fuonlyknew

MY REVIEW

It’s the busiest time and the happiest time of the year. Santa and his eight reindeer are hard at work to be sure all the boys and girls have a wonderful Christmas. For three lucky young girls this year will be extra special. Prancer, Dasher and Vixen have chosen them to be their Pen Pals. What starts as a magical holiday adventure becomes one that lasts their whole lives.

What could be more fun than having one of Santa’s reindeer as your Pen Pal. I sure would have loved it when I was a young girl. What made this even more fun was reading the letters they exchanged. Kylie, Kenna and Rinnie were delightful young girls and their excitement was contagious. I got a feel for each girl’s personality and the same with each of the reindeer.

The illustrations are so colorful and there is a lot to see. Even the little details offer so much to the story.  As does the last pages which have questions you might want to ask your own special reindeer.

A wonderful, magical story that I highly recommend you add to your holiday reading list. I’m sure it will become a part of your Christmas tradition.

5 STARS

The inspiration for the story stems from my children Corryn, Kylie and McKenna. With my love of Christmas, I wanted to bring a whole different magical component to Christmas. I wanted my girls to be so enveloped in the magic of Christmas.  We lived in an area that had woods behind it and deer would be a common sighting on our lawn. I got the idea of these deer coming and watching my kids and reporting back to Santa. Before I knew it, it evolved into me playing the role of these reindeer and writing letters to my kids. My kids loved it and they were immersed in the idea and they were waiting in anticipation for their next letter so I encouraged them even before they could write to draw letters to their reindeer.  In a flash of an eye, my kids were writing letters back and forth to their reindeer

There are so many family traditions that I have integrated into my own family. One of them is going to cut down our own Christmas tree. This is quite an event that happens after Thanksgiving. Everyone must put on a Santa or elf hat.  It is the mandatory uniform for going out and seeking out a tree. We go out to a tree farm where you get a steaming cup of hot chocolate and we take a wagon ride out to where the Christmas trees are located and get our saws. Then the search begins, and when we find the perfect tree. Everyone takes part in using the saw to cut down this tree, and everyone helps carry the tree back to get wrapped up and loaded on the car!

I have two Christmas trees in my house one is the traditional tree that goes up in the living room and then I also have another tree that usually has a theme for the year one of my favorite trees was when I scoured photo albums Facebook Instagram to get pictures that included everyone in my family. I collected pictures from when people were small kids during their lifespan special moments. I decorated them with ribbon and hung them all over the Christmas tree so that when people came to my home they were immersed and fascinated by walking around the tree and seeing pictures of themselves and extended family and friends throughout their lives. It brought on memories, conversation, laughter, and tears. For me, this tree unified the meaning of Christmas.

Another tradition is that we start off  Christmas Eve morning with a large cup of hot chocolate and we pile into the car with snuggly blankets and we drive through Valley Forge Park where there are a lot of deer in the open lands and people walking on the open trails. My girls and I play Christmas music and we wish the reindeer good luck as they prepare for Christmas. Next year’s book will reveal why we wish the reindeer good luck!

Merry Christmas!