Christmas Reading: What's on Your List?

Readers are a sentimental lot who re-read when appropriate. I'm not a frequent re-reader, but I do have a few favorites I pull out at about this time of year. I also throw a few new ones into the mix every year, and sometimes they join the usual holiday suspects the next year.

First, my husband David and I re-read A Christmas Carol. We have a lovely reprint of the original, complete with drawings, that we read aloud (hopefully before Christmas Day). It was so important to us that we — okay, I — bought a second copy before the library was set up in our current home. If you've never read it, please pick it up today and read a few pages aloud. It's how Charles Dickens intended it to be experienced, and it sounds glorious.

Another favorite is Connie Willis' Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, which has an excellent mix of classic sci-fi and mystery — with a couple of surprises.

A new read I plan to pick up this season is Holidays on Ice. I want to see how David Sedaris views Christmas.

Enhance your joy of the season with The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore. It will quickly become a holiday favorite. Imagine angels, death, confused boys, a former movie queen a la Xena, Warrior Princess and a dog experiencing Christmas in Pine Cove. Honestly, it's a hoot.

Consider a few other Christmas classics, like The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which I picked up from the library for this very reason. 

Remember, books don't have to be long to be good: consider A Visit from St. Nicholas — known best by its first line, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," which I read to my nieces and nephews when we were together for Christmas.  

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a great tale to share with folks of all ages. (Please don't mention the live-action movie. Ever.)  

The Polar Express and A Child's Christmas in Wales also are great options.

There's Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory, a poignant memory that will stay with readers for long after the story ends.  

Skipping Christmas and Visions of Sugar Plums will transport you to unique ideas of the holidays and what the season really may mean. 

Learn more about Kris Kringle in The Autobiography of Santa Claus and take a trip back to another time.

Stop by your local library and let your librarian guide you through other interesting options. There's a lot of material out there about a fascinating, emotion-filled holiday.

What are you reading this season?

An Inflated, Meaningless War

'Tis the season to lament that not everyone holds the same things dear during said season. 

You read that right: not a lick of "jolly" anywhere in the sentence.  Every year, I'm surprised that people  put their "peace on earth, goodwill to men" on the back burner to complain that people aren't saluting a holiday the way they "should."

There is no "war" on any holiday. There's just a difference of opinion, and the last time I checked, that was not only legal, but certainly possible in this mixed salad of a world in which we live.  And in this season of goodwill, perhaps allowing people to "live and let live" would serve as a good example of the courtesy we ourselves wish to be extended to us.

For those who want to "keep the 'Christ' in Christmas," knock yourselves out.  I'm thrilled, and I support you. Go to church and ramp up your Nativity to include an extra ass (so the kids can giggle when they say it). Wish everyone a "Merry Christmas."  Sing the Christmas carols that are ripe with meaning for you.  Make it as spiritual an experience as you wish.

For those who want it secular, I'm thrilled, and I support you. Whip out the candy canes and Santa Claus costume, deck the halls with boughs of holly, hang the stocking by the chimney with care.  Wish everyone a "Happy Holiday" or "Merry Christmas," depending on your mood, or audience, or time of day.  Sing the Christmas carols that are ripe with meaning for you.

For those who don't like to celebrate the season, don't.  I'm thrilled, and I support you.  No stockings, no tree, no Nativity scene, no Midnight Mass, no candy cane-shaped cookies.  Do not wish anyone a happy anything any more than you would any other time of the year.  Skip singing the Christmas carols, but if you have the ability to hear, don't expect to avoid them any time after Halloween.

Now, here is a great suggestion to keep the tension down during the holidays: just let it go.  Put your energy into your own celebration.  Christmas is as much a cultural touchstone as it is a holiday for the population at large.

When someone wishes you a "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holiday," you have a few choices:

a) respond in kind;
b) respond with your preferred phrase (if different from the original greeting);
c) say, "Thank you." 

Note: "bite off the other person's head" or "snap back peevishly with the phrase you prefer" are not listed because in that way lies rudeness, and that is certainly not in tune with the season.

That exchange is a form of polite chit-chat, not a declaration of faith (or lack thereof).  It's like the old joke, "When asked how you are, don't talk about your indigestion — 'How are you' is a statement, not a question."  Neither is a holiday exchange.

There's no either-wing conspiracy to cheat you out of your preferences, nor does anyone wish to be divisive.  It's like eggnog: whether you drink it with brandy, ice cubes or skip it entirely, make your choice and let your fellow nogger make her or his choice in kind. 'Tis the season.

Christmas Reads: Check Out A Few Suggestions Here

Everyone has their favorite Christmas stories.  Many of us have migrated from the page to the screen, taking in our stories through video.  Just remember: many of them started out as stories themselves.

In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash was written by Jean Shepherd, known world-wide for creating Ralphie Parker and his love of Ol' Blue.  The stories take place during the Great Depression, and many of the stories take place outside the Christmas season.  However, with the rich language Shepherd uses to amuse and illustrate the movie, how can someone resist such a read?

Take a walk through a different landscape with science fiction writer Connie Willis in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories.  I just met the author during her East Coast book-signing stop in Maryland, and had I realized I would fall in love with this book a week later, I'd have discovered it earlier. This collection pays tribute to other stories that already had shaped the season, but allow us to fit in a few more favorites.  The title story is a delight, and her story regarding a young couple who get lost on Christmas Eve re-introduced the wonder of the season yet again.

If you haven't yet read A Christmas Carol, stop what you're doing and purchase a copy now.  No matter how many actors you might have seen putting this story on stage and film, nothing quite beats the original.  (Plus, you will want to read it again and again, hence the suggestion to have your own copy on hand.)  Charles Dickens got straight to the heart of "Christmas" being synonymous with "love" in this archetypal book that has to be read to be appreciated.

Bring poetry into the season with one of the most famous Christmas poems of all time: "A Visit from St. Nicholas," also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clark Moore.  You can find a copy of it here at The Academy of American Poets.

Another traditional favorite is a short story written by O. Henry: "The Gift of the Magi."  A newlywed couple wants to give each other their hearts' desire: Jim wants to give his wife a set of combs for her beautiful long hair, and Della wants to give her husband a fob for his heirloom pocket watch. What they do to try to achieve these goals defines their love for each other.  Read this touching classic here.

For those with a more irreverent look at Christmas, consider Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror.  Pine Cove, Calif. is awash in Christmas spirit —kind of.  Lena is mad at Dale, who skips the Salvation Army kettle and doesn't want her digging up his Monterrey pines, even for the poor.  After what happens, "It was an accident" doesn't quite cover the misdeed. Enter a stranger or two, a Micronesian fruit bat and a little ganja, and the mayhem ensues.  Just beware: it's not meant for the young or easily offended.

Edward Gorey also wrote a snappy little tale, fully illustrated, titled The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas.  Again, one would have to be in the humor for it, but after days and days of Christmas cheer, one can lean toward the morbid and bizarre for a little relief.  Plus, the story involves stale fruitcake.  What's not to like?

What are you going to read this holiday season? Tell me!