“IT’S ALL ABOUT CHRISTMAS,” Covenant Communications, $19.99, 232 pages
Many times, Christmas celebrations include a variety of traditions, such as treats, activities, stories, religious worship and music.
The collection “It’s All About Christmas” includes a little bit of each of these and is a nice resource for those looking for all of these elements in one place.
The two dozen stories include Christmas staples “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl” and adaptations of “The Mansion” by Henry Van Dyke and “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A. Hoffmann.
“It’s All About Christmas” has facts and anecdotes about Christmas, including top-selling Christmas toys through the years, the history of Christmas trees and suggestions for holiday-themed books and movies. There are also 14 recipes for cookies, wassail, a Swedish Christmas Braid, breakfast casserole and other holiday-related foods.
Vintage-style holiday- and Christmas-themed art gives the book a feeling of being from a bygone era.
Some things are local to Utah, including facts about the Christmas lights on Temple Square and a story by author Jerry Borrowman that’s set in Utah.
There is a list of scriptures that share about the birth of Jesus Christ from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
This isn’t a guide with suggestions of what to do when, but rather an extensive and varied collection that families can comb through as they put together their Christmas traditions.
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