The Long Christmas
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- Synopsis
- The Christmas is long because the author believes it takes a full season of feasting, singing, storytelling, and observing many holiday traditions to attain then maintain a Christmas state of mind in keeping with the importance of Christ's birth. Ruth Sawyer retells tales she's gathered with care and respect for the traditions and peoples who have passed them on for centuries as Christmas entertainment and inspiration. Her 9 page Introduction in which she sketches the practices of many nations since the first Christmas is as captivating as the 13 stories that follow. Who would not sympathize with the old men who, on the day before Twelfth Night, stood so long admiring the pastries through the display windows that mischievous boys nailed their coat tails to the shop walls? Before each tale is a carol from that story's country of origin. Such as the carol from the north of Spain in which Miguel brings a mouse, gray and small, for Christ's house. And a cobbler sings, "Carol clear, casting all fear out, May his sandals wear the year out." The stories are peopled with a gallery of characters spurning, embracing, and being moved by the birth of Jesus. Satan in a sombrero terrorizes shepherds who don't yet know that Jesus as been born. A Roman soldier, who laughed three times at Christians, wanders for centuries until he understands the goodness Christ brought to the world. A kind, generous girl who never had a family or home of her own because she was scorned as a tinker's daughter, is given a home for all time where she can shelter the poor. Three frightened, motherless, boys are rudely pushed out of bed by a cranky dwarf who makes them do cartwheels and stand on their heads to keep warm, but leaves them with the merriest Christmas of their lives. A hunch backed young ship builder, a starving Irish Immigrant with two cold babies, and a wise, devoted King's fool, make us believe in miracles and challenge us to help others and put love in our Christmas celebrations.
- Copyright:
- 1941
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Excellent
- Book Size:
- 199 Pages
- Publisher:
- N/A
- Date of Addition:
- 11/30/06
- Copyrighted By:
- Ruth Sawyer
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Children's Books, Literature and Fiction
- Submitted By:
- Amber W
- Proofread By:
- Lissi
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.