Our Book-a-Day Advent Calendar

Ok, ok, "Quick Takes" is supposed to be a list of seven, but-- I'm bending rules here, because I really want to talk about my Advent calendar.  So, twenty-five Quick Takes...? Hey, at least it's a list, right?

A list of twenty-five books, wrapped and numbered... One for each day.

Inspired by Catholic blogger Elizabeth Foss, I did this for the first time last year, when my children were nearly 2 and nearly 3 years old.  Some books were hits, others not so much-- but a year can do a great deal, and I've been mom long enough to know that even last month's "meh" can be this month's obsession. We'll see what they make of the collection this time around....!

Its spine is several of Foss' selections (I'll buy pretty much anything that she recommends!), rounded out with other Christmas books that we were lucky enough to receive.  And I'd be so happy if you would comment with your suggestions, too!  I'd love to hear what your young children are reading this season...  For example, can anyone recommend a book for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe?  It's an embarrassing gap in my current plan!

1. Who Is Coming to Our House?  (Slate and Wolff)

2. A New Coat for Anna (Ziefert and Lobel)

3.  Christmas in the Big Woods (Wilder and Graef)

4. The Nutcracker (Balducci and Lanza; Little Golden Book)

5. [Feast of St. Nicholas]  The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale (Shepard and Edelson)

6. The Snowy Day (Keats)

7. Strega Nona's Gift (de Paola)

8. [Immaculate Conception] The Story of Christmas (Brundage)

9. The Little Tin Soldier

10. The Birds of Bethlehem (de Paola)

11. The Mitten (Brett)

12. [Our Lady of Guadalupe]  The Legend of the Christmas Rose (Hooks and Williams)

13. [Feast of St. Lucy] Lucia Morning in Sweden (Rydaker)

14. Bob and 6 More Christmas Stories (Boynton)

15.  Christmas in the Manger (Buck and Bond)

16. Baboushka and the Three Kings (Robbins and Sidjakov)

17. The Little Fir Tree (Brown and LaMarche)

18. The Perfect Tree, and Favorite Christmas Carols (Bivens)

19. Merry Christmas, Strega Nona (de Paola)

20. All for the Newborn Baby (Root and Bayley)

21.  The Snow Queen (Anderson and Cavendish)

22.  The Friendly Beasts (de Paola)

23. The First Night (Hennessy, Johnson, and Fancher)

24. The Night Before Christmas (Moore and Birmingham)

25. Good King Wenceslas (Cavendish)

[Images: Open Library Covers]

Happy Friday!  Thank you for visiting, and please check out This Ain't the Lyceum for more Quick Takes!

_The Story of the Trapp Family Singers_: Seven Reasons to Read It

"God's will hath no why," writes Maria Augusta Trapp...

Last week, however, an onslaught of hand-foot-and-mouth had me inwardly groaning "why, why?" as my kids and I languished on the couch and compared rashes.  While cabin fever is mainly what ails us now (too much time to push each others' buttons), at least we had the opportunity to connect over the movie The Sound of Music-- which brings to mind another of Maria's favorite sayings:  "When God closes a door, He opens a window."  My three-year-old loves role-playing Liesl, and seemed to dwell in the role for three days straight; while my two-year-old channels Gretel in the "So Long, Farewell" number...  And they both enjoy the "part where the Nazis are chasing them" to a degree that sort of disturbs me.  (Nazis are fun?)

As for me, I went ahead and requested the book...  Finally!  I've only been meaning to do this for, oh, how many years now?

And I found it well worth the effort!  Here-- for the Quick Takes linkup, however belatedly-- I offer:

Seven Reasons to check out The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (Maria Augusta Trapp, 1949)

1.  To compare it with the movie, natürlich!  Among other differences, the family-- escaping a summons to perform at Hitler's birthday celebration-- flees Austria quietly by train in 1938, just days before the borders are closed; and Georg's proposal to Maria is, ahem, awkward.  (And irresistibly cute!)

2.  Rich detail on Austrian religious traditions.  Across two chapters Maria recalls the rhythms of Advent and Christmas, Carnival, Lent, and Easter as experienced in prewar Salzburg.

Many of the practices are both beautiful and wonderfully down-to-earth.  For example, on Palm Sunday worshippers did not receive palms, but gathered boughs of pussy willow or whatever convenient bush or tree grew on nearby; and after these were blessed, the people then left the branches at various points on their property so as to return a blessing upon the soil.  "How lovely and practical!" say I, contemplating that vaseful of dried-out palms on my dresser.

3.  That funny chapter about cousin Peter who did everything "by the handbook."  Talk about compulsive personality!  Maria shapes his role in a family camping trip into a sweet, humorous bit of nostalgia.

4.  To cry with them.

"We all went into the chapel silently. . . . 

"'Austria,' he [Georg] said, and tears choked his voice, 'you are not dead.  You will live on in our hearts.  This is only a sleep.'"

 I just couldn't hold back my own tears during Maria's account of that terrible moment in which the Austrian government announced its capitulation to the Third Reich-- or during her narration of Georg's final illness.

5.  Maria's humorous descriptions of culture shock in America.  From the details of daily life (Shoes are shined at the barber shop?  Diapers are pinned, not tied?) to Americans' blunt manners and rootless living, Maria spills on prewar Transatlantic differences while giving lots of love to our hospitality and can-do attitude.

6.  To learn a little more about music!  I found myself looking up such pieces as Bach's "Jesu Meine Freude," Gibbons' "The Silver Swan," and Brahms' "The Day Has Come When Thou and I" ("Ich Fahr Dahin"). And did you know that the hymn "Now Thank We All Our God" had been composed-- or at least co-opted-- by Bach?  I hadn't.

7.  Overall-- it's simple, warm, and heartfelt, with a buoyant sense of God's Providence and Maria's headstrong, irrepressible personality.  And plenty of facepalm moments!  (Those nuns were right:  She's trouble.)

....And just a couple of caveats:  Maria's old-fashioned approach to discipline-- heavy on spanking, zealous to ward off personal vanity-- made me squirm, as did her midcentury "Negro" references.  (The book first appeared in 1949.)

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!  And please visit Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes.