To Every Thing There Is a Season: A Cape Breton Christmas Story

Posted on by Alistair MacLeod
To Every Thing There Is a Season A Cape Breton Christmas Story The story is simple seen through the eyes of an year old boy As an adult he remembers the way things were back home on the farm on the west coast of Cape Breton The time was the s but the hen

The story is simple, seen through the eyes of an 11 year old boy As an adult he remembers the way things were back home on the farm on the west coast of Cape Breton The time was the 1940s, but the hens and the cows and the pigs and the sheep and the horse made it seem ancient The family of six children excitedly waits for Christmas and two year old Kenneth, who liked HaThe story is simple, seen through the eyes of an 11 year old boy As an adult he remembers the way things were back home on the farm on the west coast of Cape Breton The time was the 1940s, but the hens and the cows and the pigs and the sheep and the horse made it seem ancient The family of six children excitedly waits for Christmas and two year old Kenneth, who liked Halloween a lot, asks, Who are you going to dress up as at Christmas I think I ll be a snowman They wait especially for their oldest brother, Neil, working on the Lake boats in Ontario, who sends intriguing packages of clothes back for Christmas On Christmas Eve he arrives, to the delight of his young siblings, and shoes the horse before taking them by sleigh through the woods to the nearby church The adults, including the narrator for the first time, sit up late to play the gift wrapping role of Santa Claus.The story is simple, short and sweet, but with a foretaste of sorrow Not a word is out of place Matching and enhancingthe text are black and white illustrations by Peter Rankin, making this book a perfect little gift.For readers from nine to ninety nine, our classic Christmas story by one of our greatest writers.

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To Every Thing There Is a Season: A Cape Breton Christmas Story

  1. When MacLeod was ten his family moved to a farm in Dunvegan, Inverness County on Nova Scotia s Cape Breton Island After completing high school, MacLeod attended teacher s college in Truro and then taught school He studied at St Francis Xavier University between 1957 and 1960 and graduated with a BA and B.Ed He then went on to receive his MA in 1961 from the University of New Brunswick and his PhD in 1968 from the University of Notre Dame A specialist in British literature of the nineteenth century, MacLeod taught English for three years at Indiana University before accepting a post in 1969 at the University of Windsor as professor of English and creative writing During the summer, his family resided in Cape Breton, where he spent part of his time writing in a cliff top cabin looking west towards Prince Edward Island.

703 Reply to “To Every Thing There Is a Season: A Cape Breton Christmas Story”

  2. This story is deeply Nova Scotian, but it s also a nostalgic and gripping Christmas story like the ones you might hear at family gatherings on a winter s night, well written and creative and unforgettable.

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  3. Really nice, well polished little story It s short but it sets the scene and the mood really well, I love these kind of stories, it takes only a couple of sentences to pretty much describe the whole lives and futures of people Truly enjoyable.

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  4. Gerry B s Book Reviews gerrycan.wordpressTo those who might not be familiar with Cape Breton Island, here is a brief orientation via Cape Breton Island is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada The 10,311 km2 3,981 sq mi island accounts for 18.7% of the total area of Nova Scotia Although physically separated from the Nova Scotia peninsula by the Strait of Canso, it is artificially connected to mainland Nova Scotia by the 1,385 m 4,544 ft long rock fill Canso Causeway The island is located e [...]

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  5. I like this author, who is good at bringing life to a historical Christmas of long ago It shows the joy of waiting for a sibling to come home It also shows a young boy who wants to continue believing He clings to the hope of Santa It is a short story, but well written and I believe I will want to read by this author The illustrator is also from Cape Breton, one of 14 children The pictures tell the story as well and I m glad that Scott gave me this book for Christmas today We read it together an [...]

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  6. I love Alistair MacLeod s writing and I was not disappointed with this evocative story of Christmas in Cape Breton The accompanying drawings are nothing to sneeze at either Thoroughly enjoyable.

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  10. To Every Thing There Is a Season by Alistair MacLeodA beautiful little book that I could relate to so well This is a Christmas memory of the author, Alistair MacLeod, at the age of eleven on the threshold of leaving childhood behind The story takes place on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia in 1940, on a small family farm Snow season begins as early as October in Cape Breton In the author s words, My family had been there for a long, long time and so it seemed had I And much of that time seems lik [...]

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  11. A lovely wee story of olden times and a Cape Breton Christmas Memories of dressing in the icy cold and going to the wood stove to warm up fill me up as I too got to experience snatches of that as a grand daughter with Grandparents who lived far enough from town that they had no electricity or running water Having visited Cape Breton Island a few summers ago, I was amazed at how similar it felt to my own history in northern Ontario The raw, rugged landscape The musical gatherings brought back mem [...]

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  12. This was a really great short story for many reasons I loved the writing style and all of the deeper meanings that the plot had.The story is told from the perspective of an 11 year old boy and discusses the joy and discovery that comes along with Christmas It also explores life in Cape Breton.Enjoy

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  13. Charming Christmas story that focuses on a lovely memory of a 1940s holiday on Cape Breton that captures both a sense of the traditions of how the season was celebrated as well the experiences of a boy caught between the wonder of childhood and growing up

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  14. A short but sweet telling of a Cape Breton Christmas in the 1940 s in Alistair s family Rural life, including the animals in Christmas treats and capturing feelings of growing up, memories of Christmases past and excitement of life to come post as young adults.

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  17. heart warming quick read novel perfect for the seasong of age novel picturesque languagei can now imagine Nova Scotia of 1960s.

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  18. I made lots of personal connections to this book, being from a family of 11 It is a very short read and very worth it.

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