Lovely illustrations. Some variance from the text in The Little House in the Big Woods. The family's reading of the Bible on Christmas Eve was left out. :(

Another good book in the Little House series for younger kids. My children really enjoy them.

Beautiful pictures. Nice story.
What I found most interesting is what people did back then for fun. It seems like it would still be fun today!
What I found most odd is they only showed what Laura got as a present. Or, I should say, as an extra present. Was she the only one who did? That seems.... mean.

Read to my daughter's. It is basically taken nearly word for word, right out of Little House in the Big Woods.

This lets me indulge in a bit of Little House nostalgia with none of the problematic content.

Love the cozy Christmas vibes

Quaint and full of home values, but there just isn't enough of a story. It was a little dull for my daughter (and me). Even a children's book needs some conflict.

CHRISTMAS IN THE BIG WOODS, written for young children, shares homespun holiday images with the reader. Young Laura has an idyllic family life complete with a bulldog named Jack. Christmas is nearing and rampant with preparations. Pies, cookies, and snow candy are made.

Christmas Eve brings Aunt Eliza, Uncle Peter and their children. The cousins make snow images, hang their stockings and receive simple gifts such as peppermint candy and red homemade mittens. They eat man-shaped pancakes for breakfast.

This book is beautifully illustrated by Renee Graef.

Gorgeous illustrations and simple yet descriptive story-telling as we've come to expect from Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Although most of her work is written for "young adults", this particular book is geared more for the younger elementary crowd - which I'd just find since my 3rd grader loved it.

Another short and sweet segment of the classic Little House books. I haven't read the original story to our girls yet, so I figured I would set the scene with these My First Little House picture books first. They are nicely illustrated and tell a simple chapter of the story, and they are engaging enough to keep a child's attention.

This story has a Christmas theme and is good to read at this time of year. I love that it shows to children that you can still have a wonderful Christmas, even if you don't get a million gifts. We enjoyed reading this book together, although I'm not sure why we haven't tried reading the chapter books yet.

Having just finished reading a Little House chapter book with my daughter, this picture book was sure to be a bit. She already knew the characters and loved hearing about this special Christmas memory from the Ingalls family.

This is not one of the better books in the series. I've been trying to pinpoint the reasons why we haven't cared much for this one. Here are three possibilities.

1) The cover shows a wreath on the front door, but aside from that, there aren't any Christmas decorations. There isn't even a Christmas tree, which does trigger questions from young readers that I can't answer. The Wilders live in the woods, so finding a tree wouldn't be the problem. Maybe time and/or space in the house is the issue.

2) All of the kids get red mittens and a stick of peppermint candy, which makes them very happy. However, Laura also gets a doll. Of course, the question becomes, why did she get a toy and none of the other kids did?

3) One page lists the names of the relatives who come on Christmas. The names aren't needed, so that page could have been put to better use.

We'll probably have to read the original books to find out how they compare with the excerpts in these little books.

2017: Having just re-read LH in the BW, I now know why only Laura got a doll ... the other girls already had dolls. (Even so, she's the only child who got a 'big' present.)