Up until I was in middle school (seriously!), my mother read to my siblings and me every night. But the book ends on a hopeful note, as the town returns to normal: the image of new trees growing and a sign reading “353 days left before Christmas”. This book is also unique in its portrayal of what happens after Christmas: it shows the reality of cleaning up the house, putting away decorations, and even some sad pictures of discarded wreaths and Christmas trees. It goes on to show the joy and excitement of Christmas Day: presents, meals with family, being together in celebration. But the book contains more than the typical preparation for Christmas: it also shows the family visiting and bringing gifts to elderly neighbors, donating to a toy drive, making and sending Christmas cards (that might be a novel idea to some children today!), setting up the nativity scene, and going to worship services. The pictures go on through all of the usual preparation for Christmas: gift-buying, decorating, cooking meals. The book goes through the holiday season with one family in the town they live in, and begins with them shopping under a sign that reads “12 days til Christmas”. This book doesn’t have any text at all-which might seem like a challenge at first glance, but once you look at gloriously detailed, colorful and lively artwork, you realize that truly a picture is worth 1,000 words! One of my favorite Christmas books is the aptly titled Peter Spier’s Christmas!.
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