Santa’s Birthday Gift by Sherrill S. Cannon blends the story of Christmas with Santa to help explain to little ones how Santa has become a part of Christmas.

Santa’s Birthday Gift
About Sherrill S. Cannon
I have been very fortunate to have Sherrill S. Cannon as my featured author for the week. Sherrill (pronounced as Cheryl, yes I was curious enough to ask!) is a wife, mother to four, and grandmother to 10! She lives my dream life of spending a good portion of her time travelling from one side of the USA (I’d choose the Canadian equivalent) to the other with her husband to spend time with her scattered family. What a way to travel and enjoy the scenery at your own pace!
Sherrill was a high school phys ed teacher and coach, as well as a tutor for 10 years until she had children. She’s also been a sports photographer and columnist, as well as many other interesting positions. She’s been involved in many of their activities over the years, including writing school plays with them. How cool is she for a Mom? We have a bit in common as well; her uncles were from my home province in Canada, and we’ve both have embarrassing stories to tell about camps in Canada. But I’ll not share those with you today….maybe another time? We’ll see…
After retiring (does a mother ever really retire?), she decided she would look into having some of her books published. It was meant to be, and in the past 4 years she’s won 17 awards, and more are sure to come.
About Santa’s Birthday Gift
Santa’s Birthday Gift was inspired after Sherrill read her grandchild the story of the Nativity. After the story was done, Kelsey asked, “But where’s Santa?” This book has an imaginative take on how Santa became the character he’s known as today.
In beautiful rhyming meter, Sherrill tells the story of of a toy maker who sees a light in the sky and hears of baby Jesus’ birth. He wants to take one of his toys as a gift to him. Tristan’s favourite part of the book is when Santa and his reindeer run out of snow.
He traveled a long way,
then ran out of snow,
And wasn’t sure how
he’d be able to go.
So he offered a prayer
as he looked to the sky
And suddenly his reindeer
were able to fly!
With Santa’s giving heart, he not only gave a gift to Jesus, he also gave gifts to everyone in attendance. With each gift he gave, another one appeared in his sack. His gift to Jesus was to return and give presents to all the good boys and girls around the world each year, and thus Sherrill weaves the mystery of Santa and the Nativity together.
This book has been a great hit in our home! Sherrill is kindly providing a copy of Santa’s Birthday Gift for this giveaway. The contest runs from December 6 at 12:01am until December 13 at midnight and is open worldwide. There are several ways in which you can enter through the Rafflecopter below.
If you’d like to see a little more about this, and other books Sherrill has written (Manner-Man, Gimme-Jimmy, The Magic Word, and Peter and the Whimper-Whineys, and My Fingerpaint Masterpiece), she has some sample pages available to read on Freado. “I love the music of words, and I try to help children hear that music…” If you like what you see, you can find out more about Sherrill on her webpage, follow her on Facebook, or learn more about raising money for the JM Foundation. Sherrill is also having a new book released in early 2014, so watch this space!
For more books that we love, be sure to see our books and book activities page. Or jingle over to our Christmas page for more activities.

Marta ABilingualBaby blog says
Silent Night!
Andrea Amy says
I love Oh Holy Night
TheBargainBabe says
Not sure it counts as a Christmas carol or not but I love
“Mary Did You Know.” 🙂
Tess says
What a cute book! Would be a cute present and love the photos!
Crystal McClean says
I remember asking the same question as a child. This book would be a lovely way to ‘explain’ it.
Florry says
My favorite Christmas carol is “O Christmas Tree!”
alison says
Sounds like a great book
jodi frasier/lasher says
My favorite is We wish you a merry christmas. Thanks
Rebekah says
Aww, this book looks so sweet! I like how she put the story of Santa into the truth o the Nativity. We don’t really talk about Santa at our house, but this would be something I could read to the boys while still talking about the true meaning of Christmas.
Crystal McClean says
I enjoy that Santa was able to take something he enjoyed as his profession, and turn it into something for everyone. He has a generous heart, which is a good thing to teach.
Adelien says
My favorite song is O holy Night…
Catherine says
I like Away in a Manger
Tammy Doiel @creativekkids.com says
We don’t really do Santa except as a fairy tale, but it definitely is an imaginative take on Christmas. (Oh, and we do talk about how St. Nicholas was a real man and how he did good for others, thus the story began.)
Crystal McClean says
We thought about that as well, but in the end decided to go the children’s fantasy route. It’s a tough decision to make.
Erica Price says
Silent Night
bn100 says
jingle bells
Missy Homemaker says
My very favorite Christmas Carol is What Child is This. Part of the reason for this is that I absolutely LOVE the melody of Greensleeves that it is set to.
Crystal McClean says
Greensleeves was my favourite song when i was in grade 5 or 6 🙂
Jill @ Called To Be A Mom says
These are a great list. She was a busy mom! I love that she travels as well. We love to travel. I love your “I recommend at the bottom!”
Crystal McClean says
It does sound like Sherrill’s had an interesting and busy life! I’m glad you like the “I recommend!, it’s nice to hear when something is working/liked, or not as well 😉
Maegan Morin says
I cant decide between Carol of the Bells and Little Drummer Boy. I love them both 😀
Rebecca Ray says
Silent Night 🙂
Leslie Nakagawa says
White Christmas…just like the one I used to know.
shirley says
I love Away In A Manger.
Kristi says
O Holy Night is always a favorite!!
Tammy Cordell Hudson says
Away in a Manager
Elizabeth H. says
Jingle Bells right now!
Terra Heck says
My favorite Christmas carol is Silent Night. Thanks.
amanda whitley says
i like we wish you a merry christmas
AEKZ2 says
Feliz Navidad is my favorite
karen says
Silent Night is my favorite song
meme says
Mine is Oh Holy Night