Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Twelve Books of Christmas (at least in our house!) - Book 6

Over the past two nights, each of my kids have requested this enchanting book. "God Gave Us Christmas" is part of the popular "God Gave Us..." series by Lisa Tawn Bergren. With a lovely message and beautiful illustrations by David Hohn, I consider it a perfect read for the holiday season. I would say it is aimed at the preschool age, but my 6-year old son enjoyed it as well.

The main character, Little Cub, has a lot of questions about Christmas including, "Who 'vented Christmas?". When her mother responds that God invented Christmas, Little Cub wants to know if God is more important than Santa. Her mother responds in the affirmative, but Little Cub is still a bit intrigued by Santa, and wants to find him. Her mother explains that Santa is quite hard to find ... but, God can be found in many places. Thus begins a polar expedition where Little Cub learns that God can be seen in everything from the Northern Lights to the melting glaciers to the flowers peeking from the ground.

Santa Claus is given props for reminding us about wonderful things like generosity and care, but the main message focuses on God - and Jesus - being the reason for Christmas.

A gentle, sweet, and warmly illustrated story about the true meaning of Christmas ... what could be better to share with your little ones?!

1 comment:

Kelly H-Y said...

Susan - So true! Speaking of veggies ... have you ever heard of VeggieTales? It's a very entertaining faith-based series starring all sorts of veggies as the characters ... led by Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. Very cute!