At the J-Bar Nothing Ranch on Christmas Eve, Patricia, Jason and their mother are waiting alone for their father to return from his drive. With an approaching Blizzard, they decide to go ahead and find a tree themselves, a scraggly mesquite branch that is not nearly as pretty as the cedar tree their father usually brings them.Patricia and Jason are snug in their beds after finishing their chores early, when Patricia hears the corral gate banging in the wind. Not wanting her mother to find out she didn't do her chores right, she sneaks outside with Jason into the dangerous storm. They close the gate, but the wind and ice keeps them from making back to the house, so they prepare to spend the night in the barn. Worried about their father, who is still out in the cold, they make their beds on loose hay in a horse stall, not expecting the special surprise that will make this a wonderful Christmas after all.

 

This book has been graded for interest at 4-8 years.

There are 32 pages in this book. This book was published 1995 by Pelican Publishing Co .

Author/illustrator James Rice (1934-2004) produced sixty books, including the illustrations for Pelican's treasured The Night Before Christmas Series. Rice's first book, the well-loved classic Cajun Night Before Christmas (R), has more than 750, 000 copies in print. Young readers can enjoy more of Gaston (R)'s adventures in Gaston (R) Goes to Mardi Gras and sample Rice's other children's stories with favorites such as Texas Jack at the Alamo. With more than 1. 5 million copies of his books in print, Rice ranks among the nation's best-selling creators of children's books, receiving awards from Printer Industries of America and the Children's Book Council, among others. Years after his death, Rice's family found the art and text Gaston (R) Joins the Circus, and this discovery has brought Gaston (R) back for one more adventure!