Advent (Day 21): These Farmhouse Bookshelves

I finished the Christmas grocery shopping today.

That means I have nothing to do for days but read and read and read by the tree. Well, that and wrap presents. I do tend to put that chore off till the last possible minute. And, I suppose the children will still demand to be fed. Strange how they expect regular meals even while on holiday.

But, still, rest assured, there will be a great deal of reading in the days ahead. I hope that proves true for you as well.

Here are a few more favorites from our stack of Christmas stories.

 

(You can find all my book recommendations here along with a disclaimer about the affiliate links I use.)

 

***

***

Today, I’m recommending three picture books, but wait … these books aren’t really meant for small children. My second-grader and fourth-grader enjoy these, but I would share these books with anyone from an older child to an adult.

This first book would make an especially nice gift for a poetry or art-lover.

It is Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening with gorgeous illustrations by Susan Jeffers.

With its intricately detailed illustrations of snowy landscapes, this is a book that demands we slow down. My children love to search out the forest animals hidden in each image, and Jeffers gives this familiar poem a lovely, new twist of an ending through her designs.

But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep

Christmas Day in the Morning was originally published by Pearl Buck in 1955. This picture-book version features full-color artwork by Mark Buehner.

If you don’t know the story already, I won’t spoil the surprise. I’ll only say that this one inspired my daughter to shovel the driveway as a Christmas gift to her Dad.

Buck’s classic story always makes me tear up a little. Okay, I have trouble not breaking down whenever I read it out loud.

The best Christmas gift I ever had, and I’ll remember it, son, every year on Christmas morning, so long as I live.

Winter’s Gift is another sentimental favorite (but what’s Christmas without a little sentimentality?). It is written and illustrated by Jane Monroe Donovan and tells the story of an old man spending his first Christmas alone. He is without hope until a horse, lost in the woods, brings with her a very special gift.

‘The star is the most important part of the tree,’ she would always say. ‘It’s a symbol of hope, and no matter how bad things get, you should always have hope.’