Once Upon a Child's Heart

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, and even though we haven’t even had Thanksgiving yet, the truth is that before Thanksgiving is the time to start prepping for the Advent season. Especially since this year it begins on Sunday, December 1st—just a couple of days after Thanksgiving. With Thanksgiving and Black Friday, I tend to forget about preparing for Advent. Do yourself a favor this year: sit down now and gather whatever you need to prepare your family for the greatest story of them all—the Christmas story! Don’t make it elaborate. Think simple. Choose something you can do easily every day. Something that won’t take you hours to put together. This is what my family does. We read an Advent storybook every night. This year, it is Tabitha’s Travels . This story is so good that it really could be the only thing we do for Advent. It is full of suspense, wonder, action, and heart challenge. It has something for all ages.  However, it can be a little intense for younge...

Chapter 11 Dragon’s Tongue & Hag’s Feet By Kristen S. Sandoz 2013 Let us take a trip to a much happier story than the one of Little John I last told. Of course, this means we must head back to the Witch Hazel’s cottage—incidentally called Butterbrick Cottage . Why is it called Butterbrick, you ask? Well, that is because their sweet Jersey cow made the most fabulous sweet cream butter, which Pearl would store in crocks all throughout the year. This butter was of such high quality that it aged beautifully, becoming—over time—the most delicious butter you could ever imagine. These days, the butter you find in little boxes at the store, with its pale, lifeless yellow color, does not even begin to compare. Pearl would sell her butter in tidy little bricks from the front step of the cottage—bright, rich, deep yellow, and tasting like heaven itself. And so, the cottage came to be known as Butterbrick. The name may not come from an exciting tale, but I imagine you wish you could h...