A Rare Nativity

Description

The Twelve days of Christmas is an excessively pervasive and fairly inane carol everyone has heard. This book offers a new spin with a beautiful message. The first verse is On the first night of Christmas I gave my enemy a briar from a tanglewood tree. Each day for twelve days, some nasty piece of trash is sent. After day twelve, a true gift, one that can change hearts, is given in return.

This book is beautiful. The first photos are all in black-and-white, illustrating the bleak state of the narrator’s hateful spirit. Suddenly, with two simple words, some pensive color appears. After all the spiteful bitterness of the narrator, the “enemy” finds a way to ask for forgiveness and illuminates a seldom- considered aspect of Christmas. Not only is the concept of A Rare Nativity warm and sweet, but the photos are brimming with emotion. As the book progresses, they show how sometimes, when we focus on hate or spite, we lose the ability to see beauty in our world. Only forgiveness can bring it back.