Picture-Books in Winter

Jessie Willcox Smith

Summer fading, winter comes -

Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs

Window robins, winter rooks,

And the picture story-books.

-from Picture-Books in Winter by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Christmas festivities are winding down, and like furry woodland animals, we are inclined to settle down in our warm nests and stick close to home for a while. We said goodbye to our less hardy friends during the golden months of autumn, but we are of sturdy New England stock like the cardinals and bluejays who gladden the bleak days of winter with their bright colors: most likely the only ones we will see until the daffodils show their faces in April. Today was a bitterly cold blustery day, just right for curling up in a warm chimney corner with a cozy story: