Books with title The Christmas Journey

Yoshka's Journey to Christmas is a heart-warming story about a little dog who begins her journey in a sealed crate and ends up in an unexpected place. Shortly after the townspeople put up and decorate a very large tree, a storm rolls through town, and suddenly Yoshka's life changes forever. Follow her on her journey through good times and bad, as she tries to make a place for herself in her new town. I grew up in McKeesport, PA. I have two brothers and one sister. We just loved Christmas and all the excitement it brought to our home. We had many family traditions starting with going to town to see the Christmas decorations. It meant I could take out my favorite Christmas Book from my Grandma Lizzie's book shelf, Poochy the Christmas Pup, and read it and dream about the holiday. Watching my mom bake Christmas cookies and the smell that permeated the house is indescribable. We couldn't wait until Rudolph was on TV, and you made sure you watched it because there were no VCR's or TiVO's in those days. Arguments between my mom and dad were also part of our tradition. My father often ate all the cookies my mom just baked leading to her having to hide them before his arrival home from work. They also argued over whether the tree was straight and secured to the wall. Our Christmas Eve tradition consisted of our going to my dad's mom's home where we spent the evening with all our cousins, whom we saw only on this occasion. Dinner was a traditional Czechoslovakian Christmas dinner consisting of mushroom soup, fried fish, peas, and bobalky, which was not a meal the children liked. We were all blessed by my Grandma Bodnar with a cross on our forehead made with honey. It was to keep us sweet throughout the year. When the evening was over, we were anxious to arrive home because my mom's parents were at our house helping Santa put out the gifts, since we were his first stop on his Christmas journey. Upon our arrival home, it was so exciting to see gifts from one end of our living room to another. When I married my husband, we moved to Victor, NY. We found ourselves combining traditions from both our families. Our traditions, are a little different from what we grew up with. Since we live six hours away from our extended families, we've had to create many new ones. My own children are now grown but we still continue the traditions we created as a family. The excitement in our house hasn't changed and still erupts on Christmas morning with our boys counting their presents and making present forts. Our friends have graciously adopted us into their families and have let us become part of their family traditions. We celebrate by hosting a Christmas party each year with good friends, a lot of good food, games and much laughter. No matter how old our children get this has become the tradition that all the families look forward to each year. Our Christmases will continue to change, as our children move away from home and begin their own traditions with their families and friends, but I hope the memories their dad and I have created along the way will always remain strong. Start a new tradition this holiday season, and create a special memory with your loved ones by reading Yoshka's Journey to Christmas. I hope you will continue to find the magic in Christmas and be surrounded by the love of your family and friends this holiday season.

The story opens with a familiar Biblical image-of Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel. In Brian Wildsmith's imagining of this scene, Mary is shown with her cherished cat and dog. When Mary and Joseph set out for Bethlehem, her pets are left behind. But the cat and dog miss their mistress and decide to make the journey to find her. Along the way, they stop to help various other animals who join them on the road to Bethlehem. Arriving at the stable, the animals share in the joy of the birth of Jesus. Mary is delighted to be reunited with her pets and be able to present her new baby to them. This appealing story from one of our most internationally acclaimed picture-book writers and artists has deservedly become an enduring favourite with children at Christmas time.

'The Christmas Journey' is a children's short ghost story woven around an historic event from the Victorian period. On Christmas Eve 1874, a Great Western steam train left Paddington Station in London bound for Birkenhead in the North West of England. Sadly, travelling through freezing temperatures, ice and snow it never reached its destination. Packed with passengers returning home for Christmas the train stopped at Reading and Oxford stations before continuing its journey. The historic content and factual detail of the story have been meticulously researched though contemporary eye witness accounts and newspaper reports and a visit to the site of the incident. The story sets two fictional characters at its centre. Harriet and James join the train with their Uncle Edward at Oxford. The children have been staying with their uncle and auntie while their mother has been recuperating from an illness and both are excited to be returning to their parents in Banbury in time for Christmas. However, their Christmas journey is tragically cut short.

He was an aging retired U.S. Marshal. He lost his first wife to childbearing, his second to another man and then a bullet. Two daughters were adopted and divided, whereabouts undetermined. His third beloved wife died of Typhoid Fever. He lost his two oldest sons in the Great War between the Union and the Confederacy, and his oldest daughter, a nurse in that war, went missing. He lost a young son in a horse riding accident. Retired and disheartened, having moved to the East Coast his remaining children were left with relatives, the older ones to fend for themselves. Diagnosed with Cancer at 60, he sets out to put his life back together, and his family too. Cage decides to go back to his ranch that his son is running and be there in time for the following Christmas. Loved unconditionally by a woman twenty years younger than he, she being unequivocal and unbending insists on going with him no matter what. The journey is a life changing one with its enchanted and miraculous moments. Then throw in a little spiritual fantasy in the form of a few ghosts or angels, and then several little miracles and one huge one, some godly worship, a few exotic pets, one that talks, one that just stares, and one that is man’s best friend. Don’t forget the love that passes the boundaries of your mind and compassion that reminds you there is a reason to live, and then, even though you are stuck one hundred and forty years in the past, you love living in it. The life is slow, the nature is untouched by machines, the wildlife is plenteous. The people you meet aren’t always kind, but most of them are and they’ll have you over for supper. They’ll feed you with beef, or turkey with gravy, and potatoes and corn. They’ll make sure you’re well fed and rested before you continue on your way. But there will also be those who try to take it all away from you at the point of a gun. But you’ll have to fight them off and get the hell out of there and keep going on your journey in the Conestoga. The schooner of the west.