How to get into the Christmas spirit following 10 months of a pandemic threatening nearly every tradition? With Christmas books.

Week 1: The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon

It had never occurred to me that it’s someone’s job to secure the “perfect” tree for Rockefeller Center each year. This is the story of that man, and his redemption as he finds both the tree and patience to wait for it as he befriends a nun who lives at the convent where the tree towers.

Call it sweet, call it charming, but don’t call this story sappy (although, come to think of it, that would make for a good pun). This is worth reading while curled up in front of your own “perfect” tree.

I didn’t even realize this book was on one of our Christmas bookshelves until it caught my attention. Did we buy it years ago and then forget? Maybe it was one of Mom‘s books? Dad wasn’t familiar with it either – but remembered reading a New York Times article about the Rockefeller Center’s chief gardener years ago. This book is now on his stack of “to be read” volumes.

Week 2: Irish Stories for Christmas by John Brendan Keane

I hate to admit it, but most of these stories just didn’t do it for me.

How could this be? This collection is from the author of the story depicted in The Field, a favorite movie of Gary‘s and mine.

Not that The Field was a warm-hearted film, far from it. But still, I expected stories of Christmas magic among the twinkly-eyed Irish, sipping a pint (or a cuppa) and trading clever tales in front of the hearth.

Quirky. That’s how I’d describe most of these stories. A few of them were so much fun, I went back and read them aloud to Gary. The rest, though, didn’t offer charm, wit, or curiosity.

Week 3: A Charlie Brown Christmas by Lee Mendelson

Did you grow up watching this classic on TV each December? Then you’d have to be a blockhead not to read this companion piece!

The show’s producer, Lee Mendelson, put this treasury together after both Charles Schulz and composer Bill Melendez passed away. Mendelson had spent decades working with both; he includes stories about how this holiday tradition was conceptualized and initially received.

There’s no better word than “lush” to describe page after page of stories, photos, sketches, personal memories, and even the show’s script.

If tidbits like “the young actor who played Linus didn’t read yet, so his lines – sometimes one or two words at a time – were read to him in the recording studio” appeal to you, then this book will delight nonstop.

Week 4: A Midnight Carol by Patricia K. Davis

Christmas just isn’t Christmas without a reading (or watching) of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

This fact-based novel provides details from Charles Dickens’ life and hints at how his personal experiences influenced the characters in A Christmas Carol.

A Midnight Carol reminds readers that Dickens “wrote what he knew” as he strove to shed light on the extreme suffering of the poor in Victorian England.

Side note: There are many movie versions to choose from when catching up on Mr. Scrooge. Our family’s favorites are Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol and The Muppet Christmas Carol. The George C. Scott film is mighty good, too.

Well that’s it: 48 books this year. As 2020 comes to a close in just a few hours, my family sends you warm wishes for good health and sublime happiness in 2021.

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