The Christmas Stove by Alta Halverson Seymour. Christmas Around the World Series. Republished by Purple House Press, 2021.

Two orphan children, Peter and Trudi, come to stay with their aunt Tante Maria Fingerhut in her poor little cottage in the Swiss mountains. But will the poverty-stricken Tante Maria be able to care for the children when she can barely feed herself? And how will they ever be able to celebrate Christmas?

“But though Tante was looking kindly at Trudy, she was just ready to shake her head when Peter caught her eye. Instead, she said, ‘Well, there are several weeks yet before Christmas. Who knows what may happen in that time? Come now, it is almost bedtime. We must find a comfortable place for you to sleep. I had moved my ed into the kitchen here for the winter so that one fire would do, but in the other room is the porcelain stove. Peter shall make a fire in that while Trudi helps me make up your beds.’

Trudi was so delighted with the stove that she could hardly leave it; and no wonder, for it was made of tiles, each one with its own picture. Some represented fairy tales, and there were castles and people and landscapes. The clear light from Tante Maria’s candle fell directly on the one Trudi knew she would like best of all.

‘Oh, look!’ she cried with delight. It’s the Christkindli in the manger, Peter. And the animals and His Mother. Oh, Tante, this is a real Christmas stove!'”

Peter and Trudi are young but hard working children, and they soon prove their worth to Tante Maria and to the various members of the small community in Tante Maria’s little village. It’s a lovely little book, only 94 pages long, with lots of traditional Swiss Christmas customs embedded in the story and a theme of learning to deal with difficult people and to love one’s enemies, especially at Christmas time.

I only have a few of Alta Halverson Seymour’s Christmas stories in my library, but reading this one makes me want to buy all of them. The ones I have are:

• Arne and the Christmas Star (Norway)
• A Grandma for Christmas (Norway)
• The Christmas Stove (Switzerland)

The ones I would like to have:

• The Christmas Camera (Sweden)
• The Christmas Compass (Netherlands)
• The Christmas Donkey (France)