Candle in the Forest And Other Christmas Stories Children Love

To a child, no other event is comparable to Christmas. New Year's Day, Presidents' Day, St. Patrick's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Veteran's Day -- none of these register in a child's life. Valentine's Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving register, but only a little more. Even birthdays last but a day. So Christmas stands alone as the most anticipated holiday of the year. And rightly so -- it contains that magical combination of fantasy and family. Just saying words such as "manger," "Bethlehem," "reindeer," "candy canes," and "Santa," wafts even the most troubled children to a place they feel was created just for them. Our own grandchildren come to what we call to our "Electronically Free Grey House" for Christmas. Even before we wake up, they'll crawl in beside us and wiggle and talk and cajole until we get up. Then they'll pounce, begging that we play a game with them. Our electronic equipment ban has blessed us by knowing that while they're with us, our time is theirs, without reservations. And they love it! No amount of electronic anything can possibly compare to having Grammy and Poppy all to themselves. We enter the world of children, by invitation only, of course, for we no longer belong there. Children..., with the dew of heaven scarcely dry on their wings and eyes and ears that still can see and hear, tread sweet wild ways and have no words to tell of them. When they have learnt to pick and choose a telling word and a descriptive phrase the wings have fallen from their shoulders and the old ways are closed. Age has little left to tell of but memories and the trembling hope of returning one day to the old paths. Elizabeth Goudge, Island Magic And Christmas is the best of times to enter in; the entrance to this great adventure being only a story away. In fact, a story is like a magic key waiting to open the door to imagination filled with life and love and adventure. For a child and an adult, Story often provides a bridge for the two generations to better understand each other, empathize with each other. When our children were small, I was privileged, through Story, to briefly enter the magical world they lived in. Then they grew up and moved on, but now that we have grandchildren I am rediscovering that world all over again. I think what surprises me most about a child's world was expressed best by Elizabeth Goudge inThe Scent of Water: "In a child's life there are no empty spaces." How very true, even more today! A child's life is every bit as full as are ours -- even their joys and sorrows are proportional to ours. Once upon a time, every child had a chance to explore the world of imagination. A place and a time when dreams could germinate, sprout, and grow. It was a serene world -- until electricity -- when all children had was family, friends, and a few simple toys. I've always loved reading Longfellow, who spent his childhood in then rural Portland, Maine. On that rugged coast he would lean against a great rock and experience the timeless romance of sea and sand. In Deering Woods, he'd climb his favorite tree, where high up, he would find his personal perch, the place where his dreams were born. It was in these quiet places that his future was conceptualized for the first time. Attempting to recapture those long ago days, many years later, in "My Lost Youth," he wrote: I can see the breezy dome of groves, The shadows of Deering's Woods; And the friendships old and the early loves, Come back with a Sabbath sound, as of doves In quiet neighborhoods. And the verse of that sweet old song, It flutters and murmurs still: "A boy's will is the wind's will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." The Creator, in His great wisdom, gifted each of us with the "long, long thoughts of youth." In this island in time, free from the hurricanes of adult life, the child is to dream and become.Wheeler, Joe L. is the author of 'Candle in the Forest And Other Christmas Stories Children Love', published 2007 under ISBN 9781416542193 and ISBN 1416542191.