A few weeks ago, the Top Ten Tuesday post was all about holiday books.  It asked if there were any books I read to get into the holiday spirit.  (There was also a question about this in today’s Enquiring Minds Want to Know.)  I said that I’ve always been one who doesn’t watch holiday movies or read holiday books because most of them are really cheesy.  This is still very true for me.  But, as I’ve been reminiscing about my childhood around Christmas time, I remembered two books I absolutely loved.

The first is Santa and Me and a Lonesome Bear Called “T.” by Rick Reinert.  It was published in 1983 and is currently out of print.  (I’d love to get my hands on one of the used ones because I no longer have the copy my parents gave me.)  My dad used to read this story to me and I remember loving it.  The only thing I remember about it is that “T.” helped Santa save Christmas.  (Aren’t most children’s Christmas stories about that, though?)  Anyway, I thought it was something fun to read around Christmas and I looked forward to it each year when I was a child.  If I still had it, I’d read it this year.

The second book is one that I became familiar with when I was a teenager.  It was used as an object lesson at church.  It’s called The Tale of the Three Trees; it’s a traditional folktale retold by Angela Elwell Hunt.  It’s the story of three trees as they grow from saplings to full-fledged trees.  Each of them express what they’d like to be used for when they get chopped down.

The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: “I want to hold treasure.  I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones.  I’ll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!”

The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean.  “I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings.  I’ll be the strongest ship in the world!”

The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town.  “I don’t want to leave the mountain top at all.  I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me, they’ll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God.  I will be the tallest tree in the world.”

Unfortunately, the trees don’t get exactly what they wished for.  But, they do get something better in return.  It’s a marvelous story and beautifully illustrated.  In my opinion, it captures the true meaning of Christmas more than most Christmas stories can or do.  Again, if I owned a copy, I’d read it this year.