Lucy is the youngest of four children who have been sent to the English countryside to live in a large, old manor house with an elderly gentleman until the bombings of London in WWII have ended. While exploring indoors on a rainy day, she crawls into a deep wardrobe, and out into the land of…
Category: Christmas
“How to Catch an Elf” Book Discussion and Chocolate Peppermint Cupcake Recipe
Some children have decided that instead of trying to catch Santa, it would be easier to catch an elf! With candy cane temptations and tinsel traps, it’s hard to catch this clever elf, especially when one boy uses an avalanche of food and a dinner cannon! How to Catch an Elf is a fun Christmas story about…
“Dream Snow” Book Discussion and Coconut Cupcakes Recipe
In Dream Snow, by Eric Carle, a farmer dreams of snowflakes falling in a white blanket on his five farm animals and barn. Beautifully and colorfully illustrated in the same manner as his famous The Very Hungry Caterpillar, this is a great book for celebrating December, winter, and Christmas. It teaches young children about counting to five and…
“Christmas in Vermont” Book Discussion and Maple Cinnamon Shortbread Cookie Recipe
Emma has a problematic habit: after one year of dating, she realizes each guy she’s with just isn’t marriage material, and she breaks up with him. So now, she’s suffering through winter in New York with a broken radiator (when she should have been on a tropical vacation with her now ex-boyfriend), working on a…
“The Sugar Queen” Discussion and Peppermint Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Peppermint Whipped Cream Frosting
Josey Cirrini’s mother is a bitter, wealthy woman who judges her daughter incessantly, demanding to be chauffeured to social events, and in waiting on her, Josey missed having a life of her own. At thirty, Josey spends all of her free time alone, hiding in her secret closet filled with the forbidden sweets and travel…
“One Day in December” Book Discussion and Chocolate Cupcake Recipe With Chocolate Mousse Topping
A single, sarcastic girl makes eye contact across a crowded bus station with a handsome boy, and wishes she got off the bus and got his number. Then the girl—Laurie—spends the next year searching for him in every pub in London. A year later at a Christmas party, Laurie’s best friend, Sarah, brings home Jack,…
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” Book Discussion and Grinch Cupcakes Recipe
Every Who down in Whoville loves Christmas, but the Grinch hated the Whos and their Christmas celebrations, especially the noise and singing. So the Grinch devises a wicked plan to steal all the Christmas decorations and presents and food from every house, hoping it will ruin Christmas for the town. The Grinch dresses his dog…
“A Christmas Carol” Book Discussion and Citrus Spice Cupcakes Recipe
“Marley was dead: to begin with”—one of the greatest opening lines of a novel. Ebenezer Scrooge, money and mortgage lender, miserable miser, and wretched soul despises Christmas and anything to do with the happiness he has lost. Then the ghost of his former work partner, Jacob Marley, comes to warn him of the greater sorrows…