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Favorite holiday read?


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I have been thinking about posting something along the same lines. I buy my girls a new Christmas book every year to add to our collection (which is put away until Christmas time so we won't read them all year long), so I've been thinking about what to purchase this year. Last year I got a Jan Brett collection which I really like. I think I'd like something about the real Saint Nicholas--does anyone have a recommendation?

 

:lurk5:

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The Christmas Letters. I got this off the bargain table several years ago at our local Christian bookstore. They are based on letters written during WW 2 around Christmas time.

 

I'm trying to find this at Amazon but there are a lot of different books with that name. Can you tell me the author?

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We love to read The Lion in the Box (d'Angeli) every year. I believe it's OOP now, but it's *so* worth finding (and inexpensive used copies are still readily available). My only problem is my tendency to sob through the last chapter or two. ;)

 

And we love The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. So sweet. And so hilariously funny! :D

 

Each year we read through The Jesse Tree each day during Advent.

 

We usually read The Night of Las Posadas.

 

Also Too Many Tamales. (This one doesn't have religious content, but it's a sweet story of a child who makes a mistake and deals with the consequences with the love of her family -- to the backdrop of a Christmas celebration.)

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Anne of Green Gables.

Stuart McLean's stories from the Vinyl Cafe - Dave Cooks the Turkey, Morley's Christmas Pageant, Polly Anderson's Christmas, Dave on the Roof. We have some in book form & also have the CD's of Stuart reading those live. They are all so excellent. (& avail for download online)

CBC's presentation of Dickens' Christmas Carol http://www.cbcshop.ca/CBC/shopping/product.aspx?Product_ID=ERART00010&Variant_ID=1495&lang=en-CA

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My favorite is a little off-beat, and I like it for an odd reason, too.

 

It's The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey.

 

I was Christmas shopping a couple of years ago when I saw it on a table at Barnes and Noble. I immediately though that it would be the perfect gift for my brother that year, that he would LOVE it.

It only took me a fraction of a second to remember that we'd lost him years ago, but I bought it anyway, and I read it every year and enjoy it almost as much as he would have.

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The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and The Nutcracker (original story that the ballet was based on). If you've never read the Nutcracker you may be pleasantly surprised by all that's missing in the ballet!

 

And The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughren.

 

A picture book that we like: Santa Calls by William Joyce

 

New for this year is Tomie dePaola's Christmas Remembered.

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My favorite is a little off-beat, and I like it for an odd reason, too.

 

It's The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey.

 

I was Christmas shopping a couple of years ago when I saw it on a table at Barnes and Noble. I immediately though that it would be the perfect gift for my brother that year, that he would LOVE it.

It only took me a fraction of a second to remember that we'd lost him years ago, but I bought it anyway, and I read it every year and enjoy it almost as much as he would have.

 

I'm sorry about your brother, Crissy. I love when there are things like this, though, that can help us remember our loved ones. I am going to have to look up that book - that sounds like something I could read and impress my dh with. (It's his kind of "stuff" but he doesn't read!)

 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and The Nutcracker (original story that the ballet was based on). If you've never read the Nutcracker you may be pleasantly surprised by all that's missing in the ballet!

 

No, I've never read the Nutcracker and I've also never read A Christmas Carol!!!! I have a lot to catch up on!

 

Thank you all for the suggestions! I am so excited for it to get cooler here and curl up in sweats with a good book. :) (Right now I have to settle for having the a/c on and pretending it's cold when it's just under 100 degrees.)

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I've recommended it every year now, but I don't think anyone has taken me up on the recommendation. My absolute favorite Christmas book is Maggie Rose: Her Birthday Christmas by Ruth Sawyer (illustrated by Maurice Sendack). It is a priceless story of a 9 year old girl from the wrong side of the tracks with more spunk than you can imagine. She gets it into her head to give a big Christmas party for all her neighbors, a huge task considering her family is always on the receiving end of things. Love, love, love this book!

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Every year I read aloud the chapter called Dulce Domum from The Wind in the Willows. We also read many of the others mentioned here.

 

And if you ever find an OOP book from the 50s called Whirligig House by Anna Rose Wright (or sometimes she was published under the last name Anna Parrott Rose, I think), read that! It's hard to find. But we love Whirligig House.

Edited by Nicole M
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The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

 

I agree with abbeyej, this is hilarious. This year, (after intending to read it last year) we will read 101 Dalmations which we have heard great things about on this board.And we always read (and watch) A Charlie Brown Christmas. (A tradition).

One of my favorite Christmas books is Tasha Tudor's Take Joy. It contains stories, drawings, music, and recipies.

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I regret to say that I never thought about reading anything special at Christmas. ::hangs head in shame::

 

But if I had it to do over, I'd read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Another good one is 101 Dalmations--the puppies arrive home on Christmas...Eve? Day?? I forget. Anyway, it's fun to read that one so the last chapter is on Christmas Eve. Or Eay. Whatever.

 

For myself, I enjoyed John Grisham's Skipping Christmas.

 

We have a bunch of Christmas movies that we (well, mostly I, lol) watch; maybe that makes up for the lack of reading :-)

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We always read A Christmas Carol.

 

We always read this too.

Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame has a very Christmassy chapter and our two love this book.

This year we will read The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. My mother bought it for the children as an Advent read last year but it arrived a little too late. It is by the author of Sophie's World. It has a story each day for advent.

This is our favourite time of year for poetry, crafts and board games.

Our children loved the story of Papa Panov by Leo Tolstoy when they were young. It has a very pure Christian message for Christmas and it utterly wonderful even for a non-believer.

Edited by Lorna
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We really enjoyed The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I remembered one of my elementary school teachers reading it to us when I was little, and I read it to dd when she was in kindergarten.

 

We love The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey. We first read it two years ago on a recommendation from these boards, and it has become a favorite, especially with my son. We read it several times again last year, and I'm sure it will be enjoyed again this year.

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