Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Night Before Christmas, illustrated by Tasha Tudor

We may already be past Christmas technically, but what a day or two delay? Thanks to the recent winter storms we got a tad delayed in releasing this episode, but better late than never. Today we return, once again, to the world of Tasha Tudor. Last time we considered one of her books we were examining her A Time to Keep (a favorite of Betsy’s, Kate … not so much). There are many different iterations of Clement C. Moore’s classic poem, but how many take the man at his word and decide to depict Santa as a tiny, pointy eared elf? Just one that we know of, and that’s today’s book. So take a trip down memory lane together and look at a version of Santa we’ll ne’er see the like of again.

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Show Notes:

Giant corgies or tiny Santas? You be the judge on the cover here:

This mouse in the four-poster bed under the floorboards? Got it made in the shade, my friend!

Now this is the first moment when Kate began to suspect that there was something going on with Santa here. The ears are a dead giveaway. Got kind of a King Namor look going on.

Two things to enjoy about this picture. First, I think that Kate is correct when she said that the owl here is doing the job that Rudolph should be doing. Second, what is up with these little critters (squirrels? chipmunks?) doing these air traffic control moves. What are these lights?

SECRET HANDSHAKE!!

Kate hates her a clown. Why? “Because they are murderous, Betsy.” So any time a clown appears in a book that we do, she is not happy. PARTICULARLY if the clown in question is friggin’ hammering closed a jack-in-the-box toy.

Mamas, don’t let Santa hook your doggies on nicotine.

Betsy Recommends: The Menu

Kate Recommends: The Scottish Highlands

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate