Critter tries to help out with Christmas activities, but just makes things worse. He eats the cookies rather than make them. On Christmas morning he lets his parents sleep - by bringing his drums and toys up to their room. His heart is still in the right place.
The Berenstain Bears act in the church Christmas pageant. The book goes through the entire details of the Nativity story as they act it out. After the performance, the bears are touched by the spirit of giving. They want to give presents to others rather than receive them. They decide to donate money they were going to use to buy things for themselves. There is a good message, though it is slow moving.
This is an illustrated, rhyming version of Luke 2 for children. The rhyming seems a bit forced - perhaps some better rhythm would help. The pictures are ok. I'd like to think there are better Nativity books out there.
The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford
This book looks at how Dickens's Christmas Carol influenced our current Christmas traditions. It starts with background of the life of Dickens, pivots to the history of Christmas, then wraps it all together. Then as a bonus, the full text of A Christmas Carol is included at the end. (Thank you Public Domain!)
Charles Dickens had a rough childhood. His parents were regularly living above their means. They did not have significant vices. However, despite a decent job, his father always managed to spend more than he earned. Charles would work jobs to support his family. Eventually he got a writing job, and later started publishing novels. He was earning money. However, copyright was not extremely strong at the time, especially in America, leading to various low-priced clones of his work. A Christmas Carol was written in part as a way to earn money.
Society had an interesting relationship with Christmas. It was the merging of a pagan holiday with Christianity. There were long periods of drinking involved. Puritans condemned Christmas revelery. Things gradually did calm down to something closer to what we have today. Father Christmas transformed to Santa Claus. The tradition started to become more about family and giving. Dickens's work helped push this narrative.
The book was successful, but the production was expensive. The following few years, he produced additional Christmas novellas that made him huge amounts of money. They were well received at the time, but did not have the long term impact as the original. He later stopped the novellas and focussed on his novels. He also wrote for newspapers (though he took perhaps a bit too much control - especially in defense of his failing marriage.)
A Christmas Story
I have seen so many different versions of this story that I thought I knew it well. Alas, I didn't the actual work is a darker ghost story than many of the movie versions. It does still follow the basic story line as Scrooge learns that his love of money does not make him a loved person.
Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays by Joel Waldfogel
Christmas. gift giving is horribly inefficient. We waste a huge amount of money buy gifts that people do not value. We may spend $10 on something that only provides $5 of value for people. There are whole sections of "gifts" in stores, that are mostly just useful junk. We would be better off just giving cash. However, society has a cash taboo for most gifts. The author likes gift cards as a better alternative. However, he would propose changes that would donate a portion to charity after a period of time.
There are a few parts of the argument that are missed. One is the "joy" that people receive in giving gifts. Even if the gift does not provide a value equal to the cost, there is still benefit in giving gifts. The other area missed is the cost of shopping. The time the gift giver spends shopping is accounted for, but the cost of the gift recipient is not. If somebody gives me a $10 gift card, I may need to spend $20 worth of time to use it, thus costing me $10. If instead they spend $10 giving me a gift I value at $5, I have gained $5. There is also a benefit in exploration. I may receive a gift that I would not have considered purchasing, yet value. This is hinted at with a statistic mentioned that significant others provide gifts that are worth 102% of the cost spent. These are the gifts that do provide value. How can we get more of these?
In southern plantations, the Christmas season was a time to help keep slaves in check. The masters would "serve" the slaves. They would receive one of the best meals of the year, including meat and copious amounts of alcohol. After spending the holidays in a drunken stupor, the slaves would feel that they need the master to keep them in order. The master would also use the time to give them gifts (such as winter coats). Slaves that did not cooperate during the year would see their gifts reduced.
Many of the traditions that we have today were "invented" as old traditions. Christmas trees and many other things we think of at Christmas were made popular in the 1800s. They were hinted at as being old traditions, but were not common among people before then. Gift giving to children became the primary behavior, with Santa Claus and the like constructed at that time. Christmas became a holiday in the home, rather than of drunken revelry. (Though we still have work Christmas parties continuing on the "old" tradition.)
Zanna's older brother is a hard working teenager who seems to understand Zanna's work better than others. Unfortunately, he passes away suddenly in his sleep. Zanna later learns that she had a twin sister that died at birth. She made a picture for him for Christmas that she continues to bring out every Christmas in memory of her lost brother. The novel continues the many Christmases from the great depression to the modern times. New members join the family. Many people die of various causes, but the "gift" continues.
