Moonshine Junkyard

Four years ago I wrote a post about s ome of our favorite children's Christmas books . Four years ago.  How can that be?! We still love all those books and every single one of them has been read at least once this December, some many times.  Some that were library books have since made their way into our permanent collection. This year I thought I'd make a new post with ten more wintry books we've picked up and enjoyed along the way. Our Christmas books come out of hiding the day after Thanksgiving. Here is our dear friend Ryann braving sick kids to read to the girls when she was home on a visit.  We picked up The Christmas Whale,  from 1945, at a thrift store and we adore it. I see now as I look it up online that it's actually worth a little bit of money. Ours is a battered ex-library copy, but we absolutely love its delightful story and pictures. When the reindeer get sick, all the northern animals want to help Santa, but they all have ...

I know everybody says "Jesus is the Reason for the Season," especially in this little country town. And don’t get me wrong; I love the baby Jesus. But for me there’s a little more to the story. For me a powerful reason for the season is  the town itself, the home that holds and supports little families, neighborhoods, friend groups, classes full of teachers and students, work teams, hospital staff, small businesses, bars, restaurants, grocery stores: in other words various social hubs, the places where we find ourselves most part of community. Since I believe in love and togetherness I think community is the reason for the season. And so I enjoy taking the girls down to the traditional Christmas parade in Placerville immensely. This year, maybe because our Festival of Lights the night after Thanksgiving was rained out and had a pretty pathetic turn-out, the parade seemed more busy than ever. Then again, every year it seems busier than ever. I'm tempted...