Books and Films

Recently Amy visited with Amy Sloan at Humility and Doxology and, among other topics, chatted about favorite Christmas traditions. Like you, Christmas traditions for us include Christmas-themed books and films. Here are some favorites (in addition to our Blue Sky Daisies Christmas books).

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Books

The Christmas Carol Picture Book

This picture book of The Christmas Carol is a family favorite for us. We also like to read the whole Dickens story, usually with an audiobook.

St. Lucia Morning in Sweden

We have enjoyed learning about Swedish traditions for St. Lucia Day with this book. When our kids were small, we even made St. Lucia costumes and served gingersnaps to our co-op friends. This books has some recipes in the back, too.

Santa, Are You For Real?

I grew up with this book and my childhood copy (published in 1977) is in our home library. This is an updated edition with the same story of the history of St. Nicholas and how he came to be the inspiration for the traditions around Santa. In our home we always talked about the historical St. Nicholas and enjoyed the traditions of stockings and Santa.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

This story is wonderful. Our copy came with a CD with the audio narration by James Earl Jones. This edition includes a free audio download of the same narration. I’m not sure that the Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey would be the same without James Earl Jones’ rich, warm voice reading it!

Madeline’s Christmas

I once decorated my daughters’ room by painting Madeline and her friend Pepito on the wall, along with Genevieve and her puppies and the iconic sidewalk clock. I also framed the color illustrations from the first Madeline book to hang on the wall. We love all the Madeline books. Madeline’s Christmas is a fun and colorful Christmas read-aloud.

The Legend of the Candy Cane

I think my Goodreads review on this one tells all you need to know:

Truthfully, this is not a five-star book. I keep five stars for Shakespeare, Homer, Jane Austen and the like. But when your teenage daughter brings this book to you near bedtime, snuggles up on the couch next to you, rests her head on your shoulder and says, “Mom, this is my favorite Christmas book. Would you read it to me?”, then you feel like giving it five stars.

And my daughter’s comment on the review:

“This IS my favorite Christmas book. I love how it weaves the legend of the candy cane (the salvation story) into a story about a candyman and a little girl with a secret wish. I also like the symbolism in their names. The little girl, Lucy, is like St. Lucia bringing the light in the darkness; John Sonneman’s (the candyman) last name sounds like Son of Man, which is another name for Jesus.”

Films

Miracle on 34th Street

Miracle on 34th Street is an old classic, but don’t let the black-and-white medium turn you off! Maureen O’Hara plays a single mom in New York who is just trying to rise in her position at work and raise her daughter to be modern and rational. No room for fairy tales like Santa Claus for her daughter! But the entrance of a man named Kris Kringle into their lives has them all thinking if there might be more to life than meets the eye.

Holiday Inn

Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn is another American classic. It’s always been part of our seasonal movie rotation and features some incredible dancing by Fred Astaire and the smooth voice of Bing Crosby.

White Christmas

White Christmas, also by Irving Berlin, is another regular around here at Christmas. Incredible dancing by Vera-Ellen, excellent physical comedy by Danny Kaye, and fabulous singing by Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby–don’t miss this.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Meet Me in St. Louis is a Christmas movie, but also a Halloween movie! Still, it’s well known for Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to her little sister. When she sings the song, they are feeling sad because their family is moving away from their beloved home in St. Louis. Although Judy Garland is the star of this film (and iconic in “The Trolley Song”), her little sister Tootie is a lot of fun to watch, especially in the Halloween scenes! (Did you know kids used to throw flour at people on Halloween?)

The Family Man

This one is for your family if you have older kids (check a parent guide to decide if it is right for your family). We love this twist on the idea behind It’s a Wonderful Life: Jack (played by Nicholas Cage), a hard-charging Wall Street man who lives only for himself and has no time to consider having a family, is given a glimpse of life with a wife and kids. He soon discovers that he is missing out on a wonderful life.