Christmas Day Books

I came to Amazon searching for this book, which I read every Christmas season as a child and want to read to my kids now. It is a romantic story set in England, maybe around the 16th century, and wonderfully evokes the spirit of Christmasses long past. The characters are immediately accessible to modern readers, and it manages to be fuuny, charming and immensely informative at the same time. But beware - once you've read it, you may find yourself wanting to celebrate Dancing Day, Holy Innocents Day and a host of other long-forgotten festivals, to the consternation of your friends and relatives.

I was given this book for Christmas in 1972, and have r-eread it every Christmas since. It tells the story of the Kitson family who live in a coastal town in a vaguely medieval/tudor/stuart period. The three younger Kitson children, Prudence, James and Christopher, are desperate to get their elder sister Annaple married off, so that they will not have to endure her awful cooking and bossy ways. they convince her eager suitor, Francis, that he should be more romantic, so he thinks up more and more fanciful presents to send her. Being a merchant, he is used to buying in bulk, so as the days of Christmas pass, the Kitsons house fills up with unsuitable qunatities of partridges, hens, geese, swans etc, driving Annaple into a fury. The Christmas customs of each day are described in detail, making you long for the time when each day had its own individual customs and carols. The book is filled with humour and fun, it is the most enjoyable Christmas story I have ever read, I shall be reading it again this Christmas with undiminshed pleasure. Note to American readers: this book is still in print in the UK, you can get it from Amazon.co.uk

This is a delightful and very amusing love story based on the popular song, "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me .." Annaple Kitson is a hopeless romantic who has resisted Francis Vere's attentions because he is not creative enough in his courtship. This year he gets the idea and sends her gifts based on the fairy tales and rhymes she loves - more and more each day (just like the song!)

We have read this book aloud to our children on the twelve days of Christmas for four years now and it is one of the highlights of the season for us. Everyone looks forward to the next day's story (The "kids" in our family are 4,6,10,12,43, and 45). Highly recommended!

My mom bought a Tommy Tottlebear book for my little brother. He likd it alot. I am ten almost eleven. I like Tommy too.

I loved the Tommy TottleBear book and look forward to seeing more Tommy books in the future. It was great to read a story with so many cute characters and great pictures. I also like that kids can color the Tommy books. thanks for carrying Tommy TottleBear books. Brittany

I loved the Tommy TottleBear book and look forward to seeing more Tommy books in the future. It was great to read a story with so many cute characters and great pictures. I also like that kids can color the Tommy books. thanks for carrying Tommy TottleBear books. Brittany

Wonderful essays about Advent and Christmas.
Mrs. Tickle writes beautifully. In other hands these stories could be overly sentimental, but she puts just the right touch to make them touching without being maudlin.
I re-read it every year to put myself into the real Christmas spirit.

In 1976, Publishers Weekly religion editor Phyllis Tickle and her husband Sam decided to abandon city life and move their family back to their rural roots in western Tennessee. What the Land Already Knows is Tickle's account of winters spent on their farm in the small community of Lucy - "about four thousand citizens if, as we used to say in town meetings, one counted the tractors as well as the cows and people."

This small book is beautifully written, often funny, always touching, and nearly impossible to put down. I devoured it in one sitting, then went back to reread each chapter separately, slowly, savoring the sweetness, the sadness, and Tickle's remarkable insights on family, winter, isolation, and faith.

Following an unhurried path from Advent through the children's return to school in January, Tickle introduces her family - human and animal. Husband Sam is a doctor and passionate grape vine tender. Their seven children, the oldest married before the family moves to the farm, thrive in a world defined by chores, farm animals, and family traditions. Her mother, whose yearly frenzy of pecan cooking the author first tries to escape, then comes to cherish. Silly Sally, Mary, Saint, and Oscar, the cows whose lives, calvings, and deaths bring humor, blessing, and meat to the family's life.

By the time you turn the last of the 114 pages, you feel you might recognize Tickle's family on the streets of Lucy, Tennessee, or any other small farm town.

From her agonizing ambivalence over finding the right gifts for her children to her unabashed pleasure in returning the house to order after the holiday frenzy, Tickle's honesty, always spoken gently, is disarming, beguiling, and sometimes startling.

Perhaps the finest chapter is a reflection on names. Musing on her children's delight in the naming of farm animals, of which there were scores, she notes that the named and the namer create together the identity of each, ending with this beautiful reflection: "What is New Year's Day for the world at large is also the Feast of the Holy name for the church. . . . [B]efore the day is done, I still walk out by myself to Mary's Hill for a little while and think about what it means to know the name of God and to be yourself called by it."

Small enough to fit into a stocking, this is a nearly perfect book for reading and rereading during the long, dark nights of winter.

By the fact of being close to my own age, I am totally impressed by Phyllis Tickle's creativity in picturing Epiphany moments out of her large family in Lucy, Tenn. My one regret is growing-up in East Tenn. I was not privileged to live nearby to Lucy, close to Memphis. While I identify being a member of the little country village of Hall's Cross Roads in East Tenn, it was very nearly the same sort of community that gave all small farmers a closely-knit, feeling of belonging! My sense from Phyllis' neat chapters on "Noel, Holy Mother, The Joseph Candle, Christmas Eve Gift, Silly Sally's Gift, and Name This Child" all create their closely-knit Family in activity reflecting the Christmas Story!

Once I got into the chapter on the "Days of Thomas the Doubter" I noted her carefully portrayed choice of gifts for Laura, "one of the older, newly-wed children...just starting a home." By St Thomas Day, "as my mother used to call it, the Day of the Old Doubter Himself"... She struck a familiar chord in my own sense of describing one of our favorite pastoral characters! In fact, my own point in reading and writing about this unique collection of essays is that it becomes a great model for blending family antidotes into Reflections upon Holy-days and Epi-phanies that people our fondest memories of Christmas.

If I only picture a couple of more impressive spots, they would lie in the chapter, Christmas Eve Gift: "Appalachians conserve everything in order to survive a geography that has no intention of allowing them...or anything else to survive." No pecans are indigenous to Appalachian mountains...just like East Tenn! I was smitten with Ms Tickle's creative pictures of her environment. In particular the family cracking and shelling nuts for nursing stations at Sam's hospital; also the informal relaxed manner of attire when the family sat around the kitchen on the Feast of St Stephen! "We ate and drank and looked for all the world like a Norman Rockwell come to life." Where else could I find a clear reality pictured in beautifully homespun words of real-life?

I am now a Fan of anything written by Phyllis Tickle, regardless if it is "The Graces We Remember or Wisdom In the Waiting!" Let me just soak it up for my writer's hunger and thirst for reality. Retired Chap. Fred W. Hood

This is a really beautiful book that intertwines scripture with glorious artistry to tell the story of the birth of Jesus.

This book is one of the most beautiful depictions of the birth of our Lord. The images are so emotion-filled. The one I like particularly well is of Joseph and Mary and the infant Savior. Mary is holding the baby in her arms while Joseph looks at him with love, amazement and a little curiosity. Priceless!! A must have!

Absolutely beautiful, poignant pictures accompany the scriptural telling of the Saviors birth. I read these same scriptures to my children every christmas, how nice it will be to have them all together with pictures to go with them. This a brilliant artist whose paintings seem to come to life. One can feel the emotions on Mary and Joseph's faces and the pictures of the Christ Child are fantastic. LDS readers will enjoy this book best because some references are made from LDS scriptures .

My 7 children love this book. We read it from Thanksgiving all the way to CHRISTmas. I haven't researched the book out to know if it is the motive behind the song The Twelve Days of CHRISTmas. But when I read the story it makes so much sense as I have always wondered how they thought up this song. For example,The 5 Golden Rings represents the first 5 books of the Bible and the 9 Ladies Dancing represents the Fruit of the Spirit. The pictures are beautiful and colorful. Children of all ages love the book as demonstrated in my family with children ages 5 months - 13 years. It's definitely a great book to start a family tradition.

Both adults and children enjoy this traditional song while Knorr's beautiful illustrations are worthy of the seasonal favorite. The book appeals to a broader audience by relating the religious meanings behind the song. Don't miss the scenes with the seven swans cavorting in a pool or the luminous angel carrying five golden rings on a cushion.

This book provides you with a wonderful holiday devotional. It also includes family activities and planning guides to help you through the holiday. I wish that I had had this book years ago! A great gift for Christmas.

My mother gave me this book when my kids were little. They are teenagers now and still love to hear the stories each year. It is a treasured family tradition that reminds us daily of the real reason to celebrate Christmas. I am ordering it now for my staff as gifts this year.

Just like in my new book The Vision Board: The Secret to an Extraordinary Lifethis volume emphasizes the value of Gratitude and sharing as guides to living an extraordinary life. It's a great complement to chapter 6 of my book which is called Gratitude. I like the audio- it's a fun gift to anyone whos' heading home for the holidays-- for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanza or whatever holidary you are celebrating.

When she was in the third grade my older sister bought a little book of christmas stories with the nickles she had saved by not having milk at break time. "Christmas Every Day" is our favorite story from this carefully preserved little book. Our mother still reads "Christmas Every Day" every year for her grandchildren. Though we are all grown we still enjoy the story too. Even my oldest sister's hyper-active 7 year old sit's quietly for his grandma's reading of "Christmas Every Day."

It was a great relief for me to find that Amazon.com had "Christmas Every Day" because the little book my sister brought home in the early 1960's is quickly becoming too fragile to handle. Thanks Amazon.com, someday I hope to read "Christmas Every Day" to my grandchildren.

Christmas Meditations on the Twelve Holy Days
December 26 - January 6
by Merry C. Battles


In this book the author brings us channeled material on these special days of the Christmas season. She explains how she sat down with a lit candle, the intent to share love and enlightened messages with the world and then the words would just effortlessly flow. After reading this precious book, I can understand a lot more about the need to be quiet and listen to our still small voice inside.

The book is broken up into 12 sections given to the 12 days after the celebration of Christmas, but as the author points out can be also used during the months of the zodiac, because each month, as each day has it's own focus, and it's own spiritual message. In one of her many prose, Merry tells us each ray of sunlight shows us the rainbow a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with. Love shines on every page through a compilation of words, and wonderful illustrations and I was left feeling so close to God. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels the spirit of Christmas lives on and on in every day and every way. Thanks Merry.

Riki Frahmann

As an in-depth instructional dedication to proper meditations of the the twelve holy Days, Christmas Meditations On The Twelve Holy Days by Merry C Battles guides the reader through the time most important for the spiritualist to be in-tune with their body, mind and being. Christmas Meditations On The Twelve Holy Days informatively explores the intricacies of the season in which Earth travels through each sign of the Zodiac, and the best and most effective adaptation to utilize this limited time. Christmas Meditations On The Twelve Holy Days is highly recommended to all devout spiritual enthusiast, both Christian and otherwise, particular though, to the astrologically inclined.

For my family and me, reading this book has become a tradtion during Advent. How many times have you roamed the shopping malls, your local Wal-Mart during Christmas only to come home and feel detached from the Birth of Christ-the true meaning of Advent? This insightful book places the reader on track as to why Christ was born, the importance of waiting for His Birth. I highly recommend this book for families. Read it together, talk about it, refresh yourself. A true guide to the Advent season!

For those seriously seeking to grow in holiness and bring some order to their daily prayer life, I strongly recommend this series. Drawing upon Sacred Scripture, the writings of the saints, and his own life experiences, the author brings together three daily meditations (about five to ten minutes each) that center around the Scripture readings of the Mass that day.

Imparted in these meditations are knowledge of the faith, advice on how to pray more fervently, and a clear understanding of virtue and its importance. It also inspires us to serve God faithfully. A good Catholic answer to the latest Protestant craze over "The Purpose Driven Life".

This is such a wonderful little story. I have a very old copy of the book that I inherited from my grandfather and I read it every holiday season. The book is timeless and will become a family favorite. Heartwarming and reads like a song. Great old-fashioned reading.

When a snowstorm cancels their Christmas plans, a New England couple finds the spirit of the holiday in spontaneous generosity to their neighbors. The resulting old-fashioned celebration illustrates that people of every class share the same basic needs.