`Mistletoe Girl’ blissfully noncommercial

THE MISTLETOE GIRL and other Christmas stories, written by Ethel Pochocki, illustrated by Peter LaGue, Forest of Peace Publishing, Leavenworth, Kan., 1999, hardcover, 63 pages, $15.95.

I will never forget the day I read my first Ethel Pochocki book. Right in the middle of the Orono Public Library, I was crying tears of joy. Adam, just two months away from being born, danced in my womb.

But my emotions were not just from surges of pregnancy hormones. I had found a writer who could touch my very soul in a way no other author has been able.

Just in time for Advent, we have Pochocki’s latest work of heart — “The Mistletoe Girl and Other Christmas Stories” — to share with family and friends. In a season when advertisement-laden Christmas specials air right after Thanksgiving to get our children in the mood for nagging, it is refreshing to find entertainment that is solid, real and blissfully noncommercial. Pochocki’s storytelling harks back to the pre-television, pre-Disney richness of the oral tradition, probably because of her fondness for the Old World fairy tales she remembers from her youth.

The title story, “The Mistletoe Girl,” is set in a small town in France. The inhabitants fear the migrant gypsies who dress differently, speak a foreign language and — even worse — are pagans. They suspect they will steal anything from hanging laundry to unattended babies. Yet they tolerate the gypsies because their annual mistletoe picking ventures provide much revenue for the town.

One day, little gypsy girl Solange asks her grandmother Sara why the villagers, filled with the spirit of Christmas, still despise gypsies so. Sara, telling her proud stories of their rich heritage, mentions that Balthazar, one of the Wise Men, was a gypsy chieftain. Solange decides that she has the right to visit the little Cretchuno — Baby Jesus — and bring her own offering. On Christmas Eve, fighting her fear of the dark, she sets off on her pilgrimage, unprepared for the miracle that awaits her.

If “The Mistletoe Girl” brings a tear to your eye, the whimsical “Cat’s Christmas,” my daughters’ favorite, will give you a good laugh. Cat, not beautiful or even attractive, but gifted with high self-esteem and keen intelligence, lives alone in a barn. When an old woman with five cats moves into the connected house Cat decides a warm hearth would be a good idea. Unfortunately the old woman thinks she has enough cats. Each day Cat unsuccessfully tries to move in using a novel and amusing disguise.

The night before Christmas at church the old woman has a vision. She seeks out Cat and offers her the warm, cozy home of her dreams.

My favorite story is “The Baker’s Dog.” Babinski’s Bakery and its neighborhood, have seen better days. Mr. Babinski is not sure how long he can keep open his bakery, which is regularly victimized by ruffians and burglars. Adopting a neglected junkyard dog, Bruno, puts an end to the burglaries. Still when Mr. Babinski visits a peaceful monastery and he and Bruno are invited to stay, he is tempted. He thinks he wouldn’t be missed in his old neighborhood. He is very wrong.

Dog lovers will find this story as satisfying as cat lovers find “Cat’s Christmas.” I can’t imagine anyone not falling in love with at least one of the eight charming stories in this volume.

Pochocki said during a recent interview that she especially enjoyed writing this book because she loves Christmas. As a child she treasured the family traditions such as cookie baking and Christmas Eve Mass and was pleased with presents such as books and dolls.

“It was the most magical time of the year,” she said.

Then she became a parent and loved Christmas more. Even when money was tight she enjoyed picking out just the right gifts for each child, anticipating their delight. In addition to baking and marking church observances together she and her children developed a new Christmas Eve tradition. They would leave all kinds of scraps from baking and cooking — everything animals would like — in the middle of a “magic circle” of pine trees. The next day most of the food would be gone.

Pochocki’s “A Penny for a Hundred” and her beloved and recently reissued “Rosebud & Red Flannel” are also excellent Christmas reads and treasures to add to family holiday traditions.