From the archives: Christmas chapters

First posted December 2005. (The links have been removed.)

What are your favourite non-Christmas books, adult or childrens', that have good Christmas chapters or scenes in them?

Here are a few that I thought of, beyond the really obvious ones like the first chapter of Little Women, or the Little House books (addition: or The Wind in the Willows):

Almost anything by Jean Little: she practically made it a trademark to end her novels on Christmas (or in one case, on St. Nicholas Day). From Anna is one of our favourites and, I think, one of her best Christmas chapters. (There's an excerpt from the beginning of the book at that link.)

The Middle Moffat, where Rufus gets a letter from Santa saying, "Sorry, all the ponies are at the war."

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

The Fairy Doll, by Rumer Godden. This book could be called a Christmas book anyway, but it's not all set at Christmas time.

Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild

The Ark, by Margot Benary-Isbert. This book actually has two good Christmases in it, and I'm not sure which one I like better.

Anne of Green Gables, but also Anne of Windy Poplars, where Anne reluctantly takes her grumpy co-worker home with her for the holidays.

Last but not least: Father Christmas's appearance in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Other ideas?

2017 Additions: The Four-Story Mistake; The Dolls' House, by Rumer Godden (warning that it has sad parts too); Roller Skates, by Ruth Sawyer (ditto). For grownups: several of Jan Karon's Mitford books, including the latest one, To Be Where You Are.

Christmas Countdown with Charlotte Mason, Week 5 of 12: Heroes of Faith

8 weeks until Christmas...

Here is this week's passage from Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, Chapter 26: The Eternal Child

"Children are Objective in Tendency––Now, the tendency of children is to be altogether objective, not at all subjective, and perhaps that is why they are said to be first in the kingdom of heaven. This philosophic distinction is not one which we can put aside as having no bearing on everyday life. It strikes the keynote for the training of children. In proportion as our training tends to develop the subjective principle, it tends to place our children on a lower level of purpose, character, and usefulness throughout their lives; while so far as we develop the objective principle, with which the children are born, we make them capable of love, service, heroism, worship."

In the spirit of Charlotte Mason:

Love, service, heroism, worship: these are the things that education should equip us to be and do. Love must have an object. Heroism includes fighting to save and protect others, with little thought for ourselves. Serving and worship also need someone or something outside ourselves.Were you educated with a view to "developing the objective principle?"

If not, Charlotte Mason suggests finding some little children to hang around with, and taking notes from them. (Something that Jesus also recommended.) 

Things to do this week:

If you don't have children close at hand, maybe this is a week to explore family memories and photographs. Or re-read stored-away books that brought you or your children wonder. (Some of my friends recommend The Christmas Mystery, by Jostein Gaarder.)

What's the big holiday this week that has nothing to do with pumpkins? All Saints' Day, November 1st. When our children were younger, that was the night for good clothes, the lace tablecloth, and an invisible "guest" chosen from Christian history. Such events don't need to be for children only; we continue to remember and honour those who loved, served, worshipped, and acted as heroes of faith.

Do you wear aprons? I hardly ever do at home (what do I do that's so messy?), but they are useful for helping out in the kitchen at church or somewhere, and they're also a good symbol of service. (Or you might just think they look cute.) A few years ago, I helped review a downloadable apron pattern, and while it wasn't hard to make, I was a bit shocked at the amount of new fabric it took. Fortunately there are ways around that, and this video on My Green Closet (starting at the 2:30 mark) shows how to upcycle an existing dress into a useful apron. Or you can use skirts, men's shirts, or old jeans. Tip Junkie has more apron ideas.

I don't know why, but the beginning of November always feels a bit Return-to-Narnian around here. I'm thinking of apples, sausages, and cold forest mornings. There's always the off-chance of a bit of snow, or even a lot of snow by the end of the month. Time to get hats and gloves ready for cold weather.

From the archives: Making it Christmas

First posted November 2012 (links edited)

This post is not about the spiritual side of Christmas, because that part of Christmas...the real, Joy-to-the-World Christmas... is there no matter what. This is more about the fun stuff:  the gifts, the food, the trimmings.  The things that take time, take money, or just take thought.  

For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home. --W. J. Tucker

These are not necessarily--in fact they're almost never--the same as the things that are advertised.  They're certainly not along the lines of "buy her a diamond for Christmas."

For some people, Christmas trimmings are new window blinds and ginger beer.

Marjorie Gibson is another Guyanese who believes that Christmas in the USA cannot even come near those she experienced in Guyana.

“In Guyana you would get up in the morning and look over at your neighbour to see what type of blinds (curtains) they put up, if they have new ones. Here the blinds could be up for the whole year and it does not matter,” Gibson stated....“We do have all the traditional Christmas food," [said Marilyn Harper.] "I try to make Christmas the way I remember it in Guyana. I have everything, my ginger beer, sorrel, the black cake as usual and everything.”--"U.S.-based Guyanese Dream of Christmas in the Motherland"

What has inspired your ideas about how to make Christmas?  Or what a really good Christmas would be...realistic or not?

For years, people said "Dickens' Christmas stories."  Plum pudding, holly and all that.  But I think in more recent years a more common answer has been the Little House on the Prairiebooks, slightly ad nauseum. Tin cups, mittens, and a stick of candy, and they were so happy!  For those who didn't bother to read the books, there was always that oh-so-sweet first-season T.V. episode.  And it is a classic, I admit.

Christmas is for children. But it is for grownups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.--Lenora Mattingly Weber

However, much of Mama Squirrel's holiday inspiration has come from a smaller, stranger assortment of books and even magazine articles.  One was a Focus on the Family Magazine article, saved from a time before the Squirrellings were even thought of; it was an adaptation of the Advent and Christmas chapters in Together at Home, by Dean and Grace Merrill.  One was The Light at Tern Rock, about Christmas spent in a lighthouse. Another was Carolyn Haywood's Snowbound with Betsy.

Okay, okay, Mama Squirrel has never quite grown up?  But apparently I'm not the only one who fondly recalls the part where Betsy and the other snowbound children rummage through the storeroom for anything that might make good Christmas gifts.  They come up with all kinds of kid-made crafts, and then have a sort of bazaar and do their "shopping." 

In The Light at Tern Rock, those who end up using a trunkful of stored-up holiday plunder aren't there by choice, but because of a trick by the man who filled up the trunk in the first place.  But never mind about the deceitful lighthouse keeper for now...it's the trunk that interests me, and it's an image that often comes to mind when I'm storing away things like the cans of cranberry sauce I bought on sale today, or a package of candles, or a crocheted bookmark.  Who's the bookmark for?  Sometimes I don't even know...I just keep filling the pantry shelf, and the box under the bed (or wherever it is), here and there.  Then it's just as much fun pulling everything out again and figuring out:  yes, there's enough chocolate for Quick Fruit and Nut Fudge...I still have lots of that blue yarn, enough to make a quick pair of slippers (yes, I do know who those are for)....I saw some cool plaid ornaments in the Chapters Christmas flyer, and I bet I could make something like that with the felt and Wonder-Under in the craft stash...Everyone's "box" is different.  For one family, it's filled with MCC and World Vision catalogues, the ones where a donation pays for goats, soccer balls, clean water.  Their children spend days figuring out what they can give this year.  (Definitely beats the big gimme catalogue.)

And if you get to December and the box is still too empty to look like Christmas?

Then you read, or re-read, Little House in Brookfield (not the abridged version, please) and give thanks for Christmas bread.  Sing a few choruses of "Christmas Day is in our grasp, So long as we have hands to clasp." And maybe read this practical post by the Prudent Homemaker: Christmas on a Zero Budget.

As a postscript to this, there's one other magazine article I saved from several years back.  It also appeared in the Chicken Soup books, and I found a version of it online.  It's about a mother and two little girls who were given a Christmas food box during a difficult year--but the girls, not understanding how "poor" they were, decided to give the whole thing away to a neighbor who was even worse off. ("Even her dog was sick.")  The mother's immediate reaction was "Stop! You're giving away our Christmas!"  Then she thought again: no, that is how you make it Christmas.

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. - Peg Bracken.

Dewey's Treehouse Christmas archives: where to look for things

Just so everybody knows: a while back I started a Christmas page, here; that isn't the family-keep-out page, it's a collection of links to our holiday recipes, some seasonal posts, book quizzes, a series about Christmas picture books, and Dewey's Favourite Christmas Songs (with You-tube links, most of which are still functioning). Anything from the past almost-decade, it's there.

The Christmas Stick (book review)

The Christmas Stick, by Tim J. Myers.  Illustrated by Necdet Yilmaz.  Published by Paraclete Press, November 2014.

What bad things could one say about a well-illustrated picture book that promotes low-tech, natural playthings for somewhat spoiled princes (and princesses)? Not many.

The prince (he's nameless) receives a lot of toys one Christmas that move by themselves, don't offer much scope for the imagination, and end up broken before too long. His grandmother, on the other hand, gives him a long stick, which (as you can guess) becomes his favourite plaything. In an interesting twist at the end, the prince finds a way to pass the gift on, having learned the intended lesson. Or maybe it wasn't a lesson. Maybe his grandmother just wanted him to have fun.

Taken on its own terms, The Christmas Stick is a cute story, and yes, it does have a message of simplicity (though nothing specifically about the Christian meaning of Christmas). But is it the princes (and princesses) themselves who need this message, or their parents and other lavish gift-givers? The fact that the prince never gets a name, for instance, creates a certain distance, makes him a bit less real; and the thought that the story might just be propaganda for fewer toys (and more wrapped-up sticks) might not go over well with some kids. The difficulty is not that we don't remember and acknowledge instances in our own lives when simple playthings won out; it's just that slightly defensive feeling that we, the parents, are getting a sermon here on the appeal of long sticks.

But maybe it wasn't intended that way.  Maybe the author just wanted us to have fun too. And in that case, I'd give this enough Christmas stars to pass it on to some little ones I know.

Please note that families who do not allow talk of wizards etc. will find a few references in this book offensive.

I was sent a complimentary copy of this book from the publishers, for review purposes, but  received no other compensation.

Jan Karon's Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good (book review)

Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good: A New Mitford Novel, by Jan Karon.  G.P. Putnam's Sons / Penguin Books U.S.A., 2014.

If I could beam myself to one literary place to spend an afternoon just before Christmas, I think I'd go to Mitford.

A blurb somewhere warned that the newest Mitford novel "contains death."  That made me a bit leery of reading it, as we had been treated to a good dose of funerals in the last couple of Mitford installments.  However, without giving too much away, this one does not contain any big shockers you won't like; no major characters drop dead.  A few of them are obviously not doing so well these days, and there are a couple of close calls (a joyriding teenager wrecks Father Tim's Mustang), but for most of the book that's about as far as it goes. There also aren't any Barlowe siblings left to track down, so that ends that long-running subplot.

But there are surprises.  The best one is Coot Hendrick.  For most of the series, he's been on the fringe, somewhat despised, seemingly there mostly for rural comic relief.  In this book, he takes the stage, in more ways than one (you'll have to read it to find out).  It's a reminder that nobody is too far outside the circle, what Dallas Willard called the "divine conspiracy," to be drawn in, to become important and valued, to be able to give something in return.  I will never think of Green Eggs and Ham in quite the same way again.

As she often does, Jan Karon brings everything to a climax over the Christmas season.  If you liked Shepherds Abiding, you will, almost guaranteed, like this one too.  Like Shepherds Abiding, a lot of the plot centers around the Happy Endings bookstore, but there's a twist this time: Father Tim and crew are holding things together there while the owner faces her own crisis.

And as always, there are some serious talks about faith, among the faithful, the somewhat-interested, and those still on the run.  I like Father Tim's young "mini-me," saving his allowance for a copy of Wordsworth.  I like the online Scrabble players. I can deal with the slightly melodramatic limousine subplot (no, it's not Edith this time).  About the only character that I really don't buy is Mr. Edelman who runs the shoe store; he's a little too "oy" to be believable these days.

I don't know whether this is meant to be the last Mitford book or not. There are some loose ends, some things hinted at that never get really developed, but such is life.  For those who have missed Mitford while Father Tim went wandering through Mississippi and meddling in Ireland--this is definitely recommended.

Maggie Rose, Her Birthday Christmas (Book Review)

Ruth Sawyer in 1958.  Photo found here.

Maggie Rose, Her Birthday Christmas, by Ruth Sawyer, 1952.  Pictures by Maurice Sendak.  Our copy is ex-library, found at the big annual booksale four years ago (I know because the blog says so). Spoilers Included.

Most reviews will say this is a story about people, and it is. But it's also a story about place: life in a somewhat isolated part of Maine, as it was sixty years ago.  There are coves and boats, clams and wild berries, summer cottagers...and tramps.  More on the tramps in a minute.

The lifestyle of Maggie Rose's large family is summed up like this:  "Every autumn, when cottages were being closed, the occupants had a way of saying: 'Better give this stuff to those Bunkers.'"  The parents and older children whistle-while-they-don't-work, almost to the point of stretching credulity.  (Maggie Rose bought diapers herself for the baby?)  But this is not a Cinderella, make-Maggie-Rose-slave scenario; the rest of the family are irritated by her initiative, and suggest that her constant begging to improve things is a slap in their family face.

Maggie Rose is not discouraged by the lack of parental support; she has other adults around her, including a storekeeper and a teacher friend, who try to help her out without overstepping.  With their encouragement, she finds ways to make some money over the summer, with the grand idea of hosting a neighbourhood party on Christmas Eve. (Christmas Eve is her birthday too.)  But because she has to hide her hard-earned loot in a tree (her family are well-meaning but can't be entirely trusted), it gets stolen by a tramp.

No, life isn't fair.  Yes, there is a lot of evil in the world.  However, the robbery is the needed kick in the pants for Maggie Rose's family to get busy and make up for her loss.  And they had better hurry, because Christmas is coming.

"Tim said: 'Never seen anything like it before.  I'd call it plain handsome.'   

'It was Maggie Rose who spoke last:  'It's a place fitten to celebrate a birthday Christmas.  And I'm thinking of His.'"  

Answers to the Book Quizzes

Here are the answers for the 2013 Christmas Books Quiz.

1.  Mrs McGillicuddy panted along the platform...4:50 From Paddington (alternate title: What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw), by Agatha Christie.

2."Do they sing 'Happy Birthday'?" Star wanted to know....Betsy's Winterhouse, by Carolyn Haywood.

3.What was inside looked very shiny--shiny as gold, and very complicated...Maggie Rose: Her Birthday Christmas, by Ruth Sawyer

4.   "How would you like to go to a Christmas Eve party tonight?"  he asked...The Family Under the Bridge, by Natalie Savage Carlson.

5.  For the first Christmas in our lives, we children did not get to see the big city stores and the wonderful window displays...Mama's Bank Account, by Kathryn Forbes.

Here are the answers for the Houseguests Quiz.

1.  "Tiddly, widdly, widdly, Mrs. []; you seem to have plenty of visitors!"...The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, by Beatrix Potter.

2.  There was a chirpy noise, and a small striped Chipmunk appeared with a night light, and hoped he felt better?...The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes, by Beatrix Potter

3.  That night more strangers came.  The next night there were more...By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

4.  Her aunt was muttering as she swept, as if she were talking to herself....Magic Elizabeth, by Norma Kassirer.

5.  Then, in 1939, came the World War, and just before it came Cathy..."San Fairy Ann," in The Little Bookroom, by Eleanor Farjeon.

6.  "She's in the guest room," he said....A Light in the Window, by Jan Karon.

7. Occasionally she would say pathetically, “Whenever you are tired of me just let me know . . . ":  Anne of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery.

8.  "And the Wild Wooders have been living in Toad Hall ever since....":  The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame.

9.  Now the Plantagenets were only allowed to use the attic and kitchen...The Doll's House, by Rumer Godden.  (Photo found here.)

10.  And she brought forth her firstborn son...The Gospel of Luke.

Christmas Books Quiz 2013

Are you ready for this year's Christmas Books Quiz?  It's short, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.  Answers will be posted sometime before Christmas.

1.  Mrs McGillicuddy panted along the platform in the wake of the porter carrying her suitcase.  Mrs McGillicuddy was short and stout,the porter was tall and free-striding.  In addition, Mrs McGillicuddy was burdened with a large quantity of parcels; the result of a day's Christmas shopping.  The race was, therefore, an uneven one, and the porter turned the corner on the end of the platform whilst Mrs McGillicuddy was still coming up the straight....[A bit later], she sat up and looked out the window at what she could see of the flying countryside.  It was quite dark now, a dreary misty December day--Christmas was only five days ahead.  London had been dark and dreary; the country was no less so, though occasionally rendered cheerful with its constant clusters of lights as the train flashed through towns and stations.

2."Do they sing 'Happy Birthday'?" Star wanted to know.
"Oh, no!" replied Betsy. "That isn't a Christmas carol."
"I don't see why they don't sing 'Happy Birthday,'" said Star.  "It's the little Lord Jesus's birthday, and it's my birthday."
"Well, they don't sing it," said Betsy.  "I know, because we're learning Christmas carols at school."
"I know some too," said Star....Betsy put her Christmas cards away in a box and said,  "Father likes to sing, and he makes a great big noise when he sings.  Let's go talk to Mother."

3.What was inside looked very shiny--shiny as gold, and very complicated.  There were several small packages and a picture with printing, and the words at the top read: "Christmas Chimes."  Here again were the figures of three angels, and a wheel, and what looked like different sized gongs, three of them.  There was a shaftlike thing with a point.  And a star to fit on the top.  Last of all there were three candles.  "It's something to put together," said Fuss--the one who was cleverest with his hands.  He gathered up everything, with the picture, and took them to the table.  There he set to work.  On a small round tray he fitted the angels.  From that point on he read directions and put things together until everything including the candles were in their right places.  "It says here to light the candles and the heat they send up will turn the wheel and ring the chimes...."  ....everyone waited for something to happen.  Nothing did  Had it been put together wrong?  Had they been cheated?  "The old thing won't work," said Feathers.  It was at that moment that the wheel began to turn.  Very slowly at first, then faster and faster.  From the wheel hung little metal clappers.  These struck against the gongs.  They made a slow, low tinkle at first, that grew more distinct, until suddenly the sound of sweet chimes filled the room.

4.   "How would you like to go to a Christmas Eve party tonight?"  he asked.  "A big party with food and singing and hundreds of people?"
As he had expected, the Calcets immediately forgot their house on wheels.
"Where?" asked Paul.  "In a big palace?"
"Not exactly," replied Armand.  "It's to be held under the Tournelle Bridge."  Paul's face fell.  "But it will be a grand party, I can promise you," went on Armand.  "The Notre Dame church people give it every Christmas Eve for all the hoboes of Paris and their ladies.  They'll sing carols and eat sauerkraut and wieners."

5.  For the first Christmas in our lives, we children did not get to see the big city stores and the wonderful window displays.  And Papa's toolbox was packed away in the closet with our skates.  On New Year's Eve we were allowed to stay up.  Mama made "sweet soup" for us, and she and Papa said Skoal! and wished us each a Godt Nytaar as they drank their coffee.

Answers to Christmas Books Quiz 2012

This year's Christmas Books Quiz is here.

1. Anyway by midwinter Gandalf and Bilbo had come all the way back, along both edges of the Forest, to the doors of Beorn's house; and there for a while they both stayed. Yuletide was warm and merry there; and men came from far and wide to feast at Beorn's bidding.

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)

2. She had suggested they open their gifts on Christmas evening in front of the fire, dressed in their favorite robes. Thank heaven her gift had arrived--and already wrapped, into the bargain. He'd had it delivered to Dora Pugh at the hardware, in case he couldn't be found at his office to sign for it. It was all too easy, he thought. Just call toll-free and talk to someone solicitous and give them a credit card number. It seemed a man should suffer a bit over what to give his beloved. Next year, he would do better.

These High, Green Hills, by Jan Karon (1996)

3. There were several parcels wrapped in white tissue paper, and one very large box with the inscription: "For Fräulein Maria for Distribution." Surrounded by the children I unpacked it, and out came eight pairs of woolen mittens, eight beautiful, soft, gray Wetterflecks, and eight pairs of heavy boots. This was a great surprise, and with a guilty heart, I hardly dared look at Baroness Matilda. But tonight was Christmas, and, shaking a finger at me, she only laughed.

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, by Maria Augusta Trapp (1949)

4. "Just suppose Mrs. Beck had had to bring him up! What would he have been like?" "She wouldn't!" said Rand. "She'd have put him out on the doorstep...We must take great care to bring him up to know the Lord. Dale, I'm going to start in this Christmas Day telling him all about it! I'll tell him the story of the angels and the shepherds and the wise men, and the Christ who came and lived and died for him! I'll begin right away and I'll keep it up day after day. He's not going to able to say he never heard the truth." "George, how perfectly absurd! As if a baby like that could understand words!" said Dale with a tender smile. "Well, he may not be able to understand words," said Rand stubbornly, "but he's learning them all the time, and somehow he finds out what things mean."

Partners, by Grace Livingston Hill  (1940)

5. The window looked into the courtyard and all there was to see was the windows, storey above story, of the rooms opposite. On the gray Christmas morning it looked incredibly cheerless....While the maid was getting the logs he dressed himself, and then, when she got busy setting things to rights, he sat down and looked at the grim courtyard. He thought disconsolately of the jolly party at the Terry-Masons'. They would be having a glass of sherry now before sitting down to their Christmas dinner of turkey and plum pudding, and they would all be very gay, pleased with their Christmas presents, noisy and jolly.

Christmas Holiday, by Somerset Maugham (1939)

6. "A tree should have tinsel," said Mrs. Jones. She bought some tinsel. "And candles," she said. "Candles are prettier than electric light." She bought twelve red candles....And a tree should have some balls, thought Mrs. Jones, glass balls in jewel colors, ruby-red, emerald-green, and gold. She bought some balls and a box of tiny silver crackers and a tinsel star. When she got home she stood the tree in the window and dressed it, putting the star on top. "Who is to look at it?" asked Mr. Jones. Mrs. Jones thought for a moment and said, "Christmas needs children, Albert." Albert was Mr. Jones's name. "I wonder," said Mrs. Jones. "Couldn't we find a little girl?"

The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden (1958)

7. Imogene had the baby doll but she wasn't carrying it the way she was supposed to, cradled in her arms. She had it slung up over her shoulder, and before she put it in the manger she thumped it twice on the back. I heard Alice gasp and she poked me. "I don't think it's very nice to burp the baby Jesus," she whispered, "as if he had colic." Then she poked me again. "Do you suppose he could have had colic?"

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson (1972)

8. "Greetings, greetings, greetings," said the three children. "What's that about?" said Mrs. Rogers. "You said to greet Aunt Myra with Carols," said Amelia Bedelia. "Here's Carol Lee, Carol Green, and Carol Lake." "What lovely Carols," said Aunt Myra. "Thank you."

Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia, by Peggy Parish (1986)

9. Santa Claus appeared to be rather doubtful. But Harold confidently went to work lining up the reindeer. Soon Prancer and Dancer were pawing at the snow, eager to be off around the world. Harold wasn't quite certain of the names of the other reindeer. But he made sure there were eight of them. They were all handsome and spirited animals.

Harold at the North Pole, by Crockett Johnson (1958)

10. It was past Vespers on Christmas Eve before Cadfael had time to make a brief visit to the town, to spend at least an hour with Aline, and take a gift to his two-year-old godson, a little wooden horse that Martin Bellecote the master-carpenter had made for him, with gaily coloured harness and trappings fit for a knight, made out of scraps of felt and cloth and leather by Cadfael himself...."I can stay no more than an hour," said Cadfael, as the boy scrambled down again to play with his new toy. "I must be back for Compline, and very soon after that begins Matins, and we shall be up all the night until Prime and the dawn Mass...." When he noted the sand in the glass and rose to take his leave, he went out from the hall into the bright glitter of frost, and a vault of stars now three times larger than when first they appeared, and crackling with brilliance....This night, the eve of the Nativity, hung about the town utterly still and silent, not a breath to temper the bite of the frost. Even the movements of such men as were abroad seemed hushed and almost stealthy, afraid to shake the wonder.

The Raven in the Foregate (Brother Cadfael Mysteries), by Ellis Peters (1986)

Any more guesses on the Christmas books quiz?

I'm going to post the answers very soon.

But you still have time to guess!

Christmas Books Quiz, 2012

Here is an early Christmas present for Treehouse readers.  This year's quiz just may be the hardest yet...or it may be the easiest, depending on what books you've read!  Answers are here.

1.  Anyway by midwinter [they] had come all the way back, along both edges of the Forest, to the doors of B----'s house; and there for a while they both stayed.  Yuletide was warm and merry there; and men came from far and wide to feast at B----'s bidding.

2.  She had suggested they open their gifts on Christmas evening in front of the fire, dressed in their favorite robes.  Thank heaven her gift had arrived--and already wrapped, into the bargain.  He'd had it delivered to Dora Pugh at the hardware, in case he couldn't be found at his office to sign for it.  It was all too easy, he thought.  Just call toll-free and talk to someone solicitous and give them a credit card number.  It seemed a man should suffer a bit over what to give his beloved.  Next year, he would do better.

3.  There were several parcels wrapped in white tissue paper, and one very large box with the inscription: "For Fräulein M----- for Distribution."  Surrounded by the children I unpacked it, and out came eight pairs of woolen mittens, eight beautiful, soft, gray Wetterflecks, and eight pairs of heavy boots.  This was a great surprise, and with a guilty heart, I hardly dared look at Baroness Matilda.  But tonight was Christmas, and, shaking a finger at me, she only laughed.

4. "Just suppose Mrs. Beck had had to bring him up!  What would he have been like?"  "She wouldn't!" said Rand.  "She'd have put him out on the doorstep...We must take great care to bring him up to know the Lord.  Dale, I'm going to start in this Christmas Day telling him all about it!  I'll tell him the story of the angels and the shepherds and the wise men, and the Christ who came and lived and died for him!  I'll begin right away and I'll keep it up day after day.  He's not going to able to say he never heard the truth."  "George, how perfectly absurd!  As if a baby like that could understand words!" said Dale with a tender smile.  "Well, he may not be able to understand words," said Rand stubbornly, "but he's learning them all the time, and somehow he finds out what things mean."

5.   The window looked into the courtyard and all there was to see was the windows, storey above story, of the rooms opposite.  On the gray Christmas morning it looked incredibly cheerless....While the maid was getting the logs he dressed himself, and then, when she got busy setting things to rights, he sat down and looked at the grim courtyard.  He thought disconsolately of the jolly party at the Terry-Masons'.  They would be having a glass of sherry now before sitting down to their Christmas dinner of turkey and plum pudding, and they would all be very gay, pleased with their Christmas presents, noisy and jolly.

(Good gracious, we definitely need something more cheerful after that one.)

6.  "A tree should have tinsel," said Mrs. Jones.  She bought some tinsel.  "And candles," she said.  "Candles are prettier than electric light."  She bought twelve red candles....And a tree should have some balls, thought Mrs. Jones, glass balls in jewel colors, ruby-red, emerald-green, and gold.  She bought some balls and a box of tiny silver crackers and a tinsel star.  When she got home she stood the tree in the window and dressed it, putting the star on top.  "Who is to look at it?" asked Mr. Jones.  Mrs. Jones thought for a moment and said, "Christmas needs children, Albert."  Albert was Mr. Jones's name.  "I wonder," said Mrs. Jones.  "Couldn't we find a little girl?"

7.  Imogene had the baby doll but she wasn't carrying it the way she was supposed to, cradled in her arms.  She had it slung up over her shoulder, and before she put it in the manger she thumped it twice on the back.  I heard Alice gasp and she poked me.  "I don't think it's very nice to burp the baby Jesus," she whispered, "as if he had colic."  Then she poked me again.  "Do you suppose he could have had colic?"

8.  "Greetings, greetings, greetings," said the three children.  "What's that about?" said Mrs. Rogers.  "You said to greet Aunt Myra with Carols," said ---.  "Here's Carol Lee, Carol Green, and Carol Lake."  "What lovely Carols," said Aunt Myra.  "Thank you."

9.  Santa Claus appeared to be rather doubtful.  But Harold confidently went to work lining up the reindeer.  Soon Prancer and Dancer were pawing at the snow, eager to be off around the world.  Harold wasn't quite certain of the names of the other reindeer.  But he made sure there were eight of them.  They were all handsome and spirited animals.

10.  It was past Vespers on Christmas Eve before C------ had time to make a brief visit to the town, to spend at least an hour with Aline, and take a gift to his two-year-old godson, a little wooden horse that Martin Bellecote the master-carpenter had made for him, with gaily coloured harness and trappings fit for a knight, made out of scraps of felt and cloth and leather by C------ himself...."I can stay no more than an hour," said C------, as the boy scrambled down again to play with his new toy.  "I must be back for Compline, and very soon after that begins Matins, and we shall be up all the night until Prime and the dawn Mass...."  When he noted the sand in the glass and rose to take his leave, he went out from the hall into the bright glitter of frost, and a vault of stars now three times larger than when first they appeared, and crackling with brilliance....This night, the eve of the Nativity, hung about the town utterly still and silent, not a breath to temper the bite of the frost.  Even the movements of such men as were abroad seemed hushed and almost stealthy, afraid to shake the wonder.

Answers will be posted when we get a good snowfall.  UPDATE:  I didn't mean that quite so literally...it started snowing the evening after I posted this, and we woke up with enough snow to shovel.  But you'll still have to wait for the answers.

All-new Treehouse Christmas book quiz, Now With Hints

Answers are posted here.

If you've ever tried one of our Treehouse Christmas Quizzes before, you know that we like to play hard.  But we hope you have fun too.  (2009 Quiz. 2007 Snowed-in Quiz, mixed with a Carnival of Homeschooling. 2006 Quiz.  2006 Quiz with helpful hints.)

UPDATE:  No guesses yet?  Okay, Round Two:   I've added hints.

As always:  your "mission Impossible, played on jingle bells" (to quote Amy Dacyczyn) is to identify the book or story to which the passage belongs. 

Ready?

1.  We went early to bed on this holiday night.  For Christmas morning was to be unlike any we had ever known.  It began with a blue mirage.  We were away at sunrise, driving south, then west to Yaqui Well.  Looking east toward the Salton Sea, across the California Painted Desert, we became aware of what appeared to be a range of distant mountains, bluish and banded.  As we watched, they altered shape.  The higher peaks became lower.  The skyline changed.  At times, we seemed to see trees and buildiings, all vague and wavering, as though glimpsed through blue water.  By the time we turned away, the long mirage had begun to dissolve into vertical bands of lighter and darker blue.

Hints:  Ambleside Online.  Natural History.  Seasons.

2.  On the night of Christmas Eve the Abbey was so still it might have been thought to be empty, or the nuns asleep, but when the bell sounded at ten o'clock, from all corners, especially from the church, silent figures made their way to their station in the long cloister....Voice succeeded voice through two hours until the priests, vested in white and gold, with their servers came in procession from the sacristy for the tenderness and triumph of the midnight Mass. Lauds of Christmas followed straight after, and at two o'clock the community went to the refectory for hot soup, always called "cock soup" because it was the first taste of meat or chicken they had had since Advent began; the soup was served with rice--"beautifully filling," said Hilary in content--and after it came two biscuits and four squares of chocolate. "Chocolate!" "We need to keep our strength up," said Dame Ursula.

Hints:  Author better known for children's books.  Nuns.  Film with Diana Rigg.

3.  Mother used to send a box of candy every Christmas to the people the Airedale bit.  The list finally contained forty or more names.  Nobody could understand why we didn't get rid of the dog.  I didn't understand it very well myself, but we didn't get rid of him....Muggs lived to be almost eleven years old and even when he could hardly get around he bit a Congressman who had called to see my father on business.  My mother had never liked the Congressman....but she sent him a box of candy that Christmas.  He sent it right back, probably because he suspected it was trick candy.  Mother persuaded herself it was all for the best....

Hints:  American humorist who liked to draw odd cartoons.

4.  "I wish I had a pink Angora sweater," Anne said.  "Marilyn has two.  A pale blue one and a pale pink one."
  "Two?" Joan said.  "Are you sure? They're twenty-five dollars, you know."
  "Marilyn's rich," Anne said.  "She gets thirty-five dollars a month just to spend on clothes."
  Don said, "I can't understand why we let the Russians into Berlin."
  Anne said, "Marilyn's going to spend Christmas in Palm Springs."
  I said, "Palm Springs is the last place I would want to spend Christmas.  Who wants hot weather and palm trees for Christmas?"
  "I do," Anne said wistfully.  "I'm so sick of rain I could die."
  "Me too," Joan said.  "Marilyn's going to get her own car when she's sixteen."
  Don said, "Of course Russia had the world bluffed and our policy of appeasement, uncertainty and double-talk isn't fooling anybody but ourselves."
  I said, "Possessions don't bring happiness.  Happiness is something you must find in your own self."
  "Well, it would be a lot easier to find if I had a car of my own," Anne said.

Hint:  Author of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books.

5.  But in XXX village the bells rang merrily, and the church was fuller than all through the rest of the year, with red faces among the abundant dark-green boughs--faces prepared for a longer service than usual by an odourous breakfast of toast and ale.  Those green boughs, the hymn and anthem never heard but at Christmas....brought a vague exulting sense, for which the grown men could as little have found words as the children, that something great and mysterious had been done for them in heaven above and in earth below, which they were appropriating by their presence.  And then the red faces made their way through the black biting frost to their own homes, feeling themselves free for the rest of the day to eat, drink, and be merry, and using that Christmas freedom without diffidence.

Hint:  Classic English novel, NOT Dickens.  Missing gold.

6.  December is the first winter month.  The ground is often covered with snow.  The days are dark and cold and night falls early.  Now is the time to be in the barn.  There is hay and grain to eat.  There are places to play or hide or dream.  There are warm straw beds.  December is the last month of the year.  Now is the time to catch up on sleep. Everyone goes to bed earlier in wintertime.

Hint:  Children's book.  Lots of animals.

7.  "Well, my last crime was a Christmas crime, a cheery, cosy, English middle-class crime; a crime of Charles Dickens.  I did it in a good old middle-class house near Putney, a house with a crescent of carriage drive, a house with a stable by the side of it, a house with the name on the two outer gates, a house with a monkey tree.  Enough, you know the species.  I really think my imitation of Dickens's style was dexterous and literary.  It seems almost a pity I repented the same evening."

Hint:  English detective stories, NOT Agatha Christie.

8.  For all of our twenty-eight years in Switzerland we have had the five-o'clock Christmas Eve Service in Champéry, with over a hundred candles to be put in wooden candleholders made of rough logs, and also fastened on fresh green trees....The Christmas tree has been trimmed the night before, during a traditional time of drinking iced ginger ale and eating homemade Christmas cookies spread out in lovely rows on a tray.  The Christmas stockings, filled with all sorts of interesting but inexpensive things, are the old hand-knitted stockings our girls wore the first years in Switzerland.  Full of holes, but still usable, they add much in the way of memories as they are pulled out one night and filled and then found on Christmas morning. 

Hint:  Wife of well-known 20th century theologian.

9.  It didn't matter any more that she had once chased me through the Glen with a codfish--it didn't matter that she had smeared goose-grease all over my dreams of romance....I would never dislike Mary Vance again.  I went over to her and kissed her....She got Susan and me a tip-top breakfast and made us eat it, and 'bossed the life out of us,' as Susan says, for two days, until the roads were opened so that she could get home.  [The baby] was almost well by that time and father turned up.  He heard our tale without saying much.  Father is rather scornful generally about what he calls 'old wives' remedies.'  He laughed a little and said, 'After this, Mary Vance will expect me to call her in for consultation in all my serious cases.'  So Christmas was not so hard as I expected it to be; and  now the New Year is coming--and we are still hoping for the 'Big Push' that will end the war....

Hint:  Last book in famous Canadian fiction series.

10.  I do think it's a very uneven exchange of Christmas presents. You'll eat yours up in a week and have nothing left to show for it by New Year's Day. I'll have mine till the day I die--and die happy in the knowledge that I'm leaving it behind for someone else to love. I shall sprinkle pale pencil marks through it pointing out the best passages to some book-lover yet unborn. Thank you all. Happy New Year.

Hint:  Film with Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft.  Lots and lots of books.