Adelaide “Addie” Mills tells stories about her experiences growing up with a widowed father in a small town in Nebraska in the 1940s.  All of the books involve Addie, as an adult, telling stories about her youth, and they all tend to center around holidays.  Besides the holiday themes, her stories focus on issues related to growing up, friends, and family, beginning with how her desire to celebrate Christmas and have a Christmas tree, like other families, helps her grieving father to finally make peace with his wife’s death.  Addie’s mother died when she was very young, and she has no memory of her.  Addie’s family basically consists of herself, her father, and her paternal grandmother. Her father is often emotionally distant, partly because of the years he has spent grieving for Addie’s mother, but he does love his daughter, and Addie’s grandmother also helps him to understand Addie’s feelings.  Addie’s grandmother is the motherly figure in her life.  Addie’s best friend is a girl named Carla Mae.  Other stories in the series involve growing-up issues, like helping others and dealing with first crushes.  Young Addie’s life ambition is to be an artist, which she eventually does when she grows up.

One of the things that makes this series interesting is that the first book was based on a made-for-tv movie, not the other way around.  There are made-for-tv movies of all the stories in the series.  This site explains more about the characters and how the movies relate to the books.  The author of the series is Gail Rock, who also wrote the scripts for the movies.  The series is based somewhat on her experiences growing up.

Books in the Series:

The House Without a Christmas Tree (1974)

In 1946, ten-year-old Addie decides that she wants to have a Christmas tree for Christmas, which her father has forbidden since Addie’s mother died years before.  Although he initially resists her efforts to get a Christmas tree, he comes to realize how important it is to her, and it helps him to finally make peace with his wife’s death.

The Thanksgiving Treasure (1974)

Inspired by hearing the story of the first Thanksgiving at school, eleven-year-old Addie tries to get into the spirit of the holiday by going good deeds for a cranky neighbor.  At first, the bitter old man and Addie’s father both resist her efforts because of a business deal gone wrong between them, but Addie’s kindness eventually pays off and leads to an important discovery.

A Dream for Addie (1975)

Twelve-year-old Addie befriends an actress who has returned to her home town from New York City in order to sell her parents’ old house.  However, Addie discovers that the actress’s life isn’t as glamorous as it seemed at first, and she suffers from alcoholism.  Addie’s determination to help her and persuade others to help shows the actress that she still has a place in her old home town and that she can take her life in a new direction.  An Easter story.

Addie and the King of Hearts (1976)

A Valentine’s Day story.  At first, thirteen-year-old Addie can’t understand why the other girls at school are starting to get interested in boys, but an unexpected crush on a new teacher and some surprise romance at a school dance help Addie understand the appeal of love.  Addie’s father also begins dating again.