Christmas – Page 7 – …on the B.L.

Read Yes
Length 297
Quick Review Layla Claus, Santa’s wife, saved Christmas in the 17th century from Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan English Parliament.

Jeff Guinn wrote How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas in 2005 as a stand alone sequel to his 1994 best-seller The Autobiography of Santa Claus. I have not read the autobiography, but it did not hinder my enjoyment.

Layla of Niobrara was born in Lycia – modern day Turkey – in the year 377. She was not like other girls wanting a husband; instead, she wanted to travel the world. After visiting the tomb of Bishop Nicholas, she had the idea to travel giving gifts to the poor. Taking off she eventually ran into the assumed dead Nicholas and his companion Felix. Being blessed with extraordinary travel rates and never aging, they gathered trusted friends throughout the years, who enjoyed the same blessings. Layla ended up in England during the Puritan rule in the late 17th century as Oliver Cromwell gained power. Layla was a key player in saving Christmas from harsh Puritan law.

The book begins with a foreword by Santa Claus himself. Consisting of twenty-four chapters, each chapter begins with a sketch of a scene from the following chapter. Throughout the book, the significant characters are depicted through a small sketch portrait. At the end of the book, there is a recipe for the Peppermint Pie the Clauses and their companions love so much.

How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas is an engaging sweet story about an often overlooked yet beloved character in the American social psyche. Guinn discusses a history very accurately. Overall, the book is really just a fun way of educating people on an interesting aspect of British and American history. Guinn goes to a little too effort making the bad guy be the bad guy. I didn’t need that much convincing he was devil incarnate.

All in all, I really enjoyed the book, and I will be reading The Autobiography of Santa Claus as well.

Memorable Quotes
“Each of us should have the right to decide who and what we want to be.”
“Alan was insisting I stay as long as I like, “up to and including forever.””
“In life, no great achievement is possible without equally great risk.”

Title : How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas
As Told To: Jeff Guinn
Publisher: Jeremy T. Tarcher/Penguin Group
Copyright: 2005
ISBN: 9781585424375

Read Yes
Length 112
Quick Review MUST if you live in the Western Hemisphere and/or celebrate Christmas. It’s referenced for one month every year. A ton of Christmas movies are adaptations or inspired by this classic.

Even if you don’t like Dickens, do yourself a favor and devote one week to starting, reading, and finishing this novel; it’s not long like a majority of Dickens works. For one month every year, you can be the person in the room who has actually read A Christmas Carol and therefore knows the actual story instead of having the gist of it from all the different adaptations and the like. Hey, you might like it, and it could become the book you return to every Christmas season to enjoy again and again for the rest of your eternity.

A Christmas Carol is the iconic tale about a grumpy, rich, white guy who hates everyone was visited by ghosts helping him to become a better person and epitomized the spirit of Christmas in a mere 150 pages if the typeset is big. Dickens’ inspiration came from his impoverished childhood full of hardship, like much of his other works. I don’t want to give any of the plot away, but you probably know it already.

Anyways the language Dickens uses flows. There are moments of subtle humor in a sea of seriousness. It is easy to see why he is regarded as a master of the English language through his descriptions and narrative.

I was lucky enough to read a beautifully illustrated edition, which makes it an even bigger pleasure to read.

My favorite movie version of this classic story is A Muppet Christmas Carol. Full of humor and nontraditional characters, it really does stick with the original story. A great deal of the narration is pulled right from the text.

Memorable Quotes
““And what is that upon your cheek?” Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching in his voice, that it was a pimple.”

Title: A Christmas Carol

Author: Charles Dickens