Christmas Clean Up

It’s the day before Christmas, and Mum says Santa won’t come if all this mess is still hanging around. So the kids clean out their rooms and clear up the yard, with no help from Old Dan. Sue can’t part with her one-armed dolly, the robot with one leg goes in the bin, and Tommy hides the lot in a box under his bed. Then Dad and Tommy head off in the ute to find the biggest, best Christmas tree. Maree Birch wrote and illustrated this rhyme in 1986, alongside Christmas Down Under, but it was never published. Forty years on, this hardcover is its first edition, with every picture restored from her original artwork. Read it free, and hear it read aloud, at christmasdownunder.com.