my own Dutch needs a little work. I love how “A Day on Skates” has given us a whole new family vocabulary. We talk about “skating picnics” all the time. Also love “Christmas Day in the Morning.” Lily was so inspired after reading that, she snow shoveled half the driveway as a Christmas present for her Dad. 🙂
“The Irrational Season” was my very first foray into L’Engle’s nonfiction. Took me a while initially (this was maybe 35 years ago?), but then I just devoured it. And read it numerous times. You have pinpointed her appeal and her strength, I think: a willingness to ask questions, even when there are no answers to be found – and to be okay with that. Huge gift. Sad to say, I’m not doing ANY reading right now. Too much other stuff goin’ on.
Even though my kids are all grown, we still love The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.
Fondly,
Glenda
Glenda, I just ordered a copy of this for my kids. It was my absolute favorite growing up.
1. “The Gospel of Christmas: Reflections for Advent” by Patty Kirk.
2. “Love & Salt: A Spiritual Friendship Shared in Letters,” Amy Andrews and Jessica Griffith. Not an Advent book, but both of them await the births of their first children.
3. “Christmas Poems,” an Everyman’s Library edition. Small, charming hardback, and it is the book that introduced me to the poetry of Gjertrud Schnackenberg.
4. Ecclesiastes.
And winter lasts into March, at least by the calendar. 😉
Oh — and “God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas,” edited by Greg Pennoyer and Greg Wolfe, with contributions by Scott Cairns, Emilie Griffin, Richard John Neuhaus, Kathleen Norris, Eugene Peterson, and Luci Shaw.
I love this one, too, Laura!
I’m glad you’ll be reading “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” Christie! I can still recite the first paragraph of the book by heart, since my family has read it aloud so many times.
My mom gave me a copy of “Watch for the Light,” a Christmas and Advent anthology that I am heartily enjoying. I also love “A Widening Light,” a wonderful anthology of poems that begins with Christ’s birth and covers the major events in his life and in the salvation story. http://www.amazon.com/Widening-Light-Poems-Incarnation/dp/1573830240/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387485390&sr=1-1&keywords=a+widening+light+poems+of+the+incarnation
Oh, I’m so glad you mentioned “Watch for the Light,” Allison. I love that book and have used it a few times before. I’ve never heard of “A Widening Light.” Thanks for the recommendation – I’m adding it to my (ever growing) list.