Christmas Thoughts
by the Lamberts

When the holiday season comes around each year, we like to pull out these old favorites. We share the titles with you in hopes that some will become treasured traditions in your home, too.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
by Susan Wojciechowski
One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham
Tree of Cranes by Allen Say
Papa Panov's Special Day by Ruben Saillens
(Adapted by Leo Tolstoy) Retold by Mig Holder
The Beautiful Christmas Tree by Charlotte Zolotow
All is Well by Frank E. Peretti
The Twelve Days of Christmas Illustrated by Jan Brett
The Cristmas Box by JeAnne Stewart Wetzel
(There are surprisingly many stories with this same title. The one we have recommended is by Wetzel.)
The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown,
Illustrated by Barbara Cooney
The Christmas Camel by Nancy Winslow Parker
Babar and Father Christmas by Jean de Brunhoff
Cranberry Christmas by Wende Devlin
(We still love Cranberry Thanksgiving the best, but this story is fun and we made the de-licious cranberry cookies!! We did add a little orange extract and a few spices.)
The Tree That Stayed Up Until Next Christmas by Robert Kraus

These suggested titles are not meant to be used for a week at a time (in Five in a Row style), but just to be read and enjoyed with your family anytime during December. We hope you will be able to find a few of these titles in bookstores and at libraries. You might want to use Inter-Library Loan to obtain a title or two, but be aware that they may come in as "seven-day" books which you would need to use and return quickly.

In addition to the booklist above, here is a listing of holiday readings which are small portions of larger works. These passages may be more meaningful to older children and to those who are previously acquainted with these works as a whole.

"Dulce Domum" from The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Graham
"The Crachett's Dinner in the 2nd Spirit"
from The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
"The Spell is Broken" from The Chronicles of Narnia,
by C. S. Lewis
"Christmas" from Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott
"Conscience Pudding" from The Treasure Seekers,
by Edith Nesbit

We hope that you can enjoy some of these readings as you make holiday memories with your family.

So many times this Season becomes one of fast paced activities and frantic gift searches. We'd like to share the following with you. These are the words to a song we are only quoting from memory. The wording may not be completely accurate, yet the gentle reminder is there:

It's Christmas dear Jesus, please stay close to me.
I'm so tangled in ribbons and tinsel and trees--
That I can't even see you
And I don't stop to see
The poor and the helpless--the ones who need me.

From all of us at Five in a Row may your Christmas season be filled with the love, the peace and the service of the Lord Jesus.