Word: husbandly
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This wistful tale in verse, lyrically illustrated by the writer's husband, tells how Belle, a neglected child of privilege, befriends her housekeeper Bea in lieu of absentee parents. Day in, day out, the pair do gardening, shopping and housework together, punctuated by regular outings to the house's beachfront--"Belle and Bea, by the sea, hand in hand." The tact with which Bea fills a maternal role is touching, the warmth of their bond palpable. One day Belle ventures onto the beach by herself and chases her big red ball into the sea. A crisis ensues that teaches...
...celebrated author-illustrator Carle triumphs again with a gorgeous undersea narrative. After Mrs. Seahorse lays her eggs in her husband's pouch for safekeeping, Mr. Seahorse drifts through a series of dazzling scenes. Clear plastic overlays bearing paintings of reeds, a coral reef, seaweed and a rock can be lifted away and--ta-da!--riotously colorful fish emerge. Mr. Seahorse meets other fish tending their eggs--a stickleback, a tilapia, a Kurtus nurseryfish, a pipe and a bullhead catfish. What they all have in common is that they are males, and Mr. Seahorse offers each a comradely word of praise...
...humbug, says Cori Pursell, 45, a mother of two from Overland Park, Kans. For the past six years, she and her husband have made a concerted effort to rein in the holiday hoopla. "Rather than focus on the shopping calendar of Christmas, we're focusing on the spiritual aspect," Pursell explains. "We've decided to not even put up a tree until the third week of Advent, and we don't decorate it until the week before Christmas." Other holiday trappings have gone out the window altogether. Several years ago, the couple stopped swathing the house in knickknacks and frills...
...Pursells' revamped holiday celebration isn't just about taking things away. It's about adding things--meaning, closeness, spirituality. The family has gone caroling at a local nursing home and visited a soup kitchen. "What influenced my husband and me was thinking back to what we enjoyed about Christmas growing up," Pursell explains. "It was never the number or size of toys we received or how many cookies my mom baked. It was about family being together and observing the holiday. That togetherness creates the warmest, most lasting memories...
...simplifying isn't always so simple. What one couple decides may not sit well with extended family or with their kids (see box). Three years ago, Noelle Hawton of Bloomington, Minn., was driving to church on Christmas Eve with her husband and his family when they passed a homeless man digging a plate out of a Dumpster. "It made me think about how stupid it was to be stressed out over gifts that none of us really needed," Hawton recalls. That night, she and her in-laws had a long, emotional discussion and chose to stop exchanging gifts the following...