Not everyone has a Christmas made up of snow and evergreen trees! In “Tumbleweed Christmas,” a children’s picture book by Alane Ferguson, we see what Christmas is like out in the desert.
Scotty and his mother are driving through the desert on their way to his grandmother’s house. She’s preparing a traditional Christmas dinner for them with all the trimmings, and he can’t wait to get through the boring desert and reach their destination. But all of a sudden, he hears a “ka-boom!”
And then another and another. Smoke starts to pour from the engine, and his mother quickly pulls to the side of the road. No one seems to be coming, so they’re going to have to wait for help. Scotty is worried – it’s Christmas Eve. They can’t spend Christmas in the desert!
As luck would have it, before long a tow truck wandered along. The driver, Jasper, hooked up the car and towed it to his hotel, the Dry Bean. The only trouble was, he had no idea how long it would take to fix the car. He suggested that they stay at the Dry Bean until he got the car running again. Scotty just wasn’t impressed. What a name!
Worst of all, Jasper doesn’t even have a Christmas tree. How can you have Christmas without a tree?
Jasper went inside and found an old Christmas box, bringing it out to Scotty. He told Scotty to use whatever he wanted from the box to make the place look pretty. As Scotty looked through the box, he found a lot of Christmas cards. Jasper had helped a lot of people, and they all remembered his kindness to them with a Christmas card. As Scotty read, he began to feel a little bit of the Christmas spirit returning. Then he got a great idea.
He went outside and got a tumbleweed, then brought it in and decorated it with Jasper’s decorations. The man was so touched that Scotty would do such a thing for him. The car was now fixed and Scotty and his mother could leave, but Scotty somehow didn’t want to. He promised Jasper they’d stop in again on their way back home.
Sometimes the spirit of Christmas comes along in the strangest ways.
(This book was published in 1996 by Simon and Schuster and was illustrated by Tom Sully.)
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