Lois Lenski's Christmas Stories

Written and illustrated by Lois Lenski (1968)

From ice skating on cranberry bogs near Cape Cod to Christmas programs in a one-room schoolhouse on the Dakota prairie, here are boundless glimpses of American Christmases gathered in Lois Lenski's Christmas Stories. This anthology is a bright patchwork of American yuletides, from a Puritan fete to a modern Christmas in a city apartment, affording information about how religion, nationality, tradition, occupation, and even climate have contributed to its jubilations. Interspersed with the author's own illustrations and poetry, most of these stories were collected from Lois Lenski's other books for children. Her fascination with the holiday is evident and will be infectious to those reading these tales aloud! If you're searching for Christmas repertoire-simple prose with a dash of historical savvy for children-Lois Lenski's Christmas Stories is worthy of consideration.

Can you imagine belonging to a Puritan household in 1640 that did not partake of Christmas revelry? Since Christmas mirth often dissipated into drunkenness in England, the Puritans prohibited the holiday, replacing Christmas and saints' days with Thanksgiving and Election Day. In "Day of Work and No Cheer," the first selection in Lois Lenski's Christmas Stories, blithe Aunt Charity (recently arrived from England) notes that the Puritans' mentality is survival, not "jollity." Declaring that the settlers' lives are too dark and drab, Aunt Charity tantalizes her nephews' and nieces' minds with English notions of Yule logs, Yule cakes, amusements, and songs. Through the intervention of their fun-loving aunt, the Partridge children begin to fete Christmas-the holiday spurned by the governor and the parson as an abomination and ruination of their souls-and the pall of their heaviness is dispelled. But the town magistrate hears of the gala and demands, "What meaneth this frumpery?" You will delight in the quaintness of this Puritan episode.

Gradually, after 300 years of Puritan-inspired disparagement, Christmas became more acceptable in the United States. "How Christmas Came to Blueberry Corners" shows this timely truce as it affected a Connecticut clan in 1840. The daughter of a poor Congregationalist minister, Becky Griswold becomes jealous when a rich classmate, Julie Ann from the Episcopal church, boasts of her elegant Christmases and the gifts she expects to receive. Christmas is a foreign word to Becky Griswold, and Julie Anna's descriptions of a tree hung with gold and silver apples and gifts of lovely dolls dazzle the children who attend the Meeting House. The Meeting House people (Congregationalists) did not espouse Christmas. Becky is aware that Christmas is "somehow wrong and forbidden. Others might enjoy it, but not the parson's family." Lois Lenski skillfully renders Becky's emotions during this crisis: "Suddenly it seemed dreadful to be the parson's children. It meant being poorer than anybody else. It meant wearing heavy calfskin shoes instead of morocco buskins like Julie Anna's. It meant homespun gowns instead of muslin delaine or bombazette, and sunbonnets instead of gypsy bonnets -" Read "How Christmas Came to Blueberry Corners," after all, and how Becky's father later praised her for showing the family the "true spirit of Christmas," which was seeking their wealth above her own.

"The Pink China Bonbon Dish" concerns a German Lutheran family nestled in Ohio at the turn of the century and is based on the author's own childhood. Mina's Christmas is spoiled by an act of theft. As she presents her mother with the pink dish she has pilfered from Mr. Werdenhoff's store on Christmas Day, Mina learns that honesty is better than sacrifice! The story percolates with holiday festivity-gifts concocted in secret, singing carols, and Christmas fare of fried sausage, turkey, and twisted rolls covered in white icing.

Resourcefulness and contentment abound in a sharecropper's family during lean times in "The Uninvited Guest." "Picking cotton was a family affair for the sharecropper," Ms. Lenski commented. "Every pound, picked even by a small child, was needed to increase the total. A good crop meant food and clothing for the family for the coming winter, and the chance to stay in their meager cabin for another year - White cotton seldom brought the cotton family a white Christmas and more often, no Christmas at all - Sometimes someone stepped in, saw their great need, and helped make Christmas for them." Diminishing funds and sparse kitchen cupboards could not keep this Arkansas family-rich in laughter and joy-from celebrating. The Hutley children cut a cypress tree from the bayou and furnish decorations from empty tin cans, joyfully sharing their supper of Great Northern beans, goose, and stewed tomatoes with an impromptu visitor. Setting an extra place at the table on Christmas Day was based on Mrs. Hutley's Tennessee childhood tradition.

"The Christmas Program" exudes the revelry and boisterous fun of a drove of schoolchildren and their families who enjoy refreshments and skits in a cozy schoolhouse on the prairie (circa 1940-50). A gift exchange and distribution of nuts and halvah (taffylike candy purchased at the general store) are followed by the families' anxious return home as a blizzard threatens. Being snowbound in isolated farmhouses and schoolhouses for weeks was not uncommon! The one-room schoolhouse boasted an additional two rooms, called the "teacherage," for the schoolteacher's residence; it was not possible for the teacher to travel back and forth from the nearest town, so she or he lived there during the school year.

There are more stories like these in Lois Lenski's Christmas Stories. Admittedly, the emphasis is directed toward tradition rather than the birth of Christ, but I think most of us will enjoy the spirit of family, simplicity, and warmth this book contains.

The Christmas Stories of George MacDonald

Written by George MacDonald and illustrated by Linda Hill Griffith (1981)

Another recommendation for the English among us is The Christmas Stories of George MacDonald (adorned with the riveting illustrations of Linda Hill Griffith), a classic feast of words and art. Scottish novelist, Christian, and father of 13, George MacDonald (1824-1905) evinced his ability to write directly to children (or the childlike, as he protested) and his sensitivity toward a child's heart and imagination. Small folk will be mesmerized by the sketches of Victorian life, and adults will discover in these stories truth for themselves as well.

"My Uncle Peter" (abridged from Adela Cathcart, 1870) concerns a lovable, boisterous bachelor who delights his relations with his hilarious antics and finds a "chief outlet for his brotherly love" in bouts of generosity toward all. Uncle Peter's birthday is Christmas, so the holiday is invested with particular significance. One Yuletide, he rescues an abused waif whom he adopts as his daughter. Sometime later, Little Christmas is snatched away by her former, loveless guardians - ultimately, she is delivered and reunited with her wonderful Uncle Peter.

In "A Scot's Christmas Story" (abridged from Illustrated London News, December 1865), a highland girl searches for her erring elder brother in Edinburgh just as the family's sheepdog, Jumper, ferrets lost lambs in the wild winds. "There are other winds in the world besides those which shake the fleeces of sheep and the beards of men, or scatter the walls of cottages abroad over the hillsides," George MacDonald wrote. "There are winds that blow up huge storms inside the hearts of men and women, and blow till the great clouds full of tears rain down from the eyes." Willy's dubious conduct is the wind in this family's life, and Nelly's "courage and resolution" are marshaled in this endeavor to rescue her brother. You will love the parallels or "mirrors" between sheep-tending on a Scottish farm and spiritual shepherding, reminding us to be persistent with others.

"The Gifts of the Child Christ" (abridged from The Gifts of the Child Christ and Other Stories, 1882) is my personal favorite of George MacDonald's trio. This selection is a whimsical blending of two worlds-that of a well-to-do London family and the miracle of the Savior" birth. Phosy, a child hungry for affection, bereft of love, gathers from her pastor's sermon one December Sabbath that "in some wonderful way, the baby Jesus was born every Christmas day afresh." The expectation of this marvel coincides with the fact that Phosy's stepmother is expecting a baby. The story intricately weaves these two aspects together in a way that encompasses life and death, healing and hope. George MacDonald tells us that "so entranced" was Phosy's heart "with the expectation of Jesus' promised visit," that on Christmas morn she went at once to the "spare room, with which she associated ideas of state and grandeur" as behooved the honored Guest. Phosy's faith and anticipation of the Master's arrival become a powerful symbol to us of the childlike hope we all should have in our relationship with Christ. You will be blessed by this story of a child's reverent longing, not for Santa Claus, but for the love of Christ.