Family Fridays – Pre Christmas Four

Here’s is the fourth in my Pre Christmas series. Have you started shopping yet? I’ve had my baby’s presents for weeks now. Not that I’m excited or anything…

Angelina’s Christmas (1985): Amazon, Barnes & Noble

I adore this book. The illustrations are beautiful and it tells a simple tale about wanting to make an old man happy for Christmas, which ends up benefiting everyone. It’s in the Angelina Ballerina series, but it’s not a girly book, so don’t hesitate to try it out on your boys, too. This is set in a small English town (Chipping Cheddar – hehe), and they say things like “biscuit” and “Father Christmas”, so depending on the age of your kids, you could also use it as a jumping off point to talk about different Christmas customs around the world. At least I hope that’s still the case and they haven’t Americanized it. Don’t get me started on why “translating” books between English dialects is ridiculous, unnecessary, and insulting to the reading public. Anyway, this is a charming, lighthearted Christmas tale, and well worth incorporating into a gift or new family tradition.

Claymation Christmas Celebration (1987): Amazon, Barnes & Noble

You have to buy this movie bundled with some other holiday Claymation specials (which I haven’t seen, but have heard aren’t that great), but it’s worth it just to get this one. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a collection of Christmas carols all set to really differently styled Claymation action. Some are funny, some are quite beautiful, and some are just joyous. The event is emceed by a couple of dinosaurs argue about the word wassail throughout the interludes, which makes for a nice conclusion as they end on “Here we come a wassailing”. I’m going to try it with my son this year and see if the music will be able to hold his interest (he’ll be almost one). He loves music and bright colors, so he might be able to sit through it, and it’s only 24 minutes long.

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