Becky’s Christmas by Tasha Tudor.

Well, I suppose Becky’s Christmas takes place in New Hampshire or somewhere nearby, since Tasha Tudor lived in New Hampshire and in Vermont with her four children. The story of Becky’s Christmas seems to be based on the Christmas traditions and customs that Tasha Tudor and her family tried to maintain on their rural family homestead.

In the afternoon Father hitched up Brown Dobbin to the sledge, and they all drove over to the Christmas Woods to get the tree. It was a beautifully bright afternoon; the shadows on the snow were as blue as the far hills, and the Christmas Woods looked like an enchanted forest with the snow-covered spruce trees shining in the sun. There were patterns in the snow where rabbits and birds had left their tracks. Becky noticed where a little mouse had run in and out, ‘looking for fir-cone seeds for his Christmas dinner,’ Kitty said.

It was always hard to decide which tree to take; one was too tall, another too slim, but Dan found a perfect one by the wall, and he and Father cut it down and put it on the sledge. The others brought along the leftover branches for decorations, and they returned to the house, Mother and Kitty on the sledge, Becky astride Brown Dobbin, and Father and the boys walking alongside.

Becky spread out old sheets beneath the tree to catch the wax drips, and Father and the boys braced it in a tub with sand and with strands of wire from the corners of the room. Then Becky braved the prickly needles and poured water in the tub to keep the tree fresh.

How splendid it looked, even without its balls and candles, and how good it smelled!Becky just stood and looked at it with shivers of pure joy tickling the back of her neck. Oh, Christmas was lovely!

p. 26-27

Becky’s Christmas is a simple story, only 46 pages long, not quite a picture book, but not a novel either. The book just chronicles the events leading up to Christmas at Becky’s rural home and then the events of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Becky has a ‘lovely” Christmas, featuring homemade gifts, Christmas cakes, a handmade Advent calendar, good food lovingly prepared, and a very special gift from Father and Mother.

Tasha Tudor loved writing and illustrating books about Christmas and other holidays and did so in numerous stories including Corgiville Christmas, Snow Before Christmas, The Dolls’ Christmas, The Night Before Christmas, and A Time to Keep. This last one tells how Tudor’s family celebrated each of the months of the year in a delightful, old-fashioned style and homespun traditions. If she is a bit too precious to live up to in real life, Tasha Tudor is at least fun to read, and it’s great to imagine such a Christmas as Becky’s.

The book Becky’s Christmas, however, is about as difficult to obtain as that old-fashioned Christmas is to reproduce. It’s no longer in print, and copies of Becky’s Christmas start at seventy some-odd dollars on Amazon. If you are a member of my library, however, you can borrow my copy and read this delightful story for yourself.