A Christmas Tree from Puddin' Stone Hill

A Christmas Tree from Puddin' Stone Hill

"I'm going to get the Christmas tree," sang Timmy, as he pulled on one snowboot ...

After convincing his mom he is old enough to hike up Puddin' Stone Hill to cut down the Christmas tree, Timmy sets off, bow-saw in hand, to find the best tree he can find. The snow is deep and the journey is long, but Timmy soon discovers that his mischievous furry friend, Black Cat, is watching over him. Together, their quest for the perfect tree becomes nothing short of a minor Yuletide odyssey.

Elsie Hadden Mole

Author

Elsie Hadden Mole is a retired school teacher who spends most of her time writing. She keeps extensive journals, writes newspaper articles and has written and illustrated several books for children. She is a former curator of the St Joseph Island Museum and is co-author of several local histories, most recently Dear Home Folks, a collection of letters written in the 1930s by her aunt, Winnifred Hadden; and St. Joseph Island — Images of the Past, a pictorial regional history with Jackileen R. Rains. Mole lives on St Joseph Island, which lies in the St Mary's River just south of Sault Ste Marie. She enjoys life on a farm that has been in the family for nearly a century. She calls it Pudding Stone Hill, after the colourful jasper conglomerate stone prevalent in the area. With her sheltie, Dougal, and her farm cat, Daphne, she regularly walks over Pudding Stone Hill — summer and winter.

Sylvia Hahn

Illustrator

Sylvia Hahn (1911-2001) studied at the Ontario College of Art from 1929 to 1932, where she showed an early aptitude for painting, design, and metal works. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Governor-General Medal for academic achievement in the arts. Shortly after, Hahn was hired as a staff artist at the Royal Ontario Museum, eventually becoming head of the art department. She was a prolific artist, painting eleven murals for the museum, still extant today, and exhibiting numerous works with the Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers, the Ontario Society of Artists, and the Toronto Metal Crafts Guild. Her works appear in many collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Emmanuel College, Havergal College, and the ROM. Her liturgical commissions are displayed in at least fifteen churches throughout the country.