Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Location: Books & Such Main Office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
For December (and the last vestiges of November), we’ve decided to create blogs with a bit more of a personal touch. We’ll each take a turn every week to write about a favorite aspect of Christmas. Many of our topics will connect to books because, well, everyone at Books & Such happens to love them. And we’ll periodically sprinkle in a writer’s tip like a dusting of powdered sugar on a Christmas confection.
This week each of us will write about our favorite children’s Christmas book. You know, the one that makes you want to snuggle up next to the fireplace, sip a Christmas-spiced hot drink and enjoy the book all over again.
For me, that book would be The Nativity by Julie Vivas. 
I discovered this book as an adult but was so head-over-heels with the charm of its illustrations and warmth of its story, that I had to grab the book off the store’s shelf and head home with the treasure.
The storyline is, of course, predictable: Jesus’s birth. But the author-illustrator captures the event in a way that reminds us of the everyday-ness of this extraordinary pregnancy and delivery. One illustration shows Mary, truly great with child, standing by the donkey as she prepares for the journey. Mary is wearing her house slippers because, as women know, swollen feet don’t like regular shoes. And Joseph looks as though he’s puzzling over how to hoist the “great with child” mother-to-be onto the donkey.
I found myself smiling over every illustration and revisiting the biggest Christmas story of them all with fresh eyes.
In what ways does your favorite children’s Christmas story remind you of what all the holiday fuss is about?
My favorite stories have been the ones my students have written for Lauraine Snelling’s BlessingND.com site. They write about the Christmas story in a way so very their own. Like the story you enjoy, Janet, I get a fresh perspective on the reason for the season through their eyes.
Any holiday story that focuses on Christ’s birth and the great gift of grace we have been given quickly becomes a favorite of mine. Books that focus on sharing God’s love, sincerely expressing gratitude, and the abundance of joy we have to share with others hit my heart just right. Books that show how we can relate with the reality of and ability to relate to Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16) and therefore experience blessed salvation and gratitude.
I’ll try to narrow down a favorite by the end of week. Picking one will be a tough task! I look forward to the other recommendations this week.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. “Hey! Unto you a child is born!” Love the TV version too.
One of my great joys this year was to discover a childrens Christmas story – as yet unpublished. It’s about the angel choir preparing for the announcement of Jesus’ birth.
The author is a friend who lives in Hutchinson, Kansas. And the delightful illustrations are the work beautiful young lady from Galva, Kansas.
I pray that it will be available in published form for next Christmas so that the rest of the world can share it.
Edit, edit! And the delightful illustrations are the work of a beautiful young lady from Galva, Kansas.
One of my favorite short stories is “A Pint of Judgment” by Elizabeth Morrow. While it has a more secular flavor, the humor and glimpse into a child’s perspective of this wonderful season gives me warm fuzzies.
I bought a book a few years ago that was like no other Christmas story I had ever read. It is so cute. It is called “If your misisng baby Jesus.” By Jean Gietzen. Good for the whole family.
I almost picked the Best Christmas Pageant Ever, because I love the touching humor of it. But then I decided to go with a lesser-known book that I also love.
May we each find time this holiday season to actually sit down to enjoy a treasured Christmas children’s book.
I am ordering this for my kiddo’s for Christmas! I’m glad you did a lesser known book otherwise I would not have found this great gift. Thanks for the review.