In my mind's eye, at least, this is the time of year when families gather around at home. In my mind's eye the home is a place of calm and, at this time of year, a place of wonderful odors emanating from the kitchen. In my mind's eye the lights are dim, mainly directed from a tall and beautifully decorated Christmas tree. In my mind's eye the house is warming to the soul; there is a fire in the fireplace and it's flame matches the warm burning in our hearts. Outside, in this home of my mind, it is dark and the wind blows those small flakes of snow that glitter in the light of the street lamp as they fall. The snow is piled high; a youngster maybe 7 years old is standing up to his waste in one drift, smiling to show a foolish grin from within his heavy woolen snow suit, heavy mittens and cap with ear flaps. It is cold out there, and windy but otherwise quiet. No traffic, maybe somebody slowly moving along through the snow on the sidewalk. Otherwise, the world is inside the home of my mind's eye. And it is good.
In this warm home somebody, one of the kids, brings out a book with pictures and, with it, toddles over to Mom or Dad. Sister and Brother lean in to see what this book is. Mom, or Dad, takes the book and reads. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, or -- well -- any of a dozen and more stories that belong to this season.
Actually, my real home in western Pennsylvania and many worlds ago, was sort of like the one in my mind's eye. Winters were cold and snow from Lake Erie was deep. I learned to love the cold bite of winter on my fingers, ears and cheeks. There was always cocoa in the kitchen and the house was always warm. We kept a fire in the fireplace from Thanksgiving until the last gasps of winter. What we did not do was read. We were not a reading house. Mom and Dad were not readers. They worked literally from sunup to sundown. They came from immigrant families and did not graduate from high school. With little in the way of example to follow, our parents made certain that we kids could stand on their strong and tall shoulders. We did.
I now know that I miss not having started out reading. My wife Patty came from a reading family. I was especially touched yesterday when we were looking over books that the Library Trustees will give to the kids who attend Saturday's Christmas Party when, on seeing one that her parents had read to her, she broke down crying. For joy of rediscovery. For loss of childhood and parents. For knowing that we have forged a good life together, built on the good lessons taught by our parents.
The only reading I recall was at the knee of Jack Dye. Jack and Elsie were childless couple from the 19th Century who lived two houses down. Jack was a veteran of the War to End Wars who saw action in France. Jack and I read the comics in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and Else gave me my first piano lessons (Daisy, Daisy -- give me your answer do...).
In this blog I have written about the importance of reading to and with children in the first years of their lives. Much of what we become is determined in those years and developing a strong vocabulary, being exposed to lots of words in the home is so important. I have written about the how important owning their own book can be to a child. In this blog I want to call your attention to some internet possibilities for downloading (mostly) free books and stories.
The first is the Gutenberg Project (https://www.gutenberg.org). Project Gutenberg offers over 50,000 free ebooks:
choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online. These are books for which the copyrights have expired, so they are older, now classical literature. Here is a link to Christmas stories (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=christmas+stories&go=Go). There are also stories and books from the Jewish tradition, but I did not see any related to Chanukkah. One book that intrigued me was The King of Schnorrers: Grotesques and Fantasies by Israel Zangwill (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=jewish+stories&go=Go).
The second source of Christmas stories is a website "Altogether Christmas" (http://www.altogetherchristmas.com/). This site has a lot of ideas for the Christmas season, including crafts, decorating, traditions ... and stories). Several stories can be found at http://www.altogetherchristmas.com/stories.html.
Finally, I was trying to find a copy of the Nutcracker story that was well illustrated and of a size that I could copy and give to children at our Christmas party. I did not find any suitable short versions for free download, but what I did find was really nice, free, downloads of the story as an audio book (https://librivox.org/nutcracker-and-mouse-king-by-e-t-a-hoffmann/) and a free dowloadable copy of the original 1853 story by E.T.A. Hoffmann (https://archive.org/details/nutcrackermousek00hoff). The original has a few illustrations in it, but there is a modern and beautifully illustrated edition of the story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It is also available for $1.99 on itunes, but you will need some kind of Apple operating system -- which I do not have (but Christmas is coming) (ipad, ipod and so on) to view it.
Here are links to some of the stories that I like:
The Tailor of Gloucester, by Beatrix Potter
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, by Francis Phacellus Church
The Boy with the Box, by Mary Griggs Van Voorhis
Mr. Kris Kringle, by S. Weir Mitchell
Little Piccola, suggested by one of Celia Thaxter's poems
The Hockey Sweater by Roche Carrier
Christmas Day in the Morning, by Pearl S. Buck
Take some time to read with your kids this season. For a while try to forget about all the other stuff out there and just BE with them in the warmth of your home.
I do hope that you will have a joyous end to this year. That you will do the things of pleasant memories. I also hope, without having all that much hope, that the coming year will bring peace -- somewhere at least.
Historic School House Summer Library
About Deering Public Library
The petition to the Senate and House of Representatives in Portsmouth to incorporate a library in Deering was granted on 6 December 1797.
"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in general Court at Portsmouth November 1797 Humbly sheweth [sic], That Robert Alcock Thomas Merrill Thomas Aiken William Forsaith James Sherrier and others their Associates Inhabitants of Deering have purchased a number of Books, for the purpose of a social Library in said Town, but finding it necessary to be Incorporated, in order to realize the advantages thereby Intended, by purchasing books in common, your petitioners therefore pray that they may be Incorporated with such priviledges [sic] as are usually granted in such cases, and they as in duty bound will ever pray
Robert Alcock for himself and Associates"
The Deering Library's Mission is to create a vibrant community center that inspires curiosity, personal growth and opportunities for life-long learning.
To view our policies, agendas and the minutes of trustee meetings please visit the library, or use the link to the Town of Deering website.
Deering Public Library is located in Southwest New Hampshire's glorious Monadnock Region. Deering is a quintessential New England town with a white clapboard church, a town hall at its center and a population of approximately 1800 people. The library is located year round on the second floor of the town hall. Our seasonal school house library is open during the summer.
"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in general Court at Portsmouth November 1797 Humbly sheweth [sic], That Robert Alcock Thomas Merrill Thomas Aiken William Forsaith James Sherrier and others their Associates Inhabitants of Deering have purchased a number of Books, for the purpose of a social Library in said Town, but finding it necessary to be Incorporated, in order to realize the advantages thereby Intended, by purchasing books in common, your petitioners therefore pray that they may be Incorporated with such priviledges [sic] as are usually granted in such cases, and they as in duty bound will ever pray
Robert Alcock for himself and Associates"
The Deering Library's Mission is to create a vibrant community center that inspires curiosity, personal growth and opportunities for life-long learning.
To view our policies, agendas and the minutes of trustee meetings please visit the library, or use the link to the Town of Deering website.
Deering Public Library is located in Southwest New Hampshire's glorious Monadnock Region. Deering is a quintessential New England town with a white clapboard church, a town hall at its center and a population of approximately 1800 people. The library is located year round on the second floor of the town hall. Our seasonal school house library is open during the summer.
