Family Fridays – Pre Christmas Three

Here’s the third Pre Christmas set of recommendations. By the way, how is it already mid-November?!?

A Little House Christmas Treasury: Festive Holiday Stories: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

This enchanting collection of Christmas stories will delight and entertain the elementary school aged crowd. If you have the Little House books, you could of course just find all the Christmas bits and read them together, but if you don’t have them, this might be a fun way to see if your family likes the series. I remember being fascinated by the way children lived in that time and place when I was young, and am hoping my son will enjoy them when he’s old enough. You could also do some subtle, “Hey, Laura was excited to get TWO pieces of candy in her stocking, maybe you could be happy even if you don’t get all of the Star Wars Lego sets this year.” Or you could just enjoy one family’s celebration of Christmas.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965): Amazon, Barnes & Noble

This is where I’m going to get arrested by the Children’s Blog Police…I don’t like Peanuts. There, I said it. I think it’s depressing and painful, not funny. However, A Charlie Brown Christmas might be one of the most powerful, lasting, and succinct (it’s only 25 minutes) movies about Christmas that I’ve ever seen. Though nearly fifty years old, it is more timely today than ever. Here’s the blurb: “Repelled by the commercialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown tries to find the true meaning of Christmas.” That could be written today, and I suspect could be written about a movie in another fifty years. Near the end, Linus quotes the Christmas story from the Bible [spoiler alert: that’s the true meaning of Christmas]. It’s hard to see that happening on a show produced today. Anyways, I think this is a fantastic Christmas movie, AND it’s appropriate for all ages.

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