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The Dolls' Christmas
Christmas is a special time at Pumpkin House, where two dolls named Sethany Ann and Nicey Melinda live. Every Christmas they invite their friends to join them for an elegant dinner party and a marionette show. The dolls have fun getting ready for their they send out invitations to their guests by Sparrow Post, decorate their very own Christmas tree with silver nutmegs and golden pears, and prepare doll-size cookies and other treats for the party. Then at "candlelight-time" on Christmas Day the guests begin to arrive, and the evening isn't over until the last carol has been sung around the tree. Tasha Tudor's delightful tale captures all the charm and magic of an old-fashioned Christmas shared with your dearest friends. Beautifully illustrated in nostalgic watercolor paintings, this book will be treasured by generations to come.
30 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
About the author
Tasha Tudor
242 books256 followersTasha Tudor was an American illustrator and author of children's books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
January 5, 2023
A much loved reread this Christmas, below is the original review.
24th December 2016. We saved this book to read to the dolls on Christmas Eve and they looked liked they really enjoyed it.
We loved it, beautiful illustrations and a lovely story of two girls who help their dolls celebrate Christmas.
Our dolls have always enjoyed a dolls Christmas, with a tree made of yew branches and this year each of them has a present under their tree of a hand made dress, necklace, hat or scarf. Perhaps now they have read the dolls Christmas they will be thinking of asking for a room sized dolls house to live in like the one in the story !
24th December 2016. We saved this book to read to the dolls on Christmas Eve and they looked liked they really enjoyed it.
We loved it, beautiful illustrations and a lovely story of two girls who help their dolls celebrate Christmas.
Our dolls have always enjoyed a dolls Christmas, with a tree made of yew branches and this year each of them has a present under their tree of a hand made dress, necklace, hat or scarf. Perhaps now they have read the dolls Christmas they will be thinking of asking for a room sized dolls house to live in like the one in the story !
December 17, 2024
4.5🌟 A very sweet Christmas children's book, especially with the beautiful Tasha Tudor illustrations! Both the book itself and the audiobook are lovely to read and listen to during the Christmas season. Definitely a must-have for any Christmas collection—like all of Tasha Tudor's holiday books! (I hope to, someday, have a copy with a dust jacket.)
December 28, 2011
Immensely charming!
This is a timeless story and it’s thoroughly enjoyable.
The dolls and amazing dollhouse and their humans and the animals (I fell in love with the dog) are all interesting characters. I like how the boys also participate at the party.
This is a perfectly sized book for little hands.
The illustrations are precious, in the best way possible.
And it has one of the best author’s notes ever at the start of the book: Tudor talks about how her family actually regularly celebrated a dolls’ Christmas. What a wonderful tradition!
This book would make a wonderful Christmas present or anytime present, and would be a fine addition to the library of most families, especially those who have young girls and who celebrate Christmas. Young girls who like dolls and dollhouses will treasure this one.
I always wanted a dollhouse when I was young so I would have been completely smitten with this book.
This is definitely a “girls’ book” despite the inclusion of boy characters, and girls who don’t like dolls are not likely to appreciate it.
This book has a 1997 copyright but it has a look that could be a couple hundred years old, or from just this year. Just wonderful!
I’m thinking some girls who read this will start a new Christmas tradition. This story will work well for both family reading aloud and for independent readers.
4 ½ stars
This is a timeless story and it’s thoroughly enjoyable.
The dolls and amazing dollhouse and their humans and the animals (I fell in love with the dog) are all interesting characters. I like how the boys also participate at the party.
This is a perfectly sized book for little hands.
The illustrations are precious, in the best way possible.
And it has one of the best author’s notes ever at the start of the book: Tudor talks about how her family actually regularly celebrated a dolls’ Christmas. What a wonderful tradition!
This book would make a wonderful Christmas present or anytime present, and would be a fine addition to the library of most families, especially those who have young girls and who celebrate Christmas. Young girls who like dolls and dollhouses will treasure this one.
I always wanted a dollhouse when I was young so I would have been completely smitten with this book.
This is definitely a “girls’ book” despite the inclusion of boy characters, and girls who don’t like dolls are not likely to appreciate it.
This book has a 1997 copyright but it has a look that could be a couple hundred years old, or from just this year. Just wonderful!
I’m thinking some girls who read this will start a new Christmas tradition. This story will work well for both family reading aloud and for independent readers.
4 ½ stars
December 27, 2021
I wish they would reprint Tasha Tudor's books. They are so beautiful and fun to read, but it's difficult to find a good copy with a decent price.
December 30, 2024
Read via audiobook.
I have to say this is one of the cutest books I’ve read this year. From the time I was a child, I loved dolls. Now, in adulthood I am an avid adult doll collector (it’s one of my hobbies). When I saw a book about dolls and Christmas, my two favorite things was available, I jumped at the chance to read it. I am so glad I did!
One of the things I loved about the book was reading about the dolls and the world the author created for them. It was a sweet, enchanted world and I enjoyed being in it. The Christmas traditions in the doll world were heartwarming.
I really haven’t read that many books where dolls were the main characters, so this was a new experience for me. It was a really creative book, and I couldn’t help but smile while doing the audiobook.
The plot moved at a swift pace, and it was nice to read a book where nothing bad happened. While this is primarily for children, I think adults would enjoy this as well.
I have to say this is one of the cutest books I’ve read this year. From the time I was a child, I loved dolls. Now, in adulthood I am an avid adult doll collector (it’s one of my hobbies). When I saw a book about dolls and Christmas, my two favorite things was available, I jumped at the chance to read it. I am so glad I did!
One of the things I loved about the book was reading about the dolls and the world the author created for them. It was a sweet, enchanted world and I enjoyed being in it. The Christmas traditions in the doll world were heartwarming.
I really haven’t read that many books where dolls were the main characters, so this was a new experience for me. It was a really creative book, and I couldn’t help but smile while doing the audiobook.
The plot moved at a swift pace, and it was nice to read a book where nothing bad happened. While this is primarily for children, I think adults would enjoy this as well.
December 29, 2024
The watercolors in this book are beautiful, cozy, and so cute. I want to live in the world of Tasha Tudor's illustrations!
December 20, 2017
This is an adorable story of some little girls preparing and having a Christmas party for their dolls. It’s so cute especially with Tasha Tudor’s charming illustrations. This is perfect for any little girl who likes dolls. I always wanted to have a party like this with my dolls when I was young, but I didn’t have the right kind of dolls, and no one to do it with me.
December 24, 2008
Sheer bliss! My nostalgic heart pines for a dollhouse like these lucky dolls have--and the Christmas party is just the a glorious event that my sister and I would have held in our own girlhoods! ;->
December 14, 2018
Two dolls - Sethany Ann and Nicey Melinda - enjoy the Christmas holidays with their two little girls, Laura and Efner, in this sweet holiday tale from 1950. Every year the dolls give a dinner party and marionette show for their friends, and this Christmas is no different. Everything must be prepared, from the dolls' marvelous home, Pumpkin House, which is decorated accordingly, to the dolls' themselves. Their little girls help with all of these matters, and host the other little girls', whose own dolls are Sethany Ann and Nicey Melinda's guests...
I had the distinct pleasure of reading a first edition of The Dolls' Christmas, and found it a visual treat. The artwork is lovely, and done in a nostalgic style that put me strongly in mind of one of my own favorite books from childhood, What Miranda Knew , illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones. Tasha Tudor's illustrations here are simply beautiful, with soft, beautiful tones and a distinct old-fashioned charm that is very winsome. I was delighted by the fact that one of the little girls was named Efner, as that is Tasha Tudor's daughter's name, but otherwise I wasn't won over quite as much by the story here. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, and I would imagine that young doll lovers will find much in it to treasure, but somehow it didn't strike a chord with me. Recommended to Tasha Tudor fans, in whose number I count myself (I have strong memories of growing up with her edition of The Secret Garden ), and to young doll lovers.
I had the distinct pleasure of reading a first edition of The Dolls' Christmas, and found it a visual treat. The artwork is lovely, and done in a nostalgic style that put me strongly in mind of one of my own favorite books from childhood, What Miranda Knew , illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones. Tasha Tudor's illustrations here are simply beautiful, with soft, beautiful tones and a distinct old-fashioned charm that is very winsome. I was delighted by the fact that one of the little girls was named Efner, as that is Tasha Tudor's daughter's name, but otherwise I wasn't won over quite as much by the story here. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, and I would imagine that young doll lovers will find much in it to treasure, but somehow it didn't strike a chord with me. Recommended to Tasha Tudor fans, in whose number I count myself (I have strong memories of growing up with her edition of The Secret Garden ), and to young doll lovers.
June 9, 2008
I love, love, love this little gem! Made me want to host an old-fashioned, English Christmas. It is sort of like a picturesque jigsaw puzzle set to words.
December 19, 2017
"I think," said Nicey, "that Christmas is the most magic time in all the year, not just for the pretty things you get, but for the feeling inside of you of what a good place the world is to live in."
Two girls and their special dolls throw a tea party and a puppet show on Christmas day.
Two girls and their special dolls throw a tea party and a puppet show on Christmas day.
December 21, 2018
One of my favorite Christmas books which is beautifully written and illustrated by Tasha Tudor I would have been enthralled as a child to have had a doll house and dolls such as she describes.
December 28, 2022
Perfect
November 30, 2024
A favorite of mine, I loved sharing this precious story with my daughter!
December 8, 2024
Great story! I wish I would have known about that book when my girls were little and played with dolls!
November 21, 2017
This would be a fun tradition to establish with children or grandchildren. Lovely illustrations.
April 5, 2026
I'm revisiting some old Christmas favorites and this one really struck me as something very special. I do have an affinity for dolls and dollhouses, but there is also something so sweet about how childhood imagination and play are treated with such respect and admiration.
ETA: Knowing what I know now about Tasha Tudor's real life dollhouse Tasha Tudor's Dollhouse : A Lifetime in Miniature makes this book even more special!
ETA: Knowing what I know now about Tasha Tudor's real life dollhouse Tasha Tudor's Dollhouse : A Lifetime in Miniature makes this book even more special!
December 24, 2010
Based on the childhood and a family Christmas tradition of Tasha Tudor, this is the story of two little girls who have a magnificent doll house and dolls. Every Christmas the dolls invite their friends over for a Christmas feast and marionette show.
The description of the preparations for the big event will interest imaginative girls who enjoy playing with dolls. The illustrations are very detailed watercolors and enjoyable to look at.
Recommended ages 6 - 12 years.
The description of the preparations for the big event will interest imaginative girls who enjoy playing with dolls. The illustrations are very detailed watercolors and enjoyable to look at.
Recommended ages 6 - 12 years.
January 1, 2016
I found this sweet story today while sorting through my children's old books--illustrated with Tasha Tudor's exquisite watercolor drawings. "I think that Christmas is the most magic time in all the year, not just for the pretty things you get, but for the feeling inside you of what a good place the world is to live in."
December 30, 2011
4 and up read-aloud, tells how the dolls over 100 years old and other toys celebrate Christmas together, from the world and imagination of Tasha Tudor with her lovely illustrations, captures Christmas magic
June 19, 2008
This was one of my favorite books when I was a child. I gave it to my daughter for Christmas a few years ago. It's very sweet and old fashioned.
August 18, 2008
So sweet. Can not believe that she made all of the things for her own children. She was such a good mother.
December 20, 2009
Tasha Tudor...need I say more? Love it.
October 24, 2016
One of my favorite books of my childhood. I love Tasha Tudor.
December 31, 2020
I read my mother's copy of this book that her adoptive mother gave her. It smells wonderful.
The details in this story are so wonderful for fully immersing you in the short story and filling you with the same feelings as the scene in Little Women when the girls share their Christmas meal (down to toys being dropped and forgotten but an overall delight in the day remaining).
The details in this story are so wonderful for fully immersing you in the short story and filling you with the same feelings as the scene in Little Women when the girls share their Christmas meal (down to toys being dropped and forgotten but an overall delight in the day remaining).
December 19, 2022
Day 18 Christmas Book. I missed a lot because I got sick and then travelled and my husband did all the Christmas book reading ☺️. But this book is a favorite with all my children full of the imaginative miniature worlds children love.
December 26, 2022
I would have loved to have had this book as a child. It is so magical and a fun tale of two dolls having a Christmas party with other dolls and stuffed animals. I hope to find a physical copy of the book for myself, but loved hearing and reading along with this book today.
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July 1, 2025Five stars. Tasha Tudor doesn't dumb down a children's book. Her illustrations are worthy of hanging on a wall. All around a work of art. A charming tale of how their dolls celebrated Christmas. My children loved the story and enjoyed drooling over what everything looked like.
December 21, 2016
Fun Christmas book. We, however, have liked her other books more. This is still a good read..krb 12/20/16
January 13, 2019
B. fiction, children's fiction, grade K-1, quaint, Mom's stash, keep
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews