As a huge lover of Christmas, I was excited to read this. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me att all. The story lacked real interest and the illustrations didn't add a huge amount. A really simple story about animals preparing for Christmas.

A magical world of an animal community centred on a family of squirrels.

Beautifully evokes the Christmas season but for me a mixed message of Bon Homie extolling the Christian traditions and values while introducing Santa Claws. Although a wonderfully imagined world, I found it a little confusing and too aligned to western culture.

The illustrations, fun and creative, are not to clear. The names of the various creatures are over complicated.

The writing lacking structure and a pattern seems too much at times for my grandchildren to follow by sight or as a reading book.

Overall I was a little disappointed and my own personal opinions seemed to be mirrored in those I was introducing the book to as a reading experience.

Perhaps being book 4 in the series I have missed some of the preparation outlined in earlier episodes. I love Christmas, hence I was drawn to the book but although it shares my own Christian outlook it didn’t quite work for me in this imagined environment.

Some squirrels have Christmas, the end. That's it – the fictional, as in tweaked-to-include-different-names-and-terms, festivities of a family of squirrels, with copious mention of other characters around them that might or might not play greater parts elsewhere in this series of seven intended volumes. Personally I wouldn't bother – the artwork is really poor, the writing not exactly brimming with things to engage over, and there's a walloping great human cross involved – so much for the squirrel-specific terms and ideas behind the celebration!

This Christmas book was quite charming. It's obviously "home-made" and not professional-looking like they do in traditional publishing, but I mean it in the sweetest sense. It clearly comes from the heart and looks and feels authentic, like some kind of family craft book you reread every year as a tradition. A precious labour of love. Very cute artwork!

This one was a bit of a miss for me, the story didn't really go anywhere and I don't feel it was very engaging. I do like the illustrations though and I thought the dedication was sweet

I received an ARC of this children's book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a cute book. The pictures are adorable!

I loved the dedication - the author dedicated it to herself because she loves Christmas! I love Christmas too!!! This was cute, wish it was either a little longer and told us more about it. Felt like it introduced the characters and then was basically over?

I really liked the idea behind this book and I do love Christmas traditions but this book wasn't one for me, the writing style was ok but I didn't feel the story went anywhere and it didn't stand out for me amongst the other Children's books that are available in this genre. I didn't really like the illustrations for the book either. It is 3 stars from me for this one, give it a go - just wasn't one for me

I very much liked the illustrations in this storybook. They are very sweet and appealing. To me, they are the best part of this title.

The story itself is a simple one about an animal community celebrating Christmas. My favorite part was how presents were found-they were located after finding a series of notes. This seems like an idea that many families could try.

This might be an addition to a family’s collection of holiday stories for children. It is not unique but it does get into the spirit of the season.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atmosphere Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

Holiday in Trees: Christmastide is part of a series of children's books following the lives of woodland creatures. It is from the perspective of the parents, describing holiday traditions. My favorite part of this book was the artwork. It's very nostalgic and reminds me of books I read as a child; it also gives Little Bear vibes, if you've read that, which is refreshing in comparison to modern children art styles in my opinion. It's beautiful and cozy, and I can imagine a child reading the book would feel the same way.

Full disclosure, I don't read many children's stories, so take this with a grain of salt. The story is a little short in length, and I wouldn't say there's an overarching plot here, but that's not necessarily a downside if your kiddos like those kinds of stories. This book would be good to read to children around the winter time. It could be a good conversation starter for families regarding holiday traditions.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.