Day 17: Christmas Connections

 

Day 17   Christmas Connections

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 

Isaiah 11:6

At Story Hour, Carol read The Night Tree* by Eve Bunting, an old favorite of hers. A family bundles up to “squish” into their old pick-up to drive into the forest to look for just the right tree in the moonlight. Carrying a big red lantern, a plaid blanket, and a cardboard box, Dad leads the way. Deer freeze in the lantern’s light and owls hoot from high in the trees. 

“Why do you think the family is looking for a tree?” Carol asked the children.

“To cut it down for a Christmas tree!” several suggested.

“Let’s find out.” Carol turned a page. The cardboard box is open on the ground. Popcorn chains and apples spill out of the box. 

“We made popcorn strings last year to hang on our tree,” said Karl.

“What are the apples for?” asked Liliana.

The story continues as the family decorates a tree with fruit and popcorn strings. Then, the family sits down on the plaid blanket to wait. They drink hot chocolate and sing carols. Sleepily, they gather their things and return to their truck, leaving the decorated tree shining in the moonlit forest glade. 

“Why did they leave the tree?” Tonya wondered. 

Carol reads: Later, in bed, I think about our tree. I think about the birds having Christmas dinner and the squirrels and the possums and the raccoons and the skunks.

In the final illustration, forest animals feast on the tree’s decorations.

“They made the tree for the animals!” Tonya said. “The animals will have a nice Christmas.”

“Turn back a page!” yelled Karl. “Look at the boy’s quilt! It has a tree and stars and animals!”

“I see a raccoon and a bear and fruit!” Liliana said.

After coating pinecones with peanut butter and then rolling them in birdseed, the children trooped out to hang them on the branches of the tree in the library’s courtyard. While the children wondered which animal friends would enjoy their treats, Gina snapped photos to capture their bright and beautiful faces to add to the decorations on the tree inside. 

Advent Challenge: The animals around us are part of our community. Leave a treat for our animal friends.

Prayer: All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all. Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful world you created for us all. Amen

*Available on YouTube