Christmas: For many it means crowded box stores. For others, shopping for the best deals online. For still others, it can be defined in one word: family. No matter which group one belongs to, the holidays - no matter how rewarding - are often a hectic race to that big day, December 25th. Now, more than ever, it's important to self-care, whether that means finding a creative outlet, curling up with a book, or sharing a holiday classic with others.

Christmas Designs for Stained-glass Windows
Grossett & Dunlap, 1978
ISBN: 0-448-16344-6
$1.95, 20 pp

This simple craft book puts the emphasis on doing. With simple instructions, it provides the know-how to create Christmas themed "pseudo" stained-glass. (They're entirely made of paper.) With four designs and full-color examples of the finished product, it offers guidance in easy-to-understand directions to complete your stained-glass creations through the use of templates. A godsend for anyone looking to create simple holiday decor that's off the beaten path.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
by Barbara Robinson
HarperCollins, 2005
ISBN: 978-0-06-440275-0
$6.99, 108 pp

First published in 1972, Barbara Robinson's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever has become a holiday favorite. Written for readers with somewhere between beginning and intermediate skills, it's a story that's gained fans young and old alike. The simple narration is told through the eyes of a child about a common tradition played out in churches around the world: the annual Christmas pageant.

When the Herdman children (think of the worst family in your neighborhood - unsupervised, rowdy, irreverent and full of mischief) are allowed to participate in the annual Christmas pageant against everyone's better judgement, they result in bullying their way into the meatiest roles, and the production is prematurely written off as a failure.

Similar to John Irving's pageant in A Prayer for Owen Meany, in which anything that can go wrong does, Robinson's pageant holds that same inevitability for disaster . . .

Similar to John Irving's pageant in A Prayer for Owen Meany (Ballantine Books, $6.99), in which anything that can go wrong does, Robinson's pageant holds that same inevitability for disaster, but disaster never pans out. Instead, the Herdmans do everything right - although different from past pageants - and the attendees gain a new appreciation for those they otherwise think lesser of than themselves. A spirited story, Pageant emphasizes the message of Christmas by embracing our differences.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
by Robert L. May
Golden Press, 1958
Illustrated by Richard Scarry
.29, 24 pp

The term "classic" is overused these days. But some things cannot be described any other way, whether they be a song, film, or book.

For many of my generation, Gene Autry's crooning over a little reindeer is the earliest song in their memory. Released in 1949, it clinched Rudolph's status as a holiday icon. The story (in case you've been in a coma) is about Rudolph, a reindeer living at the North Pole with an odd physical anomaly: his nose glows. One Christmas Eve, Santa can't get his sleigh off the ground due to fog. Rudolph's talent for lighting the way is discovered, and what's once a source of scorn, becomes a cause for celebration. The story, now approaching 85 years, has become synonymous with the holidays, and the song, a Christmas tradition. If that isn't the definition of a holiday classic, I don't know what is. Adapted by Barbara Shook Hazen.

posted 12/04/22

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