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A Child's Christmas in Wales
A Child's Christmas in Wales | Dylan Thomas
50 posts | 40 read | 26 to read
In print for fifty years, this gem of lyric prose has enchanted both young and old from its very first edition. Dylan Thomas, one of the greatest poets and storytellers of the twentieth century, captures a child's-eye view, and an adult's fond memories, of a magical time of presents, aunts and uncles, the frozen sea, and in the best of circumstances, newly fallen snow.
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BookmarkTavern
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Bookwomble
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I was going to re-read my existing copy of Thomas's nostalgic "A Child's Christmas in Wales", then today I saw this edition with illustrations by Edward Ardizzone and had to get it as he's an iconic illustrator from my own childhood, so now the nostalgia is multiplied!
Some of the illustrations are plain ink, others are painted, all are wonderful, and, of course, Thomas's beautiful, aching and funny prose poetry ? ❄️???????❄️

AnnR It looks like a wonderful edition! I also really enjoy this poem. 3mo
LeahBergen I‘ve been meaning to pick up a copy of this edition for the last couple of years. ❤️ 3mo
Bookwomble @AnnR @LeahBergen It is a lovely edition, and at the risk of being a Book Enabler, I'd encourage you both to get a copy 😁 3mo
See All 6 Comments
AnnR @Bookwomble - I think most of us on Litsy are book enablers, lol. 😁😁😁 3mo
LeahBergen 😆😆 3mo
Bookwomble @AnnR "My name is Michael, and I am a bookaholic" ? 3mo
34 likes6 comments
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BookmarkTavern
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We‘re getting close! ❄️💙❄️

I love participating in the #JolanokaflodSwap the marvelous @MaleficentBookDragon hosts here on Litsy!

And I have read the tagged book on Christmas Eve every year since I was a kid. ❤️

#SundayFunday Stay safe, stay warm, and don‘t forget to tag me in your posts!

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BarbaraTheBibliophage
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Pickpick

This sweet prose poetry book is the perfect choice for a busy holiday. Thomas is lyrical as he describes small town Wales in an earlier time. I want to say more innocent but they had depressed economies and world wars to deal with. So it was just less techie but with plenty of heartache. Reminds me a lot of Ray Bradbury‘s tone.

Anyway, wishing my Litten crew a joyous or relaxing New Year now that we‘ve weathered (most of) the busy holidays!

Ruthiella Happy holidays to you! 🎄 1y
TheBookHippie Happy Christmas to you! 1y
Cinfhen Merry Christmas, friend!!! Beautiful tree ♥️ 1y
BarbaraBB Merry Christmas 1y
WJCintron Merry Christmas 🎁🎄😃❤️🙏✨ 1y
73 likes5 comments
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BookmarkTavern
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Merry Christmas! And nadolig Llawen! My favorite Christmas tradition. And my stocking hanger. ❤️

AnnR I love that story, too. Happy Christmas! 🎄❄ 1y
Ruthiella Merry Christmas to you! 🎄 1y
Daisey Merry Christmas! 1y
Eggs Merry Christmas! 1y
72 likes4 comments
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Becker
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Pickpick

“Mistletoe hung from the gas brackets in all the front parlours; there was sherry and walnuts and bottled beer and crackers by the dessertspoons; and cats in their fur-abouts watched the fires; and the high-heaped fire spat, all ready for the chestnuts and the mulling pokers” - This story was delightful.🎄

25 likes1 stack add
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BookmarkTavern
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Nadolig Llawen! This story on Christmas Eve is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

#MerryReaders #WinterGames2020 #ChristmasTradition @Clwojick

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BayouGirl85
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Lcsmcat
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Watching this adaptation of one of my favorite Christmas books. 🎅🏻🎄

BookmarkTavern Reading this and watching the movie are yearly traditions in my house. ❄️❤️❄️ (edited) 3y
Lcsmcat @ozma.of.oz Ours too! 3y
45 likes2 comments
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BookmarkTavern
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Thank you for the tag @Nute ! ❤️💚❤️

1. Reading this is a yearly tradition. ❤️
2. Tough question. Probably Gonzo as Charles Dickens in The Muppet Christmas Carol.

#two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

Coleen_Nieto @ozma.of.oz I love the Muppets Christmas Carol!!! 3y
Nute I‘ve never read this book. It is described as a “gem of lyric prose.” That‘s enough for me. Stacking! 3y
Lucy_Anywhere I showed A Muppets Christmas Carol to my Year 7s the other day and they loved it! 3y
TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 😊 3y
44 likes4 comments
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BookmarkTavern
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Thanks again for the tag @TheSpineView !

1. Reading this is one of my favorite Christmas traditions!
2. Safe vaccine distribution for all frontline workers. ❤️

#two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

AllisonM89 I'm so so hopeful for this vaccine. I would feel so much better if there were certain family members i didn't have to worry about catching covid ❤️ 3y
alisiakae 2️⃣ 💙💙 My spouse will hopefully be able to get the first dose by the end of the year 🤞🤞. All of our frontline healthcare worker friends and family (including him) are just so burnt out, they need a light at the end of the tunnel 3y
TheSpineView Great wish! 🤞😊🎄 3y
lil1inblue What a beautiful wish! Our frontline workers could really use some good news! 💝 3y
37 likes4 comments
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BookmarkTavern
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Nadolig Llawen! And a Happy New Year! 🎄🎉🎄

#WinterGames #TeamFestivus @wanderinglynn @Clwojick @StayCurious

1 point for participation + 5 points (1156 total)

wanderinglynn ❤️🎄💚 4y
26 likes1 comment
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BookmarkTavern
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Ah! Time for the Christmas Eve traditions! One present from the Christmas Eve Elf to be opened, and A Child‘s Christmas in Wales to be read.

#WinterGames #TeamFestivus @wanderinglynn @Clwojick @StayCurious

1 participation + 20 points for a #holidaytradition + 20 points for a #holidayread + 5 for book to movie adaption (1130 total)

wanderinglynn Lovely tradition ❤️💚 4y
26 likes1 stack add1 comment
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BookmarkTavern
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Every Christmas Eve, I have had this story read to me or I‘ve read it myself. This has long been one of my father‘s favorite stories.

#WinterGames #TeamFestivus @wanderinglynn @Clwojick @StayCurious

1 participation + 5 points (1043 total)

wanderinglynn What a lovely tradition! 4y
13 likes1 comment
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Addison_Reads
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Pickpick

Another audiobook I finished today that's also a movie. Although it won't be a #HolidayReads I come back to year after year, I did enjoy it. It's a different perspective on Christmas than what I grew up with.

#TeamFestivus @wanderinglynn #wintergames @StayCurious @Clwojick (20+5+1=26)

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Charityann
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Mehso-so

I don‘t know if it was the narrator, or just the text, but this was kinda of boring. #tmskellington #wintergames #christmasreads @Crimson613 @Clwojick @StayCurious

coffees 21pts!! 4y
29 likes1 comment
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Aimeesue
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LeahBergen I love this one! ❤️ 4y
Lcsmcat An annual favorite ! 4y
26 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Lcsmcat
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An annual reread for me, I hear this in the poet‘s voice every time I read it. #DylanThomas

Leftcoastzen Nice.I need to read this again. 4y
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TheKidUpstairs
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Pickpick

A wonderful all-in-one-sitting tale to kick off December and the #WinterGames. A lovely read about Christmas, tradition, childhood, memory, magic, wonder, snow covered days, deep dark nights, and just the right amount of mischief.

#TeamNutcracker @Bookworm54
@Clwojick @StayCurious

Bookworm54 21 points :) 4y
LMJenkins My recently deceased father in law gave us a DVD of this years ago that we‘ve never opened. I know it was one of his favorites. I‘ll have to break it out. 4y
59 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Palimpsest
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Pickpick

“The silent one-clouded heavens drifted on to the sea. Now we were snow-blind travelers lost on the north hills....” what a lovely collection of memories of Christmases past. One can tell that Thomas is a poet. I just loved this and so will have to buy it as I feel it‘s a book one could read every Christmas.

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Mandigolightly
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I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept

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Mandigolightly
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Yearly Christmas Eve reread

MCYmermaid I need to reacquainted this on audio— we used to listen every year, but I only own it on cassette tape at present. 5y
Mandigolightly @MCYmermaid I love it. I have the Caedmon collection that has most of Thomas‘ work and it‘s amazing 5y
rockpools Love it 😊❄️ 5y
Redwritinghood Merry Christmas!🎄🎁 5y
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Bookwomble
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“There are always Uncles at Christmas.”

Aimeesue Aren‘t there just! 5y
17 likes1 comment
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Bookwomble
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"All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street; and they stop at the rim of the ice-edged, fish-freezing waves, and I plunge my hand in the snow and bring out whatever I can find."

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rockpools
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....
Miss Prothero came downstairs and peered in...
She looked at the three tall firemen in their shining helmets, standing among the smoke and cinders and dissolving snowballs, and she said: ‘Would you like anything to read?‘

#snowball #winterwonderland

TrishB How cool & well remembered! 5y
Cinfhen I don‘t recall this book but such a perfect choice 5y
51 likes1 stack add2 comments
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NotAJot
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Guys, it's so dark in the afternoon! This is London at 4:30pm 😂🌚

Tanisha_A Ah! Love the photo 5y
Cathythoughts Beautiful shot ♥️♥️♥️ 5y
JennyM Winter days...I forget just how dark it gets in the UK. 5y
53 likes4 comments
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Lcsmcat
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Mandigolightly My favorite. I read it every year 5y
Lcsmcat @Mandigolightly Me too. This and Dickens are my tradition. 5y
42 likes1 stack add2 comments
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LeahBergen
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From A Child‘s Christmas in Wales. ❤️

#FrostyTheSnowman
#WinterWonderland

TrishB Love that 💕 and all made better by tea ☕️ 5y
Melissa_J That‘s funny! 5y
Leniverse @TrishB Ah, but in Wales tea is dinner, so there was likely no actual ☕️ 5y
See All 7 Comments
Ruthiella Great response to the prompt!😀 5y
Cinfhen Love this!! 5y
Cathythoughts Love this post ♥️♥️♥️ 5y
Centique 😂😂😍 5y
95 likes1 stack add7 comments
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Lcsmcat
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A few Christmas themed #redbooks, held up by my yoga Santas. #seasonsreadings @vkois88 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks ❤️❤️❤️ 5y
vkois88 Yoga Santas?? Too cute! 5y
64 likes2 comments
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lycomayflower
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Lcsmcat
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My introduction to Dylan Thomas, and a Christmas tradition in our house. #child #ReadingResolutions

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BarbaraJean
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Pickpick

“I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steadily falling night. I turned the gas down, I got into bed. I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept.”

This is a Christmas favorite, but I haven‘t read it in years & years. I loved revisiting it tonight in this beautiful illustrated edition! The humor, the wordplay, the beauty—just perfect.

BookBabe Lovely illustration! 6y
Cathythoughts So beautiful ✨ 6y
42 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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BarbaraJean
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When the firemen turned off the hose and were standing in the wet, smoky room, Jim‘s aunt, Miss Prothero, came downstairs and peered in at them. Jim and I waited, very quietly, to hear what she would say to them. She said the right thing, always. She looked at the three tall firemen in their shining helmets, standing among the smoke and cinders and dissolving snowballs, and she said: “Would you like anything to read?”

Natasha.C.Barnes Just the best book in the whole world. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ 6y
DivineDiana I am going to steal that line! 👏🏻😀😉 6y
30 likes1 stack add2 comments
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BarbaraJean
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December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeer. But there were cats. Patient, cold & callous, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. Sleek & long as jaguars & horrible-whiskered, spitting & snarling, they would slink & sidle over the white back-garden walls... Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined trappers from Hudson Bay, off Mumbles Road, would hurl our deadly snowballs at the green of their eyes.

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BarbaraJean
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#LibraryHaul - because tonight was library book club, and I am weak. I will have time to enjoy the Dylan Thomas for Christmas... but The Miniaturist will join the library stack that is taunting me from the nightstand. At least it‘s due a week into January, when my reading goals will have started afresh! Also pictured is a sweet bookmark gift from one of the other book club members—so perfect!

MinDea I really liked The Miniaturist! 6y
Cinfhen Lovely photo 😍great bookmark 6y
Natasha.C.Barnes The tagged book is so precious, I love it so so much 6y
48 likes3 comments
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TheKidUpstairs
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Sometimes, when I'm reading something with very difficult subject matter, I need to take a small break with something lovely. I just picked up this sweet edition at my local bookstore.

DrexEdit 💜 that design! 6y
kspenmoll Lovely. 6y
105 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Lcsmcat
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Nice collection!!! ❄️❄️ 6y
51 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Lcsmcat
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A selection of #cozyholidaybooks from my collection. #decinbooks17 @bookisglee

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TheKidUpstairs
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#ItsBeginning to look a lot like Christmas reading season! Here's my #TBR of #AnticipatedDecemberReads

@DebbieGrillo 's selection for #LMPBC and @BookHermit's for #whatthecanuck, Seven Fallen Feathers is a library hold that just came in, and then some fun holiday reading (I think I'll need it!)

#SeasonsReadings2017 @RealLifeReading
#ReindeerReads @Jess7
#DecinBooks17 @bookisglee

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laytonwoman3rd
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A handful or two of #tinybooks
#riotgrams

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ScorpioBookDreams
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I love the illustrations in this edition! 😍😍

kspenmoll So nice! 7y
80 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Karionie
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Pickpick

My traditional Christmas Day read. This beautiful prose poem captures the essence of childhood. Lovely. 😊

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GoneFishing

It snowed last year too: I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.

BarbaraTheBibliophage Sounds like the boy children I know! 7y
MCYmermaid I think this is a splendid audio book -- before I can listen to mine again, I need a working cassette player. 😝 7y
monkeygirlsmama Dylan Thomas! 👏👍 7y
tpixie Lol quite a quote 7y
54 likes5 stack adds4 comments
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CarolynOliver
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My mom got me this stack o' books ornament last year. Whenever I see it I think of her. #bookishornaments

BookishMarginalia 💜💜💜 7y
MrBook #NiceStack 😎👌🏻 7y
britt_brooke 💕💕💕 7y
See All 6 Comments
ephemeralwaltz Gorgeous😍 7y
Suet624 💕💕💕 7y
49 likes6 comments
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JennyReadsBooks
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Hours of Christmas baking (and eight dozen cookies) deserves a Christmas reading break, don't you think?

#christmastimeishere #dylanthomas #holidayreading #cookies

MrBook Mmmmm, those cookies 😋! 7y
3 likes1 comment
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LeahBergen
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Pickpick

I finally read this little bit of classic Christmas #poetry this week and really enjoyed it. #SeasonsReadings2016

vivastory Dylan Thomas is fantastic. One of my favorites. 7y
93 likes1 stack add1 comment
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LeahBergen
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I'm pretty spontaneous when it comes to choosing my next read so I will only pick these two that I definitely #WanttoReadinDec #SeasonsReadings2016

rubyslippersreads Love the 🚂 cover! 7y
ferskner Oooooo adding that mystery to my list! 7y
erzascarletbookgasm Me, too! Adding that mystery book to my list ;) 7y
See All 9 Comments
Hobbinol Another one on board for the mystery train!❤️ 7y
LeahBergen @rubyslippersreads @ferskner @erzascarletbookgasm @Hobbinol This will be my first read from The British Library Crime Classics series - they've released some gorgeous editions. 😍 7y
ferskner @LeahBergen I bought a couple AT the British Library and I was so excited, and then found out they can be found in the US too. :) 7y
LeahBergen @ferskner I hate when that happens! I like my souvenirs to be hard to get. 😂 7y
rabbitprincess I love the British Library Crime Classics! My favourite is 7y
LeahBergen @rabbitprincess That one looks good, too! I just love the covers on this series. 7y
81 likes2 stack adds9 comments
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CherylDeFranceschi
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#TBRTemptation- A teeny tiny shiny copy of A Child's Christmas in Wales to slide into a stocking. So pretty! ❤️❤️❤️

LeahBergen 😍 7y
quirkyreader I have great live 7y
quirkyreader Great love for this poem. I had to recite it in school. Unfortunately 30+ years later I don't remember a word. 7y
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CherylDeFranceschi @quirkyreader I only remember a few stanzas. 7y
Dragon I love listening to the radio version that Dylan Thomas made, I always laugh 😂 7y
CherylDeFranceschi @Dragon It is awesome. 7y
81 likes6 comments
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GoneFishing

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve night when I was six.

20 likes3 stack adds
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todd
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My favorite holiday tradition: Listening to this on Christmas Eve. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv4-sgFw3Go

14 likes2 stack adds