Enjoyed Christmas at the library

Sarah Flanagan
Posted 1/2/25

Happy Holidays!  It was exhilarating to see our community at the Christmas Walk Parade.  The Library had a great time!  It was a chilly evening, but we saw all of our Library friends and had a fabulous time decorating cookies, eating popcorn, drinking hot chocolate and watching a movie at our Open House. It is always a fun evening.

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Enjoyed Christmas at the library

Posted

Happy Holidays!  It was exhilarating to see our community at the Christmas Walk Parade.  The Library had a great time!  It was a chilly evening, but we saw all of our Library friends and had a fabulous time decorating cookies, eating popcorn, drinking hot chocolate and watching a movie at our Open House. It is always a fun evening.

We based our Annual Christmas Walk Open House on a book entitled, “Snowmen At Night” by Caralyn Buehner.   “Have you ever built a snowman and discovered the next day that his grin has gotten a little crooked, or his tree-branch arms have moved? And you've wondered . . . what do snowmen do at night? This delightful wintertime tale reveals all! Caralyn Buehner's witty, imaginative verse offers many amusing details about the secret life of snowmen and where they go at night, while Mark Buehner's roly-poly snowmen are bursting with personality and charm. From the highly successful team that created such winning titles as Fanny's Dream, Snowmen at Night is fabulous, frosty, and fun!” (https://www.amazon.com/Snowmen-at-Night-Caralyn-Buehner/dp/0803725507

What is your favorite Christmas book?  Books like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Mitten, Polar Express, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and A Charlie Brown Christmas transport me back to another time. I can remember being read to most nights before my sisters and I went to bed.  We would read these stories and be so excited to listen to the same stories again and again.  These books were well used and some of my favorites. We would eagerly wait for Christmas morning to see if Santa came to our house.  

‘Twas The Night Before Christmas is a classic poem by Clement Moore. My most favorite copy is old and tattered.  The cover has been taped and mended many times.  The story does not feel the same if it is read out of another book.  “The poem, originally titled A Visit or A Visit From St. Nicholas, was first published anonymously on Dec. 23, 1823, in a Troy, New York newspaper called The Sentinel.  It wasn't until 1837 that Clement Clarke Moore accepted credit for writing A Visit. He reportedly wanted to keep his authorship secret (initially) because he was a professor and the piece wasn't considered a scholarly work at the time of its initial writing. Moore is said to have based his vision of Santa Claus on both St. Nicholas and a local Dutch handyman where he lived in New York. Legend has it that the handyman operated the sleigh that took Moore home.” (https://parade.com/1136533/jessicasager/twas-the-night-before-christmas-words/#:~:text=Images%20Signature%2FCanva-,'Twas%20the%20Night%20Before%20Christmas%20History%2C%20Trivia%20and%20Facts,credit%20for%20writing%20A%20Visit.)

Our Book Club just finished reading, “Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce” by Stanley Weintraub. In the early months of World War I, on Christmas Eve, men on both sides of the trenches laid down their arms and joined in a spontaneous celebration. Despite orders to continue shooting, the unofficial truce spread across the front lines. Even the participants found what they were doing incredible: Germans placed candlelit Christmas trees on trench parapets, warring soldiers sang carols, and men on both sides shared food parcels from home. They climbed from the trenches to meet in "No Man's Land" where they buried the dead, exchanged gifts, ate and drank together, and even played soccer. Throughout his narrative, Stanley Weintraub uses the stories of the men who were there, as well as their letters and diaries, to illuminate the fragile truce and bring to life this extraordinary moment in time.” (https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/silent-night-the-remarkable-christmas-truce-of-1914_stanley-weintraub/273103/item/2816818/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=high_vol_midlist_standard_shopping_retention&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=666159745081&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiApY-7BhBjEiwAQMrrESVQB3S-5F2Mt_hZ36_MMqXljtdL-S5LdAfpczA35B-UeVseVmhneBoCHbsQAvD_BwE#idiq=2816818&edition=2894075)  Our Book Club reads many interesting titles and this one did not disappoint.  If you are interested in joining our Adult Book Club please look at our website or our Facebook page for the most up to date information.  They meet on the last Wednesday of the month at 10:15 a.m. 

Come in and visit us at the library.  Our January programming planning is underway.  We are working on dates and times for all of our programs.  Our new homeschool kits will be featured in the spring and our Seed Swap Day will be happening at the end of January.  We will continue with our Book Club, Story Time and our other regular programs.  We are also working on some featured programs.

What is your favorite Christmas Book? We might have it or we can order it for you.  Let it take you back to when you were a child excited for the Holiday Season.  See you soon.

Sarah Flanagan is the director of the Flagg-Rochelle Public Library.