Title: Apple Tree Christmas
Written and Illustrated by: Trinka Hakes Noble
Hardback: 32 pages
Ages: 4-8
Publisher: Dial Books For Young Readers (Oct. 1984)
ISBN-10: 0803701020
ISBN-13: 978-0803701021

If you are looking for a homespun holiday story to share with your children, Apple Tree Christmas, by talented author/illustrator Trinka Hakes Noble, is a sure-fire winner. Ms. Noble’s nostalgic story, set on a Midwestern farm in the 1880’s, is about a young girl, her family, and their special apple tree. The watercolor illustrations are cheerful and bright, and Ms. Noble depicts the simple pleasures of farm living in full color!

Katrina and her family live in a two-story barn. The people live upstairs, and the animals are in the lower level. And outside is a very large apple tree. It’s overgrown with wild grape vines that make a natural ladder to reach the apples at the top, so Papa never cuts them away. The family enjoys all the luscious apples the tree produces.

But the tree also provides a place for Katrina and her little sister, Josie, to play. One thick vine hangs down low enough for Josie to use for a swing. But the other side of the tree belongs to Katrina. One limb, in particular, provides a perfect drawing board, and she calls it her studio. It’s a great place to dream and draw until time for chores each evening.

But a blizzard strikes, lasting three days and nights. And although the barn-home creaks and shakes, it stands firm. But on the third night, Katrina hears a noise that is different than before, and more frightening. It’s an ice storm, and it sounds like a ‘million sharp knives slashing the roof, cutting the barn, trying to get in.’ When the storm passes, the family and barn have survived, but the apple tree has not.

Katrina’s father must chop up the tree for firewood. But her mother says, “Well, I’ll miss the old apple tree, but it will keep us warm this long winter.” Papa agrees and is thankful. But Katrina is not happy. Doesn’t Papa know he’s ruining her drawing board and that she can’t draw without it? She’s very sad and doesn’t even feel like celebrating Christmas when it comes.

But on Christmas Day, after Katrina and Josie receive their other simple gifts, Papa tells them to hide their eyes. When they open them, lo and behold, Josie’s swinging vine from the old apple tree is hanging from beam. And near the swing is a drawing board made from the same limb that had been Katrina’s studio! The words won’t come, but finally she says, “Oh, Papa.”

Things are right in Katrina’s world once more, and now she can finally see and experience the joys of Christmas. And her first drawing is for Papa of the family working around the apple tree. He hangs the picture in his workshop, where it stays for many long years. It’s a wonderful reminder of their old beloved apple tree, the love between a father and his children, and a special day full of surprises and happy memories. It was the Apple Tree Christmas!

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Amy M. O’Quinn is a pastor’s wife and former schoolteacher-turned-homeschool mom of six. She is also a freelance writer who enjoys jotting down ideas around the fringes of family life. She specializes in non-fiction, and her work has been published or acquired by magazines including Jack and Jill, US Kids, Guideposts for Kids, Learning Through History Magazine, Highlights, GEORGIA Magazine, Homeschooling Today, International Gymnast, etc. She is also a product/curriculum/book reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and a regular columnist for TEACH Magazine. The O’Quinns live on the family farm in rural south Georgia. You can find Amy’s blog, Ponderings From Picket Fence Cottage, at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/picketfencemom.