All I Want for Christmas Is You

Together
Written by Heather Stricker & Illustrated by Martha Ratcliff
Age Level: 2-7 Years
Published January 1, 2020

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Presents aren’t my top priority this year.

You know that closing scene in “Love, Actually” when the boy’s love interest belts out a jaw dropping rendition of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” at their school holiday performance? That’s what was playing in my head the entire time I was reading this book.

Santa asks a young boy what he wants for Christmas, and he replies that he doesn’t want any “stuff,” the only thing he wants is to be together with his family. He goes on to list a myriad of holiday activities they could do together, which splash across the pages like a holiday movie montage, before concluding with a reiteration of his request, “... being together with my family is what I want most of all Santa Claus.”

“I don’t want any more trinkets,
knick-knacks, things or stuff.
Simply being with my family
Is more than enough.”

I’m putting on a happy face for my children this holiday season, but inside I’m heartbroken to be thousands of miles apart from my parents and siblings, who we haven’t seen in a year. I know many people are in the same position, which makes this book an extremely touching read with its finger on the pulse of the times. In this year when all I can do is send “stuff,” I am longing more than anything just to be together.

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