Especially at Christmas Illustrated by Stewart, Pat Ronson.

Sweet book of memories from Ms. Sibley. I actually met her when I lived in Georgia and she was a fascinating woman and always full of stories. These are short individual stories that is easy to pick up and put down. Bought it for my granddaughter.

"Especially at Christmas" is a wonderful and heartwarming collection of 10 short stories about Christmas and the people who made it special. This 5 7/8 inch by 8 1/2 inch 69 page book is a light and enjoyable read. The book can easily be read in less than an hour. Celestine Sibley, the author, shares ten stories about memorable people in her career as a newspaper writer. You will rejoice and weep and laugh and thrill to read these accounts of special people. The theme of the book is that things aren't important, but people are. I will only review a few of the wonderful stories that make up this collection. These few reviews will give you an idea of the types of stories in the book. You will be charmed to read about the author's mother, Muv, who is poor herself, but believes there is no such thing as a "poor" Christmas. Muv works so hard to make a suit for her husband and saved to buy him a stick pin at the local jeweler for a special Christmas surprise. Often Christmas packages came from relatives with wonderful things in them including pretty dresses. A tear will come to your eye as you read about Muv opening the gifts and saying, "Now who can we give this to?" Muv's daughter, Celestine wanted the things like the dresses for herself. They end up giving most things away including a beautiful dress that Celestine would have loved for herself. They give the dress to a skinny negro girl who lost her baby in a fire and kept walking up and down the streets wringing her hands and crying. Celestine learns a most valuable lesson from her Mother, Muv, --"that people are more important than things -especially at Christmas." The reader will recognize the true Christmas Spirit as Mrs. Dooley and her triplets receive Christmas baskets to help them in their time of need but they repackage them and distribute them to their needy neighbors. Again, this family knew the most important lesson in life and especially at Christmas - "That people are more important than things. My favorite short story in the collection is the one entitled, "Christmas in Cabbage Town". Actually some movie producer should grab this story and make a wonderful Christmas movie or TV special about it. This story is a tender one that inspires its readers to put their faith into practice, Sister Henrietta Keel is dying of cancer but before she makes that final journey she has final plans and tasks to do. Sister Henrietta Keel worked in the nursery of a textile mill telling Bible stories to the children of the millworkers and illustrating them with pictures on a big board. As she told and illustrated these stories a bigger crowd of neighborhood children would also gather outside the fence to listen and enjoy the stories. Sister Keel asked herself, "What am I doing here with them out there?" So she resigns from her job to help the hungry, shoeless, ragged and discouraged children of Cabbage Town. Sister Henrietta Keel took literally her Lord's admonition to sell all her goods and give to the poor and to take up her cross and follow Him. She sold her house and most of her furniture and set up shop in a vacant lot. She built a little shack and persuaded the textile company to construct a fence around the lot for the safety of the children. She worked for years doing this ministry and begged for funds from friends, church women and others to help feed and clothe the children of Cabbage Town. Now her time of earthly departure had come. Just before she died she summoned all her friends and helpers and with their heilp walked around the lot and building that had been named Keel House. Sister Keel explained to her friends and helpers what yet must be done. There on the very same location where she had done it so many times before, she retold the story of the Good Samaritan. When she finished her story her son came and took her away. Sister Keel never saw "Keel House" again for in just a few days she completed her final earthly journey and started her eternal Heavenly journal. There are no monuments to Sister Keel but she will always be remembered as one who did not pass by on the other side as the priest and Levite did in the story of the Good Samaritan. You will also enjoy the other eight short stories in this book including: "A New Friend Makes Life So Interesting" "Chritmas Night ...And All the Others" "The Best Christmas" "A Truly Contented Woman" "The Christmas Dollhouse" "The Man Who Wrote Christmas Ballads" "Things Don't Make Christmas" This would make a great "gift" book or "stocking stuffer". Even the very busiest person would enjoy and be able to read this wonderful book in as a little as a half hour. The reader wiil discover anew the age old lesson "that things are not important, but people are" -- especially at Christmas.

Apparently, this collection of ten short pieces is culled from the newspaper writings of author Celestine Sibley , who reported for the Atlanta Constitution for over 50 years before her passing in 1999. The stories here are about people rather than things, and most of the people are poor. Many of these stories--no, all--are especially moving, none more so than the penultimate piece about Sister Keel, a woman who "took literally Christ's admonition to a would-be follower" (quotation from Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events : Years of Change and Challenge, 1940-1976 , which profiles Sister Keel) and sold her belongings, including her home, to minister to the poor (especially children). Assuming these are indeed stories from Celestine Sibley's newspaper writings, the represent some of my favorite type of writing, the kind that lets us know there are good people out there and that they have stories, too, often more important stories than those that are "newsworthy." Here, there are ten people worth meeting and learning from. Highly recommended.

Classic Sibley

This book contains short stories about different people encountered by the author. Most are very simple people and Sibley shows you Christmas and what these people consider blessings through their eyes.