We always have a service of Carols and Stories on the Sunday after Christmas.  The stories are mostly from children’s books, but of course children’s books are not just for children.  [The links below are to amazon.com because that is the easier place to get information about these beautiful books — which you can always order from your independent book seller if you prefer!)

We began with The Huron Carol, with beautiful illustrations (by Frances Tyrrell) of this hymn written about 1648 by Father Jean de Brebeuf for the Huron Indians who lived in what is now Ontario, Canada.

The main “sermon” was a retelling of  The Christmas Menorahs (written by Janice Cohn and illustrated by Bill Farnsworth).  This is the story of how the people of Billings, Montana responded to religious vandalism against Jewish families during the holiday season of 1993.  It’s a great story — made even better by the fact that several of the people in the story were members of First Congregational Church in Billings, one of our sister UCC congregations.

And we finished on a lighter note, with A Dozen Silk Diapers, by Melissa Kajpust, illustrated by Veselina Tomova.  Mother spider helps her many children make a suitable gift for the Christ child.