• Book: “The Family Read-Aloud Christmas Treasury” selected by Alice Low

    Several years ago I picked up this book The Family Read-Aloud Christmas Treasury selected by Alice Low at a local Goodwill store.  The girls love getting this book out every year and reading through the many (over 50) Christmas stories and poems.  It includes a mix of traditional Christmas stories.  I like that it has The Birth of Jesus Luke 2:1-20 in the book and other religious stories as well as a few  stories about Santa, Snowmen and more.  I think the “make believe” stories are neat to read with the girls as long as they know the true meaning of Christmas.  Probably one of my favorites is at the very end of the book:

    The Joy of Giving

    by John Greenleaf Whittier

    Somehow, not only for Christmas

    But all the long year through,

    The joy that you give to others

    Is the joy that comes back to you;

    And the more you spend in blessing

    The poor and lonely and sad,

    The more of your heart’s possessing

    Returns to make you glad.