When Heaven Smiled on Our World

Kelly L. Green is a freelance writer living in Ajax, Ontario.

Self-taught artist Tamara Thiebaux obviously has mastered the art of
choosing prose material to complement perfectly her beautiful, muted
watercolor illustrations. The story she has chosen for this book (based
on Corrine Rocheleau Rouleau’s turn-of-the-century memoir of a
Laurentian Christmas celebration) joins with her detailed pictures to
give children and adults alike a sense of what life was like for
habitant farmers.

From the text we learn how the food was prepared for la saison des
fкtes, and how the family kept warm on the long drive to Christmas Eve
mass, and we feel the magic of sleigh bells and white church spires in
the dark. The pictures show us cats prowling in pantries, children
sweeping with homemade brooms, garlic hanging from the ceiling, and
beautiful, functional habitant homes.

Thiebaux has even designed traditional French-Canadian patterns to
surround the book’s page numbers. The end of the book includes words
and music to an old French Christmas carol, as well as a note from
library consultant Virginia Davis regarding the book’s historical
background and its potential as a cultural learning tool.

This book should be on the shelves of every school and public library,
and will be a welcome addition to family collections of Christmas books.
It will add to the cultural heritage of every Canadian who reads it, and
should be included in any list of “must reads” for people around the
world who are interested in Canada and its history.