The beginning of every December, I add a pile of books to the basket I keep next to the bed. Their covers are worn and their pages well thumbed, but rereading these familiar stories is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.There are the classics, of course, like A Christmas Carol and Gift of the Magi, but I also enjoy Agatha Christie's Christmas short story collections, especially The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. I love her descriptions of the traditional English Christmas speciality foods, especially the all-important Christmas pudding. :-)
When in the mood for something more irreverent, I turn to David Sedaris' Holidays on Ice. His tales of being a Macy's Christmas elf are hilarious, and I also adore his version of the annual Christmas letter. So much fun, and just the ticket when the holiday could use a little comic relief.
I also enjoy revisiting a few of my favorite childhood Christmas stories, like Barbara Robinson's The Best Christmas Pagent Ever. Anybody else remember the Herdmans? Or put Vaseline on their eyelashes to make them shiny and longer looking? This book makes me still smile year after year. :-)
Finally, I managed to keep my Scholastic Book Club copy of The House Without a Christmas Tree by Gail Rock all these years, and was so thrilled when the original television movie with Jason Robards was made available on DVD. I so loved Addie and her spunk when I was a girl.
I always keep my eyes peeled for new additions to my Christmas bookpile when scouring the shelves of thrift and used book shops---anyone have suggestions of titles to look out for?
