The Story Behind The BookNO SWEETS FOR SANTA is a Christmas Children’s book where Santa swears off sweets as he delivers presents on Christmas Eve. He progressively gets hungrier at each stop until he finds a special house that leaves him pizza instead of cookies.
I created this story over ten years ago to support our family tradition of making homemade pizza on Christmas Eve and then leaving Santa a slice or two instead of cookies. Each year that passed, the story grew, and from the original one-page story came a book, a song, and special pizza recipes we’ve been able to share. In 2009, I asked my friend Mitchel Heslop to draw pictures for the story and I self-published the book locally. This version was a coloring book style and I sold copies through a local pizza chain. I received lots of positive feedback and decided to seek out a professional artist, beginning the process to create the full color hardback and paperback editions out now. In late 2010, the hardback edition was printed, and much like Santa on Christmas Eve, the hardback edition had lots of extra “presents” beyond the story itself. After enjoying the fantastic art by Mark Mariano, flipping through the back of the book you will see the NO SWEETS FOR SANTA song with musical arrangement so you and your family can sing along on Christmas Eve. You also get a great pizza recipe that we’ve used over the years, so you can make your own pizza for Santa. Then you’ll find a behind-the-scenes look at our family tradition and how it went from the initial idea to the many parts it holds today. Finally, take a moment to look through pages showing the evolution of art through the years. 2012 brought the printing of the paperback edition, giving me a book that could be sold through schools at an affordable price. While it doesn't have all the bonus content that the hardback edition does, you still can enjoy the story, the song, the pizza recipe, and other great features. |
Watch the video below to hear the book.The song as sung by Larry the elf.What's in Santa's bag for you this year? |