mantel(24K)

A Christmas Picture Book: Season Six

Note: This pictorial eBook contains large images and is designed to be viewed on an actual tablet. It can also be viewed on a a Mac with iBooks. Viewing it on a tablet or a Mac will allow the images to be enlarged and explored.

My little Brigadoon village has magically reappeared for the sixth time, with yet another chapter added to the story accompanying it. I began my Christmas tale all those years ago as a bit of whimsy to make the vintage houses in the village seem more real, but -- any novelist can tell you this -- by now the characters and their animals have taken on a life of their own. So come with me and we'll wander unseen through the village (didn't I say it was magic?), and we'll peek in windows, and we'll eavesdrop on conversations.

mantel1 cover(60K)

'Twas Two Nights Before Christmas

'Twas two nights before Christmas, and all through the house, more than one creature was stirring; there was too much to do!

Earlier in the season, a wave of influenza had washed over the little village, playing havoc with everyone's schedule. Lucky for the village -- a miracle, some said -- no one had been carried away by the disease. But still. Warm wooly caps had not been knit, and newly built toboggans had not been varnished. Wagons were waiting for axles and wheels. Dolls with glass eyes lay hidden in drawers, hoping and praying for their clothes to be sewn. And saddest of all, a beautiful dollhouse sat alone in a barn, alarmed that it still, with only two days to go, had no roof. And that's why mothers and fathers -- Santa's grown-up elves -- were all inside and at home, working hard. Not for them the fun of skating on ice or the joy of leisurely strolls through the village. Christmas was nearly upon them.







Download A Christmas Picture Book: Season Six for your tablet, PC or Mac