Dear Santa Hannah can explain – Christmas book review
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written & illustrated by Heath McKenzie
Lake Press, Hawthorn, 2020
Age group: 4 to 7 years
Format: 32 page hardcover picture book
I spotted a display of Christmas books yesterday and wanted to see what these personalised books are like. I grabbed the Hannah version to give a friend as our family’s names were not available.
The story
Hannah tries to peak at some Christmas presents but tries to pass it off as looking for ideas on what to give her family. Unfortunately, this sets off a string of incidents that need explaining
My review
Originally, there was just ‘Dear Santa I can explain‘ which was first published back in 2017. Now, there is a series of these books that are personalised a bit so the main character’s name could be Hannah, Aria, Thomas or Michael, and so on. Or you could choose ‘my son/grandson’ or ‘my daughter/granddaughter’, which is good as the range of names isn’t extensive (understandably).
The pictures tell this story, with the text just leading your interpretation of what is happening. I enjoyed it more on the second reading because I caught more of the story in the pictures. Instead of a spilt drink being the issue, that is Hannah realising her sister would like a new outfit, and so on. The pictures are detailed and the expression of Hannah’s family’s faces are quite funny.
It will certainly stand out to Santa as one of the more creative letters he receives! Hannah doesn’t just explain her actions but also asks Santa for gift ideas. She doesn’t ask for anything for herself though!
Would I recommend Dear Santa Hannah can explain? I love the personalised element, and I was amused with parts of it. It’s short and cute, and kids will laugh and love the feeling it is about them.
Christmas elves visiting Hogwarts!
Hogwarts and elves seems a reasonable fit, so not a huge surprise that our Christmas elves are visiting Hogwarts today!
More specifically, the elves are in the Lego Harry Potter advent calendar with Harry, Hermione and Ron. And both elves are on paintbrush broomsticks!
So, most obvious is Tinkles. She is flying on a paint brush (aka broomstick!) above Hogwarts with Harry’s help. They seem to be sharing the wand!
Ginger is also on a paintbrush. However, she and Hermione are still on the ground. Maybe Hermione wants to stay at the Yule Ball instead of flying off with Ginger? Ron is certainly watching closely…
As always, I love the fine details Lego thinks to add. Like Hedwig and broomstick shaped Christmas gift under the tree. Or the mix of a microphone and a gramophone!
Christmas elves play games offline
Our Christmas elves were playing games last night, and this morning are inviting the kids to join in!
First we noticed Ginger driving the shoe train! She is giving train rides to various Lego characters… I think the kids would jump on board, too, if only they were small enough to fit on or in a shoe!
Shoe-shoe-shoe, shoe-shoe-shoe, toot-toot!
Then we spotted Tinkles up on a shelf, playing Candy Crush! Only, she is playing it with real lollies and the hammer from her tool box 🙂 My daughter loves that one lolly had already been crushed and is very hopeful of getting to eat the game once Tinkles is done playing.
Tinkles wrote a note “wanna play Candy Crush?” but she isn’t offering up her hammer for anyone else to play with!
Have you seen any elves playing offline games they devised themselves?
Christmas elves at the Christmas tree, being cheeky
Tinkles grew overnight!
At least, that is what I told the kids. Tinkles caught my eye immediately this morning as I went to wake the kids up. My son instantly asked if she was on stilts, but my daughter was wondering how Tinkles grew!
I think Tinkles was being a sociable Christmas elf chatting to the two Santa decorations on the tree, or maybe she was straightening up the Christmas train on the tree.
If you look carefully, Ginger was close by, but it was my daughter who found her a bit later. The cheeky elf is peeking into Christmas presents under the tree!
Have your elves ever been cheeky around the tree?
Still some Christmas lights in Ivanhoe
The Boulevard in Ivanhoe (an eastern suburb of Melbourne) is well known for its Christmas lights.
Most years, the Boulevard, Ivanhoe, is a very popular Christmas light street on December evenings. A slow moving line of cars moves along the street (which becomes one way only for the Christmas period) while crowds of people walk along to see the lights close up. Some nights, there are musicians playing carols at a number of houses as well. The surrounding streets also have some beautifully decorated homes.
Fast forward to 2020 and a pandemic – the local council cancelled the event.
reduced lights in 2020
As we drove past Ivanhoe last night, we decided to drive down the Boulevard and have a look. Just because the event was cancelled doesn’t mean every house would be unadorned…
A few houses had a Christmas tree in a window and a few lights. So the street was pretty dark.
Except for one house with a deep front yard which was full of lights and decorations!
That house was recently up for sale. Perhaps that is why it was decorated this year as the final farewell to 60 years of the family home.
Just for fun, here are some photos of the Boulevard in previous years. Starting with the same house featured this year:
A cosy elf hiding spot!
It took me quite a while to find the elves this morning – and I’m not sure the kids have found them yet! They were cuddled up together on the blanket shelf in our linen press.
Would you like a snuggly day, too?
Christmas yoga in the high country!
Last day of school for 2020 and many people are finishing up work as we near Christmas, so there an air of relaxation and stress release around.
Our elves both found a way to relax and head into the holiday mode – we found TInkles on my yoga mat this morning! She started her Christmas yoga routine doing a forward bend from the splits (not a move I could master!)
However, we spotted her in different poses through the day (which is fair enough as an entire day in any one yoga pose would be tough to maintain!)
Meanwhile, Ginger was resting on top of a photo hanging on our wall, overlooking Tinkles on the yoga mat. The photo itself is of Wallace’s Hut up in the Victoria High Country – visiting the High Country, even via a photo is definitely something I would put on a list of good ways to relax!
The photo is of Wallace Hut – a hut built by three brothers in 1889 near Falls Creek and now the oldest surviving cattlemen’s hut. It is such a beautiful part of the world.
Construction elf!
Tinkles the Christmas elf was in work mode this morning, wearing a high vis vest and carrying a stop sign. Surrounded by various pipes and tools, she is obviously working as a construction elf today!
The kids loved her little tool box, complete with tape measure, scissors (that actually cut paper my daughter discovered!), saw and hammer.
Watching Tinkles work must have built up Ginger’s appetite, as we found her in a punnet of cherry tomatoes! A good, healthy snack choice Ginger 🙂
What work have your elves done? have they ever prepared a healthy snack?
Christmas elves can graduate, too, apparently…
Last night, my son graduated from primary school. As part of the preparations, he decorated his (cardboard) mortarboard.
This morning, we discovered our Christmas elves, Tinkles and Ginger, in graduate gowns on my son’s mortarboard as they graduate in front of a Lego audience!
We’re not entirely sure what they are graduating from, mind you, but we won’t let any little details like that stop us celebrating! And it delighted my son to see his graduation experience inspire the elves’ activity.
Have your elves reflected any family activities this year?
Love Santa orders closed – how did we do?
Love Santa letter orders have closed to 2020 (yes, a bit early due to COVID-19 mail delays).
As always, we enjoyed preparing the letters this year. It was pleasing that so many children coped well with the restrictions this year. And we love reading of their successes and good deeds.
We would love to hear about the reactions to our letters (comment below or fill in our testimonials form) and your Christmas stories in general (again, comment below or use our share a story form!)
Interestingly. we have written fewer letters to adults this year but more to teenagers. And there seem to be more requests for outdoor and active gifts, along with books and themed gifts (like Bluey, Elsa, and Pokémon) and fewer electronic-based gifts – I wonder if that is a response to lockdowns and doing so much online during 2020?
Found Ginger!
So we finally found Ginger today – she was having a nap in an oven mitt on a pile of tea towels…
Ginger was found in all Christmas themed items, of course!
How cute is this baby elf inside a Santa oven mitt?
Bath time for elves!
A few days ago, Tinkles was busy cleaning Ginger’s teeth. Today, she is back in the bathroom having a bubble bath…
Have you ever found your elf in the bathroom or soaking in a bath?
Evening update
This evening the kids spotted that Tinkles now has a glass of wine in hand as she soaks in the bubble bath! They also noted that she wasn’t covered in bath wrinkles!!
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