December Books, Day 29: Two books by Marguerite de Angeli

Elin's Amerika (1941)
Up the Hill (1942)

Here's an interesting blog post about Marguerite de Angeli's books, at Under the Gables.

These aren't Christmas books, but they both have Christmas parts in them.

She could see glittering paper stars and colored hearts that hung from the ceiling.  She could see the candy canes and the clear candy toys, the piles of cakes filled with prune jam, the poppy seed cakes, and best of all, the gingerbread St. Nicholas, with pink sugar buttons and frosted beard.

"Oh!" sighed Aniela.  "What lovely pierniki!  And see, Tadzio, see the chrósty!  Do you think Mamusia will have chrósty?  Ummmm!  It smells so good, and I am so hungry.  Today, it seems as if night would never come...."

Snow had fallen all night and lay inches deep in the little Pennsylvania mining town.....Everyone carried an armful of bundles and wreaths of green.  Ropes of laurel were strung across the the street from the lamp-posts.  Bells jingled on the harness when a horse and sleigh passed....

"Look!" said Aniela, pointing up over the church steeple.  "There it is! There is the first star!"--Up the Hill

Then it was the day before Christmas, Jul Eve. Elin woke with a shiver of excitement...on Jul Eve all sorts of strange things could happen! The animals were said to have the power of speech, and one must be careful not to say the real name of the wolf, or the rat, or the bear. One must say, "Mr. Graybones," or "Mr. Longtail," or "Mr. Heavypaw." Then they would never suspect they were being noticed and would stay in their places. The Tomte would talk to the animals, and at midnight they would fall on their knees in worship....

There was no "lutfisk" for supper as there used to be in Sweden, but Mor cooked the salt codfish. There was corn bread and Jul ale and potatoes and clotted cream. The candles were lighted, and a huge fire made the stuga bright....

After she was in bed Elin lay watching the flickering Christmas candle, thinking how she would like to see the Tomte when he found the suit Moder had made for him and the little red cord and tassels she had made. She wished she might see him eating his bowl of porridge and hear how he would talk to the animals....The next thing Elin knew Fader was poking at the fire. It was still as dark as night, but it was Christmas morning.--Elin's Amerika