I love Christmas. I love all the preparing during Advent, the feasting during Christmas Day itself, and the Catholic and secular traditions surrounding the entire Advent-Christmas-Epiphany cycle. I love reading about Christmas and planning new traditions and dusting off old ones. I was delighted to find a republished (by Neumann Press) copy of Father Francis Weiser’s classic, The Catholic Christmas Book of Cherished Christmas Customs. Originally published in the 1950s, I can remember Mom reading snippets from this book when I was growing up. The republication is such a blessing; especially since Neumann Press has kept the original texts and sketches and bound it all together in a hard-cover for years of use. Please note: this is not a recipe book, craft book or activity book. This is a scholarly work on the facts about Christmas from a Catholic world-view. Father Weiser delves into each symbol, tradition, story and saint that plays a role in the Christmas season. He begins with the Gospel versions and relates these to historic events. Next he discusses just how and when the celebration of December 25th as the birth of the Christ Child came about. He further develops the changing times as the Protestant Revolt and the rise of Puritanism caused many of the religious aspects of Christmas to seemingly disappear – but some of what we consider very secular traditions have their roots in religious beliefs. Fr. Weiser points all these out, with specific information about why the different countries celebrate in these ways. A few chapters are devoted to describing and explaining ancient hymns, medieval carols and modern Christmas songs – not so much the words of these carols, but more their meanings and background. He places the hymns and songs in their historical and social context, explaining when the particular hymn was sung and why. Nativity plays and mystery play traditions from different countries and crèches are detailed. Lights, fires and the Christmas tree are symbols used in just about every culture – Fr. Weiser does a great job describing and explaining these customs. Food, which plays a large role in many of the Christmas traditions, is the subject of the last couple of chapters. Unfortunately, Fr. Weiser doesn’t give us any recipes – and some of these treats sound wonderful! Many of the foods mentioned, thankfully, we can find on the internet to satisfy our need to make what he mentions. Again, this book is not a typical Christmas book – there are no stories, activities or recipes. This book will give all those interested a great resource for understanding the roots of the many holiday traditions including the activities, the decorations, the music and drama of the days surrounding the birth of the Christ Child and the visit of the Magi.

This book tells the story of the passion and resurrection from the point of view of the donkey that carried Christ on his back. "The little donkey had never been ridden before, but Jesus spoke gently to him, and soon he stopped being afraid." The donkey (and an angel companion who is never mentioned in the text but is always present in the scenes) follows along after the entrance into Jerusalem and witnesses the primary events of the Gospel narratives including the Last Supper, the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Ascension. Beautiful soft watercolor illustrations with gold highlights on each page bring the story to life. The language strikes a nice balance being neither overly simple nor overly flowery. Most pleasing to me, the Eucharistic language of the Last Supper is maintained:

"Take and eat this," said Jesus, holding the bread. "It is my body." And the donkey watched as Jesus lifted up a cup of wine. "Take and drink this,"Jesus said. "It is my blood."

The bloody details of the passion are gently minimized so this book is easily read to even the youngest toddlers. For example, there are no details about the scourging just the mockery of the soldiers:

So the soldiers took Jesus away. They put a crown of thorns on his head and made fun of him. 'Hail the King of the Jews!' they said. They gave him a huge cross of wood and forced him to carry it.

A this point the donkey wishes he could help Jesus carry the cross and Simon of Cyrene does help Jesus. I like the way the donkey becomes a stand-in for the child and how this aside opens up a space to discuss with the child how we can help Jesus carry his cross. And the crucifixion and death are all covered in a simple statement: "They crucified him between two thieves." The narrative moves directly from that to Joseph requesting the body from Pilate. This allows the adult reader to help a sensitive child navigate the more difficult aspects of the passion narrative. The donkey witnesses the resurrection and the ascension and then returns home:

And the donkey stayed there the rest of his life, remembering the kind and good man he had carried on his back to Jerusalem.

I'm not thrilled with reducing Jesus to a "kind and good man" in the final sentence. There are plenty of stories and pious legends about animals recognizing the divinity of Christ and I'd have preferred the story take that tack. But it isn't a terrible distortion of Christ. At least the book covers all the essentials of the story. This is a good introduction to Easter and works well with my three-year old's level of understanding and her attention span. It will appeal to older children as well.