Just Us

How can it be the holidays if everyone isn’t together? Relevant and relatable, Just Us will provide comfort and warm hearts at a time of the year when maybe it’s needed most.

What happens when a storm prevents all the relatives from coming in for the holidays? No Grandma, no aunts, no uncles, no cousins. No fun!

The family will have to adapt their traditions to versions that can be done on a smaller scale--from a more manageable stew dinner, a hike in the snow, or a game of cards instead of rowdy charades. Navigating disappointment with mindfulness and gratitude, the family pieces together a holiday full of new traditions, while still acknowledging that it’s okay to miss the old ones.

Molly Beth Griffin is a graduate of Hamline University’s MFA program in writing for children and young adults and a writing teacher at the Loft Literary Center in the Twin Cities. She is the author of Ten Beautiful Things, Loon Baby, and Silhouette of a Sparrow.

Anait Semirdzhyan has a passion for illustrating children’s books. She is the illustrator of several picture books such as Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day, The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale, and The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story. She lives in Seattle with her husband and twin daughters.www.anaitsart.com