Cobweb Christmas: the tradition of tinsel by Shirley Climo
Ill. by Jane Manning. Harper Collins, 2001. ISBN 9780060290337
Tante is so little she has to stand on a stool to climb into bed and
so old she can't count all the Christmases she has seen. She lived
at the edge of a pine forest in Germany in a tiny cottage with her
canary, her cat and her dog. Beside the cottage was a barn with a
donkey, a goat, a rooster and a hen - so she had all she needed.
Usually Tante wasn't too fussed about having a spic and span house
but at Christmas time when the days were short and the nights long,
she cleaned her house from top to bottom and corner to corner
sweeping even the tiniest cobwebs and their inhabitants from the
rafters. She would chop down the best Christmas tree she could find
and decorated it with sugar cookies and gingerbread and put special
presents under it for her animals. She invited the village children
in to see her tree and share its goodies - there was something for
everyone including her animals, except the spiders who had all been
swept out the door.
But still Tante wasn't really happy - all her life she had heard
about the marvellous things that happened on Christmas Eve like
animals talking or bees humming carols. So she sat down to wait for
the Christmas magic but soon fell asleep so she never knew whether
it happened or not. She certainly did not hear tiny little voices
begging to be let in out of the cold - but Kriss Kringle did so he
opened the door a crack and in went all the spiders who had been
swept outside.
And the next morning Tante woke to find that Christmas magic had
really happened...
Based on an old European folktale, Shirley Climo and Jane Manning
have brought this story to the 21st century in a superb retelling
with charming illustrations. Tinsel - originally shiny strands of
brass or copper - has been part of traditional Christmas decorations
since the end of the 19th century as people tried to bring light and
sparkle into their homes at a dark time of the year in the northern
hemisphere. Anyone who has seen a cobweb dipped in dew in the early
morning and gleaming as the sun catches it can easily make the
connection between the spiders' work and the sparkly loops of foil
we use today.
This is a story worth tracking down to add to your Christmas
collection - well-written and adding just a bit more to the story of
this special time, it will be one to read every Christmas Countdown.
Barbara Braxton