Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Holiday Book




Along with church, gifts, food and family, my rural Christmases included Christmas stories. This Ideals book was given to me by my Aunt Sharron Powell Grantz, 1965. I read it many times, as a child, and not always at Christmas.

After my children were born, I read Christmas Stories that Never Grow Old to them.  However, my daughter felt that the stories were sad.

 





My favorite story in the book is The Little Match Girl. It is a sad story, but sometimes life is sad. Without sadness and hardship, stories would be boring.

 
 
 
 
Thanks, Auntie Sharron, for my Holiday Book: Christmas stories That Never Grow Old.
Sharron, Bobby, Ronnie (my brother), Me, Tim
(Bobby and Tim, children of my Uncle Donnie Powell)
 
 
A long, long time ago--on a bitter cold New Year's eve--a poor little girl with bare feet was trudging along through the cold deep snow. (Adaptation from Hans Christian Anderson)
 
The memories of my book live on. 

17 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Teresa .. that's wonderful that you had your special holiday book - I can't remember one special book .. we did have an area for us kids with books in ..

I particularly remember the 12 Fairy Book collections .. all labelled with a different colour - they were collected by Andrew Lang and published the late 1980s ..

Love that photo of you and your brother, aunt and cousins .. fun! Cheers Hilary

Anonymous said...

What a nice memory to share with your children. Those are the best kinds of holiday traditions. Thanks for sharing.

The Road We’ve Shared A to Z

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

The Little Match Girl is a sad story since she dies at the end.
I don't believe I have any books from when I was a child.

Nancy said...

Such a treasure -- the old Christmas books are so special. xo

Mary Aalgaard said...

There is something endearing about The Little Match Girl. Terribly sad, yes, but she goes to Heaven in the end. And, she still dreams.

Play off the Page

Anonymous said...

I think one of the Pixar or Disney movies did a little short about the Little Match Girl. It was cute, but so sad.

Arlee Bird said...

Sad stories can teach us a lot about life and happiness. I loved books when I was a child. The earliest books I have are from when I was 7 years old. They're a Bible from my pastor and some religious books my father gave me that Christmas when I was that age.

I treasure those books.

Lee
A Faraway View
An A to Z Co-host blog

Pat Hatt said...

Sometimes sad can strike more of a cord than happy indeed

Paula said...

It is too bad we have sad in our lives. But without the sad we never know how good the happy is. Glad that you visited me so that I could find this sweet blog!

Lisa said...

I always think it's wonderful to hold on to books given to us as children. They bring back more stories and memories than the book can actually hold... Like scent, one look at pages remembered from childhood and you're right back there.

Unknown said...

Love this post. What a fun and interesting blog

cleemckenzie said...

Isn't it great that you receive a book and it changes your life. Your aunt was wonderful.

Susan Kane said...

The old stories reminded children and their parents that life can be short, which is a good thing for them to know.

Good post!

JoJo said...

A lot of those kids' stories are very sad and dark.

Fe said...

I love the idea of the Holiday Book. We always had overflowing bookshelves as children and I and my children all have the same still. Books are wonderful things. Isn't it interesting how we do tend to remember the sad ones a bit more (or perhaps it's just me). My saddest book ever was Greyfriars Bobby about a boy and a dog. Terribly sad book. Oh and I'm visiting from Alex's blog.

Colleen said...

I do find it interesting that older books for children often include much sadder material than more modern children's lit. I was really into fairy tales as a child (well, I never really stopped :))...I remember how much I disliked any of the sad things, but I think they were good exposure.

Marcy said...

I loved looking through my Grandmother's Ideals books! Thanks for the memories!