Christmastime - Hardcover

Boynton, Sandra

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0894806351 ISBN 13: 9780894806353

Publisher: Workman Publishing Company, 1987

Synopsis

CHRISTMASTIME is Sandra Boynton's humorous and compassionate carol to the season of warmth and giving, celebration and tradition. And tradition, to Boynton, is anything that happens every Christmas without fail: like trimming the tree, a fruitcake from the Rossiters, the crunch underfoot of your most precious ornament, and the customary search for scissors at four A.M. Christmas morning.

With guest appearances by Santa and his reindeer, Boynton's familiar menagerie reveals the many joys and satisfactions that make Chrismastime such a universally special season: the thrill of finding the right gift for someone you love, and affording it; the personal gratification of wrapping all the gifts early; and the wonder of Christmas morning, when you realize you forgot to label them.

And, in the spirit of giving, Boynton includes her own Christmas recipes: Santa's favorite chocolate chip cookies (with suggested note urging him to "please stack dishes neatly in the sink and wrap uneaten cookies in tin foil"); plum pudding (well worth someone else's time and money); and Wassail, which seems like a great treat if you happen to have 2,640 blanched almonds lying around the house.

This hardcover book makes a perfect gift for the "staunch traditionalist" and the "santaclaustrophobic" alike. 94,000 copies in print.

About this title

About the Author

Sandra Boynton is a popular American cartoonist, writer, and songwriter. Since 1974, Boynton has written and illustrated over forty children’s books and seven general audience books, including four New York Times bestsellers. More than 60 million of her books have been sold—“mostly to friends and family,” she says. She has also written and produced five albums of award-winning children’s music. Three of her albums have been certified Gold, and Philadelphia Chickens, nominated for a Grammy, is nearing Platinum. She lives with her family on a farm in New England.

From the Back Cover

What is surely the jolliest time of the year? What day involves a whole season of intensive preparation? What magical mid-winter event is celebrated with an exuberance of song, food and drink, and an abundance of green? What is the most compelling occasion for the gathering together of family and friends to exult in a common spirit of joy and wonder and reverence and hope?

The answer, of course, is Super Bowl Sunday, but unfortunately Sandra Boynton knows very about football so she chose instead to write about Christmastime.

The answer, of course, is Super Bowl Sunday, but unfortunately Sandra Boynton knows very about football so she chose instead to write about Christmastime.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

WHAT'S A-WASSAILING?

Wassail is a salutation meaning "To Your Health!" It is also the name of the hot spiced ale that is used, especially in Great Britain, for the drinking of healths at Christmastime. Often there is an ornate silver Wassail bowl, which is filled with the wassail drink and carried from house to neighbor's house, as the bearers "go a-wassailing."

At each house, a toast is drunk to the health of every member of the household. After the fifth house, toasts are often drunk to the health of the furniture as well.

Some etymologists believe that the word "wassail" comes from the Middle English "was" (Be) and "hail" (i.e. in good health). But anyone who has ever been wassailled knows that "wassail" is simply an inebriated contraction of "What's in this ale?"

Edition details

• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
• Publication date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0894806351
• ISBN 13: 9780894806353
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 111