Madeleine L'Engle's The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas was my four children's favorite Christmas book when they were little--little meaning from toddler to the day they grew up and moved into their own homes!
It was tradition for me to read it to them after we had decorated the Christmas tree, them lying on the floor in their pajamas with all the lights off except the tree lights. This was the 1984 paperback issue I read our two younger sons but when our older two children were little I would check out the original hardback 1964 book from the library.
A few years ago I began trying to find a copy of the original book but the cheapest one I could find was almost $200. And then one day I got notice of a first edition, first printing copy on eBay for...$9.99!
No dust jacket but in great condition.
The illustrations by INGA are lovely.
The only artists by the name of Inga I could find online were far too young to have been this Inga so I'm not sure who she was. But lovers of children's literature know Madeleine L'Engle--the author of A Wrinkle in Time and many other children's books as well as books for adults including my favorite, Two-part Invention, the Story of A Marriage.
When I bought the old hardback copy on eBay I was delighted to realize that it was not only longer than the paperback edition but that it was written in third person instead of the first person point of view that the later editions were, in daughter Vicky's voice.
Last December I took these pictures to illustrate this post, making the hamburger and milkshake lunch that Mrs. Austin makes for her family. Her fourth baby is due any day and meals are becoming simpler as Christmas approaches.
The newer 1984 paperback edition reads like this:
Our kitchen is a big wandery room.
It turns corners and has unexpected nooks and crannies. In the dining-room section in the winter the fire crackles merrily.
This morning the smell of applewood mingled with the smell of pancakes and maple syrup and hot chocolate. One of the cats was sleeping, curled up on a cushion in front of the fire.
The original 1964 book reads:
On the twenty-second day of December when everybody is home from Sunday school and church Mother makes hamburgers and milkshakes for lunch because that is the quickest thing to have. Vicky and Suzy help with the dishes and Mother puts on a Christmas carol record, and everybody sings loudly, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Dr. Austin and John bring in the tree from the garage and set it firmly in a bucket of wet sand.
Our children loved this book so much! So much that when they left home I gave each of them a copy for Christmas and then they read it to their children. This first edition hardback edition I have now is promised to our daughter who loved it with a passion and who has a new granddaughter who will be celebrating her first Christmas.
If you would like a copy of it there are many paperbacks available, and some hardbacks of a later edition like the ones I gave each of our children (no picture here) and prices range drastically so keep searching for them.
And if you want to spring for the 1964 hardback, with dust jacket, here are two on eBay.
And a less expensive one here...
The first one is $249.00 and the second one is $39.99. Or you could put a watch on eBay and maybe someday get one for $9.99 like I did!
Either way, if you have young children or your children have young children you don't want them to miss out on this book being part of their childhood if your family celebrates Christmas.
I have more of my favorite Christmas books that I'll spread throughout November and December but I wanted to show this one first in hope that you would have time to find one for your own.
