Behind the Book: Christmas is Awesome!
A grumpy lump of coal fires up the spirit of the season
If you have ever known a toddler, you know: introducing children to Christmas, if you celebrate, is AWESOME. Santa! Reindeer! Carols! Cookies! Christmas trees! Gingerbread houses! Elf on the Shelf. Presents! Ugly sweaters! It is just. So. Much. FUN!
So when Eunice and I were asked to create a children’s book about Christmas, you can imagine we PRANCED at the chance, with jingle bells ON! The result? Christmas is Awesome!, our festive, fun-filled board book and gift to families for the holiday season.
My writing process for Christmas is Awesome! went something like this: gather up all my favorite Christmas memories. String them together with upbeat, rhyming verse. Add sparkle with humor. Invite Eunice to decorate with festive illustrations. You see where this is going, right? Add a star on top!
In our case, that star is a funny, grumpy lump of coal. Let’s just call him a diamond in the rough. Because every good story needs a deeply flawed hero with a redemption arc, and every children’s book needs to give parents something to quietly chuckle about.
Our black-hearted little lump, a sort of combustible Larry David, starts out hopelessly tangled in a strand of “One Million Tangle Free Lights”:
Next, we see him poised to clang the crap out of a pair of bells in an otherwise silent night:
We then see him streaking through Santa’s workshop, leaving coal dust in his wake. The elf clean-up crew is NOT going to be happy about this!
Never one to miss the chance to look a gift horse (or mole) in the mouth, he mercilessly judges a homemade gift of chocolate-covered worms:
Santa busts him — and his little mouse, too! — stealing cookies from the cookie jar:
He pens a “Dear Santa” magnum opus that starts with “I WANT . . .” and includes “an electric car” and “diamonds.” He doesn’t forget to include an Appendix:
He knits himself an all-black ugly Christmas sweater:
He gacks at sloppy kisses under the mistletoe:
He plays a grudge-filled angel in the Christmas pageant:
And after all these cranky shenanigans . . . guess what happens?
That’s right. A Christmas miracle! Santa loves him anyway. Because the spirit of Christmas — joy, kindness, love, and fun — truly is for everyone (even those of us who send upside-down holiday cards). Merry Christmas!
Sweet! Lump of Coal, huh? Oh boy! A new Christmas favorite! ♥️
I love this funny post almost as much as I love the hilarious book that inspired it! Lump of coal has my ♥️.