Book Lovers' Advent Calendar -- Day Six: The Feast of St. Nicholas

Today, even though it is the Feast of St. Nicholas, I cannot bring myself to eat a corned beef sandwich in honor of the pickled boys that St. Nicholas miraculously revived (sorry, Susan).  I did have a bagel for breakfast, so I am going to say that was in honor of the wheat that the good saint miraculously provided for his starving city -- although actually, I just really wanted a bagel.  And St. Nicholas did secretly throw gold coins into the stockings of three young girls in his town, thus saving them from prostitution and slavery.  So in honor of St. Nicholas I shall have gold foil-covered chocolate coins for lunch.  

I will wash down my chocolate coins with a Coke. Because I mean, come on!

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Here is a great book that has recently been re-published, Kersti and Saint Nicholas, by Hilda van Stockum.  Kersti is a naughty girl (though she is also brave and generous), and a good case could be made that she should get nothing but coal in her clogs on December 6 .  But St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas in Dutch), accompanied by his Moorish assistant, Pieterbaas, sees something more in Kersti -- and we do, too!

Here's the original cover, from when the book was first published in 1940.  When van Stockum was criticized for glorifying such a naughty girl in her story, here's her hilarious response:  "I claim no responsibility for [Kersti's] actions. I had a lovely, sweet, good little story for nice little children and Kersti just came and played havoc with it. She ruined the moral, shocked Pieterbaas, had a very bad influence on St. Nicholas and did not deserve a present at the end. I wash my hands of her."

Dinner date!

Well, so -- much of the reason I have been away from blogging this fall has been that I have been spending a lot of time with my mother-in-law.  She has been battling illness, so has needed some extra help.  This is lucky for me, because I love her so much -- and always enjoy the time I get to spend with her.

Take Tuesday night, for example -- she and I had a fabulous dinner together: pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes, sauteed snow peas, and sliced tomatoes.  And we split a bottle of wine while she told me hilarious stories about the husband's childhood.

It was a great date!

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Today's book selection for Advent is lovely to look at -- and has a lovely story to go with it as well. Christmas Tapestry, by Patricia Polacco, is about a pastor's family who move to a new town and a new church community.  After the church is damaged in a storm, Jonathan and his father worry that Christmas Eve services will have to be ruined.  Luckily they find a beautiful old tapestry that will cover the damage perfectly.  Then the miracle part happens!

Such a great story -- and so gorgeous, too!

Book Lovers' Advent Calendar: Day Four

 I have always been a big Eloise fan.  I fell in love with her in a bookstore in Lexington, Virginia, when I read, "Here's where he's been: Spain.  Here's where I've been: boiler room."  I love, love, love that she has a dog named Weenie and a turtle named Skipper Dee.  And I have taken up many of her verb creations: the kittens so obviously skibble across the floor chasing an ice cube that I can't believe the word wasn't created by Chaucer to denote just such an action.  And I totally agree with Eloise: who hasn't wanted to sklonk somebody in the kneecap out of sheer frustration?

So today's choice for the Advent calendar, Eloise at Christmastime, by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight, tickles me pink (Eloise would approve).  The book was originally published in 1958, and is unique among the Eloise books in that it is written in verse -- although Eloise's rhymes are often a little wonky, which makes sense since she's only six, for Lord's sake!

Eloise is fabulous as she makes gifts for everyone she knows, sings carols outside the doors of the Plaza's guests, hits all the parties, and then dreams about Santa.   Aack!  So happy-making!

[If your childhood memory of this book needs a little jog, it might be because this was the original cover . . . .]

 

"Sometimes there is so much to do that I get sort of a headache
 around the sides and partially under it."

Sister, I would wear that on a t-shirt.

Book Lover's Advent Calendar: Day Three

While my Jewish friends are in the midst of celebrating Hanukkah, I wanted to bring your attention to this gorgeous, gorgeous book.  Chanukah Lights, with lovely poetry by Michael Rosen, is really mostly about the stunning and lovely pop-up art by Robert Sabuda.  But don't be fooled by the childish term "pop-up." This pop-up art is really just art.

Each page illustrates the lighting of the menorah in a different scene -- across time and in multiple locations.  We are taken to a Russian shetl, to the New World, to an Israeli kibbutz.  The intricate cut-outs and three-dimensional constructions make this a book that your whole family will treasure.

Before the thankful season gets away from me . . . .

 

I let an important anniversary get away from me this fall, but I know you are all with me as I savor the fact that it has been over a year since the tall boy has had an encounter with a hospital emergency staff, or a cardio-thoracic surgeon, or an interventional radiologist.

This fall, instead of taking this picture . . .

 

. . .  the husband and I met the tall boy and Her for a birthday celebration and took this glamour shot.  Way more fun in every way -- believe it.

Talk about Thanksgiving!

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The Advent Calendar book for today is perfect as we enter into the season of snow -- or at least the season of hoping for a few white flakes!

Snow, a Caldecott Honor Book by Uri Shulevitz, is a great picture book that perfectly captures the excitement a child feels upon seeing a first snowflake . . . and then a second, and a third.  Shulevitz portrays the frustration and faith of one little boy who longs for snow.  Gorgeous!

Advent -- just in time!

After a long November of November-ness, I am so glad to tear off that page on my refrigerator calendar!  Thank you so much to anyone who thought a kind thought about me and my family as you wandered by this dormant blog during the past couple of months.  I can feel the cyber-love!

Today let's talk about books!

My Advent Calendar for Book Lovers keeps me thinking and browsing through stacks of storybooks all year long.  I have an affinity for older stories, mostly because they are the books I loved as a little girl, or were the books my kids loved when they were little themselves.  But the annual tradition I have created for myself here allows me to immerse myself in the children's section of Barnes & Noble, "doing research."  You will just have to imagine me, sitting in a wee little wooden chair, pouring over gorgeous storybooks with my knees tucked under my chin.

Heaven!

Let's see what we come up with this year!

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Well, so the girl in charge has been home for Thanksgiving (she flies back to Atlanta today -- sniff!) and while she has been here, she has been tucking into her old friends, the Little House books.  Since I spent my entire childhood carrying around one or another of these treasured companion books, when I see my girl doing the same thing -- well, it brings a little tear of joy to the eye.

I have said before that my favorite of the Little House Christmas stories is the tale of Mr. Edwards' encounter with Santa Claus, on a muddy street in Independence, Missouri (this story is a chapter in Little House on the Prairie).  I also do love the story of Laura's beloved doll Charlotte, found in Little House in the Big Woods.  But I was thinking about the fourth book in the series, On the Banks of Plum Creek, and it occurred to me that this book is just chock full of Christmas.

Wilder tells us that one early Christmas, the family exchanges no gifts, but Pa buys horses that they will need for plowing come spring.  And of course the book ends with Pa's arrival at home on Christmas, after being trapped in a snow bank during a four-day blizzard -- and eating their Christmas candy so he can survive.

But for most Little House lovers, the fabulous Christmas story in this book is the chapter called "Surprise."  Who can forget the church Christmas party, at which Laura sees her first actual Christmas tree?

Everyone stood up to sing and Laura stood up, but she could not sing. Not a sound would come out of her throat. In the whole world, there couldn't be a store so wonderful to look at as that tree. After the singing, Mr. Tower and Mr. Beadle began taking things off it, and reading out names. Mrs. Tower and Mrs. Beadle brought those things down past the benches, and gave them to the person whose name was on them. Everything on that tree was a Christmas present for somebody!
 
Mrs. Tower stood smiling, holding out the little fur cape and muff.  "For me?" Laura said. "For me?" Then everything else vanished while with both arms she hugged the soft furs to her. She hugged them tighter and tighter, trying to believe they were really hers, that silky-soft little brown cape and the muff.

  

"What do you say, Laura?" Ma asked, but the Reverend Alden said, "There is no need. The way her eyes are shining is enough."

Gets me every time.

Harrumph!

 

So I have been reading reading through all the class information packets that got sent home with the sunny girl on the first day of school, and I think I may need to poke a stick in my eye to obtain a little relief.  In Prince William County, Virginia, the first week of school is nothing but forms, forms, info packets, forms, and requests for donations.

Photo courtesy of the fabulous Miser Mom

Every class has a different set of forms to read through. And all of these freaking forms have to be signed by a parent:  "Yes, I realize that my child will be required to attend this class.  Yes, I realize that my child is required to wear clothes to school.  Yes, I realize that you think my child is a dumbass and comes from a family of litigious dumbasses who will sue you if you don't state categorically that students are required to provide their own pencils."

But today the one form that has particularly frosted my cake is a particular teacher's screed about all the nonsense up with which she will not put.  She uses very huffy language (kinda like I'm using now), and I was actually only partially offended by her tone ( I do love a teacher who won't put up with a lot of nonsense). 

But my head exploded when I read this:  " . . . so keep your electronic devices off and out of site."

People, I get that we are all busy, and everyone makes mistakes or overlooks typos, but come on! --

1.  You are a teacher.
2.  You are introducing yourself to your students, and should want them to see your best possible self.
3.  You are also introducing yourself to their parents.
4.  Some of their parents can actually read, and do know the difference between site and sight.
5.  You had the whole summer to proofread this document. 
6.  You would lower the grade of a student who made this mistake.

Harrumph!