Let us take a look at the lighthearted glimpses at life in a small town Pastor’s family in a mesmeric story of author Arlo T. Janssen, Parsonage in a Pear Tree.
Parsonage in a Pear Tree is not about a study or a biography of a pastor’s family, but a recollection of the memorable events that transpire in the author’s life with his loved ones. This tome relates about his early life in his small hometown village, Odessa, where he was born and spent his growing years. Being the seventh child in the family allows him to experience many things within his relationship with his parents and his siblings. It tackles about his adventures – bathing in the snowstorms, sliding on the hills, ice-skating in and near Odessa, and more events that are exciting, which lingers in his thoughts, especially the Christmas celebrations they enjoy every year at the parsonage. As a pastor’s child, he also had some bizarre moments – it wasn’t easy adjusting to the people who expect much from a child of a preacher. But there were bright moments, ordeals, and fun activities at the parsonage – he grew with them lively and firm. The best thing to remember was, making fun of the Christmas song, Twelve Days of Christmas – changing the word “partridge” to “parsonage.”
This riveting tale is very inspiring, full of fun and adventures, of lesson-filled occurrences and worth-remembering moments that shaped the life of the people in that small town – and in a parsonage – where the author enjoys his existence.