Growing up, books and the holidays went hand-in-hand. I received them and gave them as gifts. Some of them were magical and still call up pleasant memories. I wondered if my co-workers at the Clermont College Library had the same experience. So I asked them to tell me about a favorite holiday story from their childhood related to a special memory or moment. Here’s what they shared:

I have great childhood memories of the wordless picture book, The Snowman (1978) by Raymond Briggs.  Before I could read, I loved looking through the pages of this book and imagining words to match the beautiful illustrations.  The short film, also wordless, is lovely and features some unique accompanying music, too. –Katie

On Christmas Eve, the four of us had our ritual. In the afternoon, we would make lots of cookies, then have a light supper, and hunt for a Christmas tree (That was before the parents’ famous artificial trees of pink and silver, including the color wheel!).

Then we would head home, have cookies and milk or hot chocolate, leaving some for Santa of course!  Dad would read the “The Night Before Christmas.” My brother and I would try so hard to see Santa, but we never saw him–we always fell asleep! –Kathi

When I was old enough, Mom and Dad encouraged me to read aloud “A Visit from St. Nicholas” from Favorite Poems Old and New (1957) along with the story of Jesus’ birth every year on Christmas day. To this day I read Clement C. Moore’s poem every holiday season. The poem instilled in me an interest in the life of the real Saint Nicholas and his generous spirit of giving. I still own this dear old book to which I attribute my love of poetry. -Penny

My favorite holiday book is Debbie’s Dream by Belgian artists Gilbert Delahaye and Marcel Marlier. (1983)

“One winter, Debbie finds herself bedridden with a cold. She has a dream of dancing with a snowman, who invites her to go to the land of the winter king. She is understandably upset when she wakes up and finds that there is no palace of ice or trees of silver, but is comforted by her Grandpa’s words “dreams sometimes come true – but not always in the way we expect.”

I have fond memories of my grandmother taking me monthly to Erlanger K-Mart to get the next installment of the Debbie series until I had the complete set. She said that she bought them for me because Debbie was a brunette like me. Years later I was able to share an old friend with my daughter. -Natalie

We hope you have a wonderful holiday-
Penny McGinnis
Technical Services Manager