Two Sweet Christmas Stories

I recently found a fun Christmas book, The wish book Christmas by Lynn Austin. In 1951, two five-year-old boys have a lot of gifts they want to ask Santa for, after they see the Sears Christmas Catalog. Plus, they want to ask him for new daddies.

 

Their mothers work to teach them about Christmas as Jesus’ birthday, and the joy there is in giving gifts to others. God has a few lessons for the mothers, too, about the gifts he’s given them.

 

My children’s Christmas book, Millie’s Christmas, is available on Amazon again.

 

When my first publisher, Mantle Rock Publishing, closed down earlier this year, my two adult books, All my Tears and Gifts of Grace, went to Scrivenings Press, and Millie’s Christmas came to me to be republished independently.

 

My poor family put up with my grumbling and pressure and helped me get my sweet Christmas story out again. The process only made me appreciate my publishers more than I already did.

 

Millie’s Christmas was a precious gift to me from God. It can be shared with children four to eight, but adults enjoy it too.

 

Ruthie says Millie will love Christmas. Ruthie is Millie’s best friend, so she’s sure Ruthie’s right, but why does Millie keep finding Ruthie and her brother Jake crying?

 

Millie, an orange kitten, shares about her first Christmas. Her best friend Ruthie, six years old, teaches Millie about Christmas—food, decorations, music, presents, and Jesus!

Millie’s friend Bruce, the family dog, also helps her celebrate Christmas, and sometimes gets her in trouble.

When Ruthie’s big brother Jake breaks his ankle, Millie learns about sad things, like divorce, when Jake can’t visit his mommy for Christmas. Millie watches Ruthie’s family love each other through the sadness, and find joy in Christmas.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Millies-Christmas-Kathy-McKinsey/dp/B09HQBTL7J

 

These are both great books. 

Sweet Memories, Old and in the Making

December, 1996:

We left the three little kids with our friends the Cowans the other night while we went to an adult church dinner. Murray tried to pay Brenda for taking care of the kids, but she gave him the money back. I didn't know this, and I asked Rebecca the next day if she knew if Daddy had given Brenda any money when he picked them up. "No, I think SHE gave HIM some money."

I was reading to Sarah the other day about how King Herod killed all the baby boys in Bethlehem, trying to kill Jesus. Sarah said, "But he didn't get Jesus, because he went to Egypt. But if he did kill Jesus, Jesus could make himself back alive again, because He's God."

Sarah has memorized Philippians 1, 9-11 a long time ago, which is our church's prayer. The other day she said that for our lunch-time prayer, and then said, "Mommy, I want you to tell me what all that means."

Murray called home the other day, and when Kathy hung up from talking with him, Sarah said, "I knew that was Daddy because you talked in your normal voice. Why do you talk like a lady when other people call?"

December 13, 1996: Sarah was in the car with Murray, and she likes to put the keys in the ignition. She was having trouble figuring out which key, and she said, "Now, be patient, I'll get it."

December 23, 1996: The other day at lunch, I put my hands on the sides of Sarah's head. Sarah said that we should do that from now on when we pray. She said, "Let's hold the ears instead of holding hands when we pray."

Today at lunch, I was reading the kids stories about when God created the world. They were asking all sorts of questions about how He did it. “How did He do it?” “Did He just say it and it was done?” “Did He make it up out of His imagination?” “Where did He get the seeds for the plants?” We read a little more about it, and Sarah said, "He made a miracle!"

The other day at breakfast, we finished reading a passage from Mark, and Kathy said that tomorrow we would read about when Jesus was arrested. Rebecca said, "Oh, good!" Kathy said we shouldn't be happy about that, we should be sad because Jesus would be hurt and then die. Sarah said, "But I'm a teentsy bit happy because we don't have to be punished."

December 25, 1996: Today Caleb had hot chocolate for breakfast. He took a swallow and said, "Mommy, I drank a baboon."

December 30, 1996: The kids stayed at three different homes this weekend while we went to Colorado. We heard that they called each other while we were gone, and discussed what they each had to eat.

Sarah received a monetary gift from Grandma Brinkmann for her birthday. When she opened the envelope, she exclaimed, "I got $100!"(or whatever). She danced around excitedly and said, "I can give it to Jesus!"

And let’s make a new sweet memory. My children’s Christmas book, Millie’s Christmas, comes out on October 22.

Ruthie says Millie will love Christmas. Ruthie is Millie’s best friend, so she’s sure Ruthie’s right, but why does Millie keep finding Ruthie and her brother Jake crying?

Millie, an orange kitten, shares about her first Christmas. Her best friend Ruthie, six years old, teaches Millie about Christmas—food, decorations, music, presents, and Jesus!

Millie’s friend Bruce, the family dog, also helps her celebrate Christmas, and sometimes gets her in trouble.

When Ruthie’s big brother Jake breaks his ankle, Millie learns about sad things, like divorce, when Jake can’t visit his mommy for Christmas. Millie watches Ruthie’s family love each other through the sadness, and find joy in Christmas.

Share this story with a child you love, struggling with sadness at Christmas. Jesus’ love and truth remain solid.

Millie's Christmas Chapter 1

Hello. My name is Millie, and I'm a cat. Well, my mama says I'm still a kitten. But I'm four months old. I think that makes me a pretty grown-up cat.

We live in a house where there are two cats, Mama and me. There’s one dog, Bruce. He’s my friend. And we have four people. The most important person is Ruthie. She's six years old, and she's my best friend. She says I'm her cat, but really she's my person.

Ruthie has a big brother named Jake who's nineteen. He's funny. Then there are their parents, Mommy and Daddy, and they're nice but very busy.

Ruthie says I'm beautiful. I'm orange all over, except a white spot on my tummy and one white ear. Bruce laughed at me once and said I looked goofy with that one white ear. What does he know? He's mostly brown all over, with a black patch above his nose, and he has white feet. Now that's goofy.

Something exciting happened today. Ruthie picked me up, squeezed me, and ran all over the house yelling, “It's Christmas time. It's Christmas time. Millie, you're going to love Christmas.”

“Meow, meow,” I yelled back. I didn't know what Christmas was, but Ruthie was excited, so I was too. “Meow.”

Ruthie kissed my face and whirled through the house, making me dizzy. “At Christmas we have lots of fun food, and candles, and decorations, and visiting, and candy.” She rubbed my ribs. “You’ll love it, Millie.”

I didn’t know what most of that stuff was, but it made Ruthie happy, so I knew it would be great.

Daddy and Jake brought home what Ruthie called a Christmas tree. It didn’t look like any of the trees out in the yard, with long sticks on them. This tree was bushy all over and really sharp and prickly, and they pulled it out of the ground from somewhere. Strange. But it sure smelled good.

“Now, Millie.” Ruthie carried me over to the Christmas tree. “We’re going to hang ornaments all over this tree. Please don’t bother them.”

Hmmm. I wonder what ornaments are. They must be something fun to play with.

In the middle of the night, Mama and I went to the Christmas tree and nibbled some of the branches. That was fun, and yummy, but Mama said we shouldn’t do it much, or the parents might get mad. I’d never seen them get mad, but Mama’d been around for Christmas before and knew what she was talking about. Mama was really smart.

Ruthie’s mommy started playing Christmas music. Daddy said, “Already?” Mommy just laughed and sang along with the music.

I thought the music was pretty. Many of the songs were about Jesus. Ruthie told me, “Jesus is the most important part of Christmas.” I didn’t know who Jesus was, but Ruthie was excited about him, so I was too. I hoped I would get to meet him.

Other Christmas songs were about snowmen and reindeer and silver bells and sleigh rides and presents and more about snow. Everything sounded like so much fun. I ran around the house with Ruthie, jumping on and off furniture. Christmas was great!