…and maybe you agree with Lucy in A Charlie Brown Christmas:
“Look, Charlie, let’s face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket.”
Then why not leave the stores and go home to a good book?
Here are a few of my Christmas favourites…
Morpurgo, Michael. On Angel Wings. Candlewick Press, 2006. (Illustrated by Quentin Blake)
Donaldson, Julia. Stick Man. New York : Arthur A. Levine Books, 2008.
Wildsmith, Brian. A Christmas Story. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 1998.
Thinking about Christmas…
What are fifty different ways to express the number ’25’?
Grade six students created charts:
If you like math, too, you might like…Â
(Psst: there are several mistakes in one of the charts. Can you find any of them?)
Donaldson, Julia. The Christmas Pine. London: Alison Green Books, 2021.
A pine tree grows and grows deep in the woods until one day it is chosen to be a special gift: a Christmas tree for the people of London. Originally written as a poem to commemorate Norway’s annual gift to the people of England to thank them for their support during World War 2.Â
Listen to the original poem on Youtube!
Ohi, Ruth. Fox and Squirrel, the Best Christmas Ever. Toronto: North Winds Press, 2016.
What makes a great Christmas? Snow! Presents! Fancy food! And a Christmas tree, of course. Two friends go for a walk in the woods to find more decorations in this cheerful picture book with full-page water colour illustrations. Highly recommended for children 3 to 6 years old.
P.S. You, yourself, might like to take a nature walk with a friend afterwards.
A Christmas Carol
Last week, a group of sixth-grade students read an adaptation of A Christmas Carol: a new version of the story with Scrooge portrayed as a woman.Â
  “At the beginning of the story, Scrooge is greedy and does not care about others. When young, she did not marry the man she loved because she cared about money more than him. Now, she is rude, mean, and interrupts Cratchit every time he tries to talk. She also walks through an alley of people in need without even looking at them.
  “At the end of the story, Scrooge is different: she has become kinder. She doubles Cratchit’s salary and helps his family in need. In addition, she wants to celebrate Christmas, so she eats dinner with her niece. She also gives a gift of money to a young boy.
  “Why does Scrooge change? She changes because she realizes the sins of her past and realizes how wrong she was to not marry the man she loved. She realizes the sins of her present and realizes how wrong she has been to treat Cratchit so cruelly. She sees her future – sees her dead body – and realizes there will be nobody to mourn her when she dies. She sees how she has been, and she changes.” – Harshaan
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