A Box of Christmas Books

Susan here, getting ready for Christmas by hauling out the holiday stuff . . . 

which in our house includes the big box of Christmas books. When our boys were young, we started a tradition -- every year they’d get one or two new holiday books to share, wrapped, so they could open those a few days before Christmas. This soothed the Christmas crazies a little, and gave us time to sit together to read the new holiday stories before Christmas (and beyond, through the winter and sometimes the entire year if the book became a favorite). 

Over the years we’ve accumulated quite a collection of Christmas-themed books, and now that the kids are grown and gone (sort of!), I still bring out those books at holiday time, and they still browse through them. Now that we have a new grandchild, those books in their special box will be read again someday (she’s way too little yet, but I’m already starting a new collection).

So the Christmas book tradition in our house will continue. Some Christmas books are timeless magic and need to be brought out again year after year, generation after generation . . . .

Some of my own favorite Christmas books as a very little girl became my kids’ favorites too –- like the Little Golden Books editions of The Night Before Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman . . . and A Christmas Carol, which fascinated me as a kid.

And their favorites have become mine. We read many, many Christmas-themed and winter-themed books together hundreds of times (at least), including Tazewell’s The Littlest Angel, Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, Tolkein’s Letters from Father Christmas, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, and my middle son’s absolute all-time favorite book ever, Little Dracula’s Christmas by Martin Waddell (this book is a hoot, if you can find it). I read The Polar Express and How the Grinch Stole Christmas so often that I can still recite them.

We also loved gorgeously illustrated books with simple text, like Jan Brett’s Christmas and winter books such as The Wild Christmas Reindeer and The Mitten, so richly, beautifully illustrated with heartwarming stories. Jan Pienkowski’s The First Christmas is simply exquisite.  

Two illustrated Christmas books that my kids loved and read nightly all year, for years (these books won the ultimate award of tattered pages) were both by Raymond Briggs – The Snowman, an eloquent story of a lonely snowman, and Father Christmas, charming and droll -– a grumbling Santa, not much liking the cold, packs sandwiches and a thermos of tea and heads off for a night of adventures. 

Here are a few of our absolute favorites in no particular order (however they came out of the Christmas book box while I was writing this blog!) with a few favorite lines. For me, these books always evoke a warm, wonderful holiday feeling . . .   

Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

“And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes or bags!”

 

 Barbara Robinson, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever:     

“The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.”

Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas in Wales:

"But here a small boy says: 'It snowed last year, too. I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.'
'But that was not the same snow,' I say. 'Our snow was not only shaken from white wash buckets down the sky, it came shawling out of the ground and swam and drifted out of the arms and hands and bodies of the trees; snow grew overnight on the roofs of the houses like a pure and grandfather moss, minutely -ivied the walls and settled on the postman, opening the gate, like a dumb, numb thunder-storm of white, torn Christmas cards.’”

Trosclair, A Cajun Night Before Christmas, with its great Bayou beat:

"De chirren been nezzle/Good snug on de flo’/An’ Mama pass de pepper/t’ru de crack on de do’..."

And J.R.R.  Tolkien, The Father Christmas Letters  -- one of my most favorite books. From 1920 to 1943, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote letters to his children from Father Christmas, elaborately illustrated, amusing and enchanting tales of life at the North Pole featuring elves, polar bears and goblins:

“Another Christmas! And I almost thought at one time (in November) that there might not be one this year! . . . My pictures tell you part of the story. Goblins The worst attack we have had for centuries. They have been fearfully wild and angry ever since we took all their stolen toys off them last year . . . “

My kids are older now, but if I come across a good Christmas book, I’ll still buy a copy for them, such as Christopher Moore’s The Stupidest Angel: 

"Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing...."

How about you? What favorite holiday stories hold happy memories, and evoke the meaning and magic of the holidays for you?  Please share! I’d love to add some fresh new titles to the Christmas collection this year, and to my own Christmas wish list . . . .

Merry Holidays to all – wishing you peace and joy in 2015! 

Susan

 

Comments

[jana]

I loved The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.... But, alas, it was only ever a library book and then, as I grew up I forgot about it. But that line.....that line brought it back! I will need to see if I can find it one of these days. I loved The Golden book 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It met with quite a fate. It fell between the cracks of the stair in my grandparent's hundred year old house and couldn't be fished out by any means. There it will sit until the house is destroyed by time. I was able to find a copy last year for my son. I felt like I had won the treasure hunt! The Grinch, reminds me of my very first sleepover, in July, when there was a terrible thunderstorm. My friends mom read two frightened little girls Christmas stories until the storm was over. Now that I am a mom, I wonder what my son will rememberas cherished holiday favorites. Only time will tell!

[Susan]

Hi Jana - oh poor Little Golden Book! Someday someone in that house will have a wonderful surprise. And what a wonderful story about the Grinch - a great distraction in a July thunderstorm. ;) I loved Christmas stories, the ones I read as a kid, and the ones I discovered through my own kids. And we read them all year. Not a week went by (for years!) without reading a Christmas book along with the other favorites.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Susan--

I'm feeling deprived! I received books for Christmas (in particular I remember a highly sanitized kid's version of the Arthurian tales, which I adored), but of Christmas children's books, I recall none. Does it count that as an adult, I love reading and writing Christas stories? They must have happy endings, of course!

[Susan]

Seems like every Christmas story has a happy ending - at least the ones I've read, the classics and the kids books. We know that Christmas romances have happy endings! :) I think Christmas stories must be part of a very specialized sub-genre - HEA ending, whether animals, people or Grinches, required!

[Janice]

I don't remember anybody ever giving me Christmas books for Christmas, but I did receive books, and I still have some of them - CW Anderson's A Touch of Greatness; Smoky by Will James; Black Beauty; the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley; Marguerite Henry's horse stories; and many Oz books. My favorite Christmas story ever is Dickens' Christmas Carol, but there are some very pleasing Christmas romances out there that I love as well -- A Christmas Promise (Mary Balogh), Miss Davenport's Christmas (Marion Chesney), "The Hounds of Heaven" by Edith Layton -- so many more :)

[Cate]

The Thirteen Days of Christmas by Jenny Overton. I adore this book, and it's lovely,lovely illustrations by Shirley Hughes. It's the story of how Pru, James & Christopher Kitson manage to get their bossy(but uber romantic) elder sister Annaple (Ann) down the aisle with the fantastic ... but extravagant (he can't help it, he's a merchant,and used to buying in bulk !) Francis.
It's set in a time that vaguely Restoration, and is punctuated by fabulous traditional carols from the Oxford Book of Carols, and it's frame work is The Twelve Days of Christmas.
I read it as a little girl, and it made such an impression on me, that it's the first book I ever sourced & ordered from a bookshop. It's now available in Kindle form, and all I can say is ..buy it, read it, and I defy you not lot love it. It's an utter delight !
Nadolig Llawen (Merry Christmas).... And I wish you all a peaceful & prosperous 2015 .

[Anne Gracie]

My all-time favorite Christmas book is one that my mother owned — the Good Little Christmas Tree, by Ursula Moray Williams. It's a beautiful story, but as well for me the fascination and delight came from the scissor cut illustrations done by the author herself — in bright colors, there was something middle european and magical about them. I especially loved the wolves. The book is still in publication, but not with those marvelous scissor cuts, which I think is such a shame.
I blogged about it here a couple of years ago. http://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2010/12/favorite-christmas-stories.html

[Shannon]

I remember the Little Golden Books. We heard the Grinch over and over. But we also liked the poem the Night Before Christmas. When Mom moved from the homestead, she gave all the children's book to our neighbors' great grandkids so I won't have the joy of remembering all those books. I hope you cherish every moment remembering. Happy holidays to all.

[Susan]

Books for Christmas, yes! It just isn't Christmas without beautiful new books under the tree. Christmas stories add another wonderful layer to the holiday - especially Christmas romances: another blog in itself! I love your choices, Janice.

[Susan]

Oh yes, I remember reading that book years ago! What a touching, adorable story. I'd forgotten about it, thanks for the reminder, Cate. A perfect Christmas story. :)

[Susan]

Good Little Christmas Tree - what a gorgeous Christmas book, Anne! I don't remember my kids reading that one, but they would have loved it. And thanks for the reminder of your Christmas book blog - while the list for this topic is endless, the classics remain the same!

[Susan]

If the Christmas books have gone on to others to be shared, what a great excuse to build a new Christmas book library for yourself!
I've pretty much appropriated my kids' Christmas collection for my own ;) ... until there are grandchildren old enough to read them. :)

[nancy]

I don't have any Christmas story books such as you mention. I do have a collection of romance novels written for Christmas.
My favorite thing every year, though, is to watch the movie of the animated How the Grinch stole Christmas and a version of Christmas Carol. I don't watch much TV and seldom, watch the movies I have. I have How the Grinch Stole Christmas-- with the green Grinch in VHS and DVD. IT is probably my all time favorite.
I read some of the stories mentioned when my kids were small but we moved too many times to carry seasonal books with us.

[Susan]

Hi Nancy, I love the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas - it's one of my all-time favorite Christmas films too! We don't have the DVD, so I'm hoping to catch it on TV soon. That and A Christmas Story, which my kids have watched hundreds of times. Literally. Just the best!

[Jenny]

I have the JRR Tolkien Father Christmas letters, aren't they wonderful? My other go to book at this time of the year is an Elizabeth Goudge Christmas anthology, which I dip into for a little peace and tranquility.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas.