Charlotte’s Blog
Build your own Saint Nicholas Day gift bags
Friends, St. Nicholas Day is on December 6. And this year, St. Nicholas Day falls on a Sunday, just like it did in The Saint Nicholas Day Snow! Because of that, and because 2020 has been such a hard year for everyone, I wanted to put together a sweet St. Nicholas Day...
All the Way to the Top: A story of the Capitol Crawl
I have two things to say about All the Way to the Top. First, this book is important, and every child should have a chance to read it. If you have a picture book shelf, this book should have a place on it. There really isn’t another book like it. Second, All the Way...
Have a St. Nicholas party in July!
I know you and your little ones are feeling a bit stir-crazy right now. I am, too. All of my regular summer activities have been cancelled. We’re all looking for something fun to do. And I have just the thing: The Nativity of St. Nicholas falls on July 29. You can...
A table where strangers are welcome
I love words. Words are my toys, and they’re my tools. I think with them, I work with them, I play with them. I use them to interact with people, and I use them to understand the world. And while I’d like to say that I love all words equally, that’s not true. I have...
Why I find the Sunday of the Paralytic disheartening
Guest post by Monica Spoor The Sunday of the Paralytic is just behind us – it is in fact a week later – and I’ve had the week to discover that it made me upset again, and why. I’ve heard sermons on that Sunday for years, of course, and they’re not very different from...
Rhubarb cookies for Pascha (or any time)
Before Holy Week, I had planned to make a half batch of honey bunnies for a Pascha treat. A whole batch would be too many for our family, and I wouldn't be taking them to church to share. So a half batch would do it. But when I went to the grocery on Holy Tuesday,...
The complete list of multicultural Easter picture books
For over two thousand years now, people have celebrated Easter with great joy and a dazzling variety of traditions. And it seems natural that the joy and the traditions would find their way into picture books. It would be natural, but it’s not common. When I created...
Celebrating Holy Week and Pascha at home
Most of us will be celebrating Holy Week and Pascha at home instead of at church this year. And if we focus on what we usually do, what we want to do, what we can't do, it may feel like we’re not having Holy Week and Pascha at all. We can’t re-create our beautiful...
Pascha gifts during a pandemic
The social distancing that is being asked of all of us is providing a quiet and somber Lent. But you still need Pascha gifts for the little ones you love. You don't want to go to the mall. And, as you may have heard, Amazon may not be stocking non-essential items....
ADHD in The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane
The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane is the story of Theophane, a young monk in a monastery in the mountains of Mourne, in Ireland, in the Middle Ages. Author C.M. Millen doesn’t say that Theophane has ADHD. It would be an absurd thing for her to say, an outrageous...
Lent for families with special needs
I can tell Lent is coming. I’ve heard the stories of Zacchaeus, and the Publican and the Pharisee, and the Prodigal Son. I’ve been warned about the sheep and the goats. I’ve done some serious menu planning, to make sure we use up the foods that we aren’t going to eat...
When Pope Leo met Attila the Hun
The meeting between St. Leo the Great, Pope of Rome, and Attila the Hun was brief. The story of what led up to that meeting takes somewhat longer to tell. It started in the year 450. Honoria, the older sister of Valentinian III, emperor of the western Roman Empire,...
THE MAGIC OF BOOKS
Share the wonder of St. Nicholas through the magic of a book: The Saint Nicholas Day Snow.
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