NURTURING THE INNER CHILD

When I was a little girl, I had a favorite color book that both my mother and I loved – Little Miss Christmas Meets Santa Claus. The sweet-faced Miss Christmas was typical of children’s illustrations of the 1950s. Someplace along the line, my original copy was tossed; I had probably colored on every page and therefore it was deemed used and useless and thrown out. Over the last several years I would occasionally search the internet for this color book in vintage or replica form, but I was not successful in finding it – until Thanksgiving Day. I was actually looking for information on vintage Christmas cards to include replicas when a specific website came up and I found myself looking through rows of Christmas cards from the 1950s – and there it was – the Little Miss Christmas color book. The original drawings are the work of Charlot Bij, who also illustrated some of my other favorite Christmas books. I should have known all those faces were the work of one person – just never thought about it.

So, I ordered two copies of that long-sought color book. “But you’re too old to color,” said Mike. No, I’m not! And besides, the point is to nurture one’s inner child, the person who truly counts. (KW)