The Christmas Shoes: Book and Movie Review

Last year I read my first book by Donna VanLiere - The Christmas Secret (linked to my review) - and absolutely loved it! It was one of my favorite reads last Christmas. Therefore I spent after-Christmas sales hunting for VanLiere books which I set aside to read this year. One of the books I found was The Christmas Shoes.

I'm sure that many of you are familiar with the song by Newsong of the same title. In case you haven't, I've included the Youtube link below:

The song inspired VanLiere to write the story that she did. I dove into The Christmas Shoes with eager anticipation and in no way was I disappointed. VanLiere tells a beautiful story with characters that you can easily identify with. The story involves two separate families, each with their own issues. In one family, the mother (Maggie) discovers she is suffering from ovarian cancer and is not going to recover. The other family is going through the heartache of a possible divorce because their life priorities have been misplaced. Robert, the father of the second family, is a work-a-holic and can't seem to figure out how to get out of the office in order to spend time with his family. It is through a brief encounter with Maggie's son that Robert realizes that he is about to lose the greatest gifts he could ever hope to have at Christmas time - the gift of his wife and two daughters.

This really is a remarkably touching tale. At the same time, I have to tell you, that I bawled my eyes out through the last half of it. I'm not sure that's really what you want to do with a Christmas story but in this case I think it is a compliment to the power of the storyteller. Maggie is dying of cancer and the scenes that VanLiere describes were remarkably similar to those I experienced with my family as we watched my dad died of cancer last year. The words the family speaks in The Christmas Shoes, their emotions and struggles all hit very close to home and I was glad I read this book during nap time, when Jonathan was at work, so that no one was around to witness my red eyes and drippy nose for awhile. The tears just flowed. And I totally fell in love with the story. I would even probably read it again. The story hurts but it's so beautifully told that I cannot resist it.

I was therefore delighted when I saw that our local Christian bookstore had copies of some of the movies which are based on VanLiere stories, including the movie version of The Christmas Shoes.

Jonathan was even gracious enough to watch it with me, even though I warned him that if it followed the book I was going to sob endlessly. The movie stars Rob Lowe (of West Wing) and Kimberly Williams (Father of the Bride fame) so I had high hopes that this movie would be well-made and convincing. It really does have so much potential.

But it does not follow the book. Oh yes, Maggie exists and she is also dying - of congestive heart failure. Robert exists, but his law practice looks a little different from the book. The two families have lives that are intertwined in the on-screen version, instead of separated with a "chance" encounter as in the book. Therefore I found the movie far less creative.

I don't necessarily mind if a movie takes a few liberties with the story, but I do like the movie to hold true to the spirit of the book. In this case, I didn't really think the movie accomplished that. In fact, it irritated me that they went so far as to change some of the character qualities that I was most impressed by in the book. Graciousness within Maggie's family simply didn't exist on screen. Family members were cut from the script. Robert's family isn't threatened with a divorce - just general lack of understanding towards one another. Because of those changes I didn't find the story as impacting on screen as I did in the book. It's an ok movie and I might have liked it if I hadn't read the book first. But! Since I did, I didn't care for it.

And now that I've said that much about the movie....

I picked up an extra copy of The Christmas Shoes book and would like to pass it along to one of you, along with my copy of The Christmas Shoes movie. (If you think of them as two separate stories with a common theme that might help.) This is just a little gift from me to you involving one of my confirmed favorite Christmas authors - Donna VanLiere. I have another of her books on my shelf and am looking forward to collecting everything that she has written! I just love her stories.

Be prepared to cry. But then again, I do believe the tears are a compliment. If you think you can handle it and would enjoy the book and movie, please leave a comment below. I'll make this a short contest and will close it on Sunday, December 5th so that there is time to get this to you in time for you to enjoy it during the holiday season if you so desire! U.S. Residents only, please.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THE WINNER (as selected by random.org) is #25 - Charlotte Kay

CONGRATULATIONS!

Mom's Weekly Calendar

What is one thing that we're all looking for at this time of year?

That's right - a new calendar!

Personally, I think buying a new calendar at the end of each year is kind of exciting. I've always enjoyed reflecting over the prior year as I update the new calendar with birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions.

My favorite calendar of all times is Mom's Weekly Planner which is put out by Peter Pauper Press.

Reasons I like this calendar:

• It covers 18 months instead of your typical 12. This is extremely helpful if you tend to be a planner who plans things out WAY in advance! (Ah hem!)
  
• You can view each month at a glance in a full page spread.
• In between each full-page month spread you can also view/schedule/plan out your month by week.
• Furthermore, if you are super duper organized, you can plan out your days by morning, afternoon and evening!
• The back of the calendar has an address book with ample space for actually recording people's contact information.
• There are also tear-out "To Do" sheets for the busy mom that you no doubt are!

I think this calendar does a good job at appealing to the "I need to jot this down right quick" type of mom as well as to the more detail oriented mom. (I fall into the former category, personally.) I love the amount of space I'm given in which to write down our life plans as well as how neat and organized it makes my desk look. Instead of having notes strewn about I can keep all my thoughts and plans in one handy dandy book and it looks great!

Per Peter Pauper Press's usual standards, Mom's Weekly Planner is nicely spiral bound inside a hard back cover and comes in a red or blue cover.

Perhaps even more exciting for you today - I am happy to say that Peter Pauper Press has offered up one of these calendars to one of my readers here at Reading to Know. Care to win? Simply leave a comment below. This contest is open to U.S. Residents only and will be open through Sunday, December 5th.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

THE WINNER (as selected by random.org) is #14 - Lisa! Congratulations!

Merry Christmas too, of course, specifically from Peter Pauper Press!

(Thank you, PPP, for sending one of these delightful calendars my way and for offering another to one of my readers for a Christmas contest!)

Cookie Swap! by Lauren Chattman

I saw advertisements for Cookie Swap! at the Book Expo this past May and knew it was one that I would be highly interested in utilizing during the holiday season. Cookies?! Yes, please. Thanks to Workman Publishing, I had an opportunity to read (and, ahem, bake) my way through it.

What makes Cookie Swap! a complete delight when it comes to discussing cookie swaps and learning new cookie recipes?

Written by Lauren Chattman, I love that she approaches this book by explaining the joys, the glories and the community that cookie swaps can unite and bring together. This book wasn't written by someone who has never done a cookie swap before and has many good, practical tips for how to pull off a successful cookie swap. By the way, thought it 'tis the season to be baking and giving, Chattman doesn't limit the ideas of cookie swaps to the holiday season only. She offers ideas, tips and suggestions for how to have a cookie swap for a baby or bridal shower, a birthday party, a summer gathering or a "just-for-the-fun-of-it" type of event.

Chattman offers numerous planning tips for how to host such a party and I particularly valued her advice in this department. Her advice is common sense, but it is stuff that I wouldn't necessary have thought through on my own (i..e, how to figure out how many cookies to ask people to bring, how to lay them out and plan ahead for take-home containers, etc.) With full colored photographs and full page spreads of photos, it is easy to catch her drift.

This book is not only about how to plan a cookie swap party however. Oh no, my friends! In this book you will find a terrific number of cookie recipes, ranging from your traditional peanut butter sort to more imaginative varieties like the gingerbread chocolate chip cookie or the chocolate and peppermint bark cookies. (Note of warning: if you make the chocolate and peppermint bark cookies, you will want to eat more than one. Don't ask me how I know this!) There are recipes for sandwich cookies, bars and even crackers.

Another excellent thing to note about this book is that she offers freezer tips as well for each recipe, telling you at what point you can freeze the dough and how long each recipe will save for without going "stale." I really like those notes in particular.

Cookie Swap! is a cookie baking treasure chest and I think it's a wealth of fabulous information.

Therefore I am tremendously pleased to announce that Workman Publishing offered a giveaway copy to one of my readers here at Reading to Know. Would you care to win? (Pshaw! How could you say no?) Simply leave a comment below. This contest is open to U.S. Residents only and will be open through this coming Sunday, December 5th.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THE WINNER (as selected by random.org) is #4 - Olive's mum. CONGRATULATIONS!

Thank you Workman Publishing! And to the rest of you - Merry Christmas and HAPPY BAKING this season!

Christmas Giveaways

Once again things just piled up. I have a bunch of Christmas related items to read/review and giveaway so this entire week is going to be all about presents for YOU!

I wanted to make sure that I put up the Christmas-themed giveaways in time for you to actually receive your winnings should you, er, win! So....I hope you'll put up with a few extra posts this week and you'll enjoy what you see.

I think, because I have a few lined up here all right in a row, that if you mention on your blog that we're doing some Christmas-related giveaways around here, I'll give you an extra comment per contest.

In other words - mention on your blog that there is a giveaway week around here and for each contest you enter, just leave an extra comment.

Totally up to you but either way, I hope you'll enjoy the upcoming offerings which start....in just a few minutes!

Please note that all of the contest you see around here will only run through the end of this week. Usually I keep contests open for one week solid but given the time constraints in making sure the winners receive their items, I'll be cutting the time short for entry.

Disney's Tangled movie review

I confess that after seeing The Princess and the Frog (linked to my review and thoughts) I had my doubts about Disney pulling off anymore magnificent classic princess stories. I saw the promos and previews for Tangled though and a new hope was reborn within me! It looked like, maybe just perhaps, Disney was going to tell a classic tale in classic fashion and I was eager to see if this were true.

Jonathan and I were both curious enough to make a date night out of this movie and were happily given an opportunity to see it this evening. In short: we both loved it!

It's classic Disney (although with something of a Pixar-style animation as opposed to your typical hand drawn cartoon) and a classic fairy tale. They didn't try to make it too modern (until the very end by changing the appearance of Rapunzel - and Jonathan wasn't as bothered by it as I was) and they kept it fairy tale-ish. The movie was humorous with fun songs that helped to tell the story. (I didn't think any of the songs were all that memorable but they were funny and/or complimented the storyline quite well in my opinion.) The lyrics were written by Alan Menken who you might recognize as having given birth to a great many memorable Disney classic songs from movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Just seeing his name pop up in the opening credits did me a world of good, I have to tell you!

After the credits we just melted into the story and enjoyed it thoroughly. I enjoyed it so much that I walked out and told Jonathan, "I can't think of a SINGLE thing I have any objections to!" (Usually I have a list.) Jonathan then reminded me that there is a brief scene where Flynn Rider (the bad boy/hero of the film) is telling Rapunzel that there comes a time in everyone's life where they are obligated to rebel against their parents. But the scene is so brief that, you see, I had already forgotten it by the time the film was over! That said, that little message is tucked away into the movie but I find that a very easy discussion to have with my kids so I'm not terribly concerned with it.

One thing I particularly appreciated was that the "bad guy" of the film, Gothel, is not remarkably scary. Gothel hides Rapunzel away in the tower in order to keep the magical powers in Rapunzel's hair all to herself. Rapunzel's hair as the power to restore health and youth and Gothel uses her to keep alive. (Gothel subscribes to the modern message that we can be young and youthful forever. She would be a plastic surgeon's best friend. Gothel, truly, is afraid to die.) You know how fairy tales end though, right? (At least the Disney-fied ones.) I'm not spoiling anything by saying that the good guys live happily ever after and the bad guys, well, don't. Usually when the bad guy bites the dust in a film, it can be kind of a dark and scary moment. I appreciated the fact that in Tangled it was very obvious that Gothel was about to meet her demise but instead of revealing her face and features to young eyes, Disney cleverly cloaked her so as not to be so startling and disturbing to watch. I really, really appreciated this! I don't see the point in unnecessarily scaring children or filling them with fear and trepidation over a movie and I think I could safely show this to Bookworm1 without issue. It's pretty clean in the "scare department" which is something we generally pay very close attention to!

Therefore I must conclude that, at least for us, we loved this film and were thoroughly entertained by it. Glad to see Disney going back to a classic princess story without trying to adapt it to smithereens to "suit a modern audience." It made for a great date night!



Have you seen it? Do you plan on it? Love to hear your thoughts if you care to share!

Christmas Books from Sleeping Bear Press

Sleeping Bear Press has some new Christmas releases and to kick off your Christmas holiday (yes, I know, the day after Thanksgiving) they have offered a giveaway of some of their new titles. Please note that all titles reviewed below are not involved in the giveaway (although 3 out of 4 of them are!) I explain as we go, so just read between the cover art. =)



The Legend of Papa Noel puts a nice Cajun twist on the idea of Father Christmas. In this book, Papa Noel comes down the Mississippi River to make his deliveries to all the good little girls and boys in the bayou. And just in case you might get lost in the story, there is a Pronunciation Guide on the first page so you can work through these French words and follow this tale. The book is written by Terri Hoover Dunham who was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The illustrations which perfect this story are done by Laura Knorr who caused me to think I was on the Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean ride as I was reading along. Love the dark shadows and alligators that bump into cypress knees, stumps and logs. This book is definitely a different sort of Christmas story, but it's lots of fun!

Slightly more traditional - I suppose - is The Night Henry Ford Met Santa.

Good ol' Henry is having a problem. He can't figure out how to make his cars more economically priced so that more people can afford them. Enter his young son and a little help from Santa, and Henry sees the value of the elves production line! Walla! Henry receives his Christmas present from Santa and our world has not been the same since!

Sleeping Bear Press, as I mentioned, is releasing a few new titles this Christmas season, two of which are the following and both of which are involved in our giveaway today:



Small, Medium and Large is a wordless picture book. However, it does open to the scene of a young girl writing a letter to Santa and expressing the fact that she doesn't need any new toys this year. Instead, she'd like to open up her home to some animal friends. Specifically she'd go for a dog, cat and pony. (Know any young girls like this?) The rest of the book is full of fun animal play in the snow. It's a cozy book to read through and quite adorable.

Lastly we have First Dog's White House Christmas.



In this book, we meet the nameless dog who resembles a current white house pooch, who wants to invite some of his friends to the White House Christmas Gala. Dogs and their owners from all over the world end up attending the Gala and our White House dog learns about Christmas traditions that dogs keep up with their families all over the world. This book is a "sequel" of sorts to First Dog, excepting the fact that the topic of this new title deals with Christmas. I really thought this was a clever way to introduce kids to the idea of different cultural traditions.

Now for the fun! Would you like to win a copy of Small, Medium and Large and First Dog's White House Christmas PLUS one complimentary holiday back (of the two listed above) of your choosing?!!? Here's what you need to do:

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THE WINNER (as selected by Random.org) is #19 - Krista

Thank you, Sleeping Bear Press, for your generosity and congratulations to Krista!

It's a . . . . .!

We love our little boys but we're excited to mix it up a bit around here!

And with happiness and grateful thanksgiving ourselves - we wish you and yours a HAPPY THANKSGIVING as well!

See you next week!

Little Star & Some Fun Reading Ideas for December

Note: Yeah, the Christmas stuff is just going to keep coming from here on out so I hope you don't get sick of it too quickly! I do have a few special giveaways coming up that are scheduled for right after Thanksgiving so keep an eye out for those. In the meantime, I have been delighting myself in preparing myself and my family for the upcoming Christmas/Advent season.

One book we added to our collection this year, courtesy of Waterbrook Press, is Little Star, by Anthony DeStefano. Some of you will recognize the author's name from his popular little book entitled This Little Prayer of Mine (which I haven't read but I've noticed people raving about online.)

Little Star isn't exactly accurate in terms of the Advent season, but it is a touching Christmas tale. It is the story of Little Star who is a tiny little star in the galaxy. All of the other stars ignore him for his small size. There is a lot of talk and chatter between all the twinkling starry host because they understand that one of them would be rewarded for shining the brightest on the day that a special king would make his appearance on earth. All of the stars think themselves the best and the brightest and are sure that they can outshine all of the rest. However, when the moment comes and baby Jesus is born, the other stars scof at His small size and seeming insignificance.

All of the stars become prideful except, of course, for Little Star. Little Star understands that the Baby Jesus is king and that He purposefully came as a little baby and was born in a dingy stable. With this knowledge, the joy that is inside of Little Star bursts forth and he shines brightly down on the baby, keeping Baby Jesus warm through the night. (I'm not saying that this book is theologically accurate - it's just a cute Christmas story that focuses on the bright star which, of course, eventually leads the Wise Men to the child.)

Little Star burns brightly all through the night which eventually causes him to burn himself out. He is no more but, as the book states, that is why people place a star on the tops of their Christmas trees so that they can remember the star that shown brightly over the Christ Child.

It's definitely a book I am happy to add to our line-up.

Speaking of which, last year Amy over at Hope is in the Word talked about how she had planned out her Christmas reads for her kids and wrapped up each book like a present. Each day the girls would get to open their book to read that story for the day. I thought that was such a clever idea that I purposed to do the same this year. One of you asked me if I had already pulled out my Christmas books and yes, I have. I pulled them out so that I could sort through them, schedule out our advent lessons and mark certain books to be read on particular days to coincide with various family activities and am in the process of wrapping them up. Not only am I certain that the kids will enjoy the thrill of having a "present" to open each day of December (that we will then read aloud!) but it also helps me work through some of my old and less-favored wrapping paper!

I think this idea:

1. Keeps the excitement of reading Christmas books alive for the month;
2. Engages kids with the idea that reading is FUN;
3. Cleans out my wrapping paper; and
4. Builds special memories.

I'm just trying to coordinate myself and make sure I number all of the presents appropriately to match with our calendar! It's a little bit more work on my part, but I think in the end I will find this more than worth the time put into setting it all up!

So thanks, Amy, for the tip!

Furthermore, thank you Waterbrook Press for offering us another fun story to read during the month of December!

Advent Books for Families

I'd be really curious to know if you all have a good Toddler Advent Season devotional type of book. I haven't come across any just yet but I do have a couple of ones that are geared more for older kids that we currently glean from. We browse and adapt things for use from these two books.

* By the way - first week in Advent begins Sunday, November 28th! *

Christ in Christmas: A Family Advent Celebration is out-of-print at this time but can be picked up for an economical $0.01 on Amazon. (ha!) We had this book when I was growing up and my parents used it. When I found a copy at our local Christian bookstore, I picked it up more for the memory of it than because I thought we'd be able to instantly use it.

This book takes you through the advent season, week by week. The devotionals in this book are written by James Dobson, Charles Swindoll, James Montgomery Boice and R.C. Sproul. It is filled with lessons, questions for discussion, songs to sing, and scripture passages to read. I think book is perfectly suited to ages 6 and up. I think four is a bit too young, and one and half most definitely is. But we can poke through and pick up bits and pieces to share with our boys this year.

The book that we find it a little bit more convenient to use at this point in time is Just 25 Days 'Til Christmas. This one is also out-of-print and cost a wee bit more than the first book I mentioned. You can find a used copy of this one on Amazon for $0.09. (Ouch!) My copy of this book is entitled, "The 25 Days of Christmas" so apparently the title was changed at some point. Rebecca Hayford Bauer wrote this book because she said:

"Christmas has long been called a season for children. But I had become so involved in the busyness that the children were set aside. I found myself so busy with doing things for them (buying gifts, planning surprises) that I wasn't spending time with them in giving, in baking, in decorating, in wrapping. And in teaching them about the miracle of Christmas." (from the Introduction)

It seems that Bauer is a big fan of the Christmas season which makes it easy for me to connect to her writing style.

Each of the 25 days laid out in this book include:

• A daily devotional
• Worship music (lots of Christmas carols to sing together)
• Hints to parents on how to bring their children into the festivities, instead of relegating them to the role of viewers only.
• A practical check-list to help you move through the Christmas season (without losing your mind!)

The devotionals are one full page long. It's a tad bit lengthy for our four year old, but that's a shaky estimate. I bet he could sit through it. We also prefer to select a set number of Christmas carols to learn over the Christmas/Advent season instead of just singing different songs every day. His ability to memorize things is tremendous these days so Daddy sings him through and explains the lyrics to particular songs so that we can get a good grasp on a few, rather than just listening to and mentally dismissing a bunch. Last year, at age 3, we taught him Away in a Manger. This year we'll add a few more sacred songs to his repertoire and we find that works well. (Even Bookworm2 sings along in Baby-speak which is really fun[ny]!)

I really like Just 25 Days 'Til Christmas and find it to be very practical.

Do you all have any you can recommend? I've browsed our local Christian bookstore but I just haven't seen anything and so if you have a suggestion, please leave one in the comments! I'd be curious to know of any other resources along these lines so that we can make EVERY Advent season fresh and new to our children!

Friday Favorites

Time for a Friday's Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

What am I thankful for this week!?

1. Anticipation! Next week we find out who we can be expecting to join our family in the Spring!

I'll letcha know. =) (We're really excited to find out!)

2. We finished reading Women's Ministry in the Local Church, by Susan Hunt, over at Offering Hospitality!



Various other bloggers helped talk through this book and if you're interested in reading any of our thoughts on it, click on these links to check out particular topics:

• The Need for Women's Ministry
• The Motive Behind the Ministry
• Five Principles for an Organized Ministry
• Submission
• Compassion in Ministry
• Community
• Discipleship
• Scripture

3. It's a weekend. I can be grateful for something as simple as that, right?! Because I'm really grateful for it!!

4. A Sunshine Award.


Shonya from Learning How Much I Don't Know (I love her blog title!) passed along this blog award to me with the most kind things to say. Shonya - you totally overwhelmed me with your remarks. Thank you so much.

So next I get to pass this award onto someone else and I think I must go with Annette from Live, Learn, Love. I love hearing Annette's thoughts and ideas on reading, raising kids and life in general. We recently discovered that our kids are oh so roughly the exact same age and so I find it even more exciting to read her ideas for Things to Do With Kids. Her suggestions usually hit the mark over here! Plus, I enjoy the random e-mails we toss back and forth. I have so enjoyed the friendship that has grown with her through blogging and only regret that she lives all the way on the other side of the country! She's the type that I'd move closer to me...if that could be arranged. But I think she's content where she's at. AH life!

Thanks, Annette, for the sunshine you spread around these parts. Goodness knows we don't get much of it here in Oregon! ;)

5. Thanksgiving is next week! And I love a good celebration!

So with that- Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Friday to you!

Carrie

Jane Austen Gifts

Admittedly I'm not a terribly big Jane Austen fan. Sure, I love her works. They are fun and enjoyable reads and who doesn't like the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice?! Still, I always think it's kinda fun to find gifts related to specific authors and stories and I was browsing around (looking for L.M. Montgomery things, actually!) when I found this load of Jane Austen gift ideas:

The Jane Austen Action Figure! Because, you know, who doesn't want that?! (In truth, if they had a Lucy Maud action figure, I would buy it and she would sit by my computer and I would like her.)

What would you do with a Jane Austen action figure, exactly? I can't think of anything. I'd be far more inclined to the Pride and Prejudice Paper Dolls. That seems a little bit more sensible and usable.

I found this pretty little set of stationary items including Jane Austen Note Cards, a Jane Austen Journal, a Jane Austen Address Book, and Jane Austen Pocket Pads. They are all of this same style:



I myself have to express an extreme interest in reading Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners: Compliments, Charades & Horrible Blunders. That just looks FUN! I'm really curious about that one. Have any of you read it? Do share if you have!



Perhaps for a calm and peaceful evening's entertainment, you might be inclined towards putting together a Jane Austen 500-Piece Puzzle? If I knew enough friends in town that loved Pride and Prejudice (the book, not just the movie!), I'd be tempted to have a tea with them and get this game to play for the afternoon's entertainment:

Pride And Prejudice Trivia Board Game


But what would I serve at the tea? Aye, there's a problem! So I'd probably need one of these (in true If You Give a Mouse a Cookie style...)





The Jane Austen Cookbook or Tea with Jane Austen.


For the crafter in your life, there's Jane Austen's Sewing Box: Craft Projects and Stories from Jane Austen's Novels.



Lastly, we all know that there are multiple spin-offs from the Austen books. I know that some people are finding amusement in combining Austen with vampires, etc., but I just can't get myself to go there. Two spin-offs that I have found clean and enjoyable are the following, which I would seriously consider passing along to any Austen fan:




Jane Austen Ruined My Life (see my review HERE) or Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart (review HERE). Both are quick, easy and pleasurable reads which will make you wonder when they will make a chick flick out of either. A third book by Pattillo is due out in 2011, I do believe, and I'm waiting with baited breath for it!

These are just a handful of the items I found for Jane Austen. Now you can insert a line of whining as to why no one has bothered to be that creative with Lucy Maud Montgomery. Sigh.