Best Christmas book to Read

[traciegolden]

I love the Gift of the Magi because it is just so sweet and real and true I think that if everyone read this book they would think of life in a whole different light at least I hope so. I also love A Christmas Carol because it is written by Charles Dickens who I love. It is a Victorian novel set in the 1900's in London, England about a man who does not like Christmas and he is visited by three spirits that show him what Christmas was like and will be like for him. I have read this book 3 times each time in December it is actually a ghost story. it is a wonderful book if you like Victorian writers and that time period of literature you would like this book. I loved this story the first time I read it Charles Dickens is really a artist with words.

[moderntimes]

Er, tracie.... Gift of the Magi is a short story, not a book (novel). Also, the Victorian era was the 19th century, not the 1900s (as with WW-I). A Christmas Carol was written about 1840 I think. And I kinda think that most people know the story already, it likely being the most known novella ever written. But thanks for your recommendation. I've read A Christmas Carol numerous times and still love it.

Not a lot of people know, but Christmas wasn't always celebrated with parties and outgoing cheer. It was a very solemn time, and all the "excitement" had been drained from the celebration (at least in England) during Cromwell and the puritan influences.

Dickens' story set a tone for happiness and celebration of Christmas that was not yet common. It was instrumental in creating the outgoing celebratory mood that we now know.

Another "revival" of Christmas as a celebratory and festive time came during the early 1920s in the USA. A group of Christian businessmen (most of them Episcopalians) decided to put some outgoing celebration into the season, and they based much of their energies upon how Dickens portrayed the parties and happiness in his Christmas Carol as the template. Of course the businessmen made money on this, but they also re-introduced a celebratory mood into American customs, too.

[Himmelslicht]

I'm reading a Christmas Carol but I can't get in the mood because I hate Christmas (kind of a childhood trauma).

Yeah, nothing will make me like Christmas. Ever.

[moderntimes]

Sorry that your antagonism for Christmas is so strong. I am myself often irritated by the over-commercialism of the holiday and I just switch it off. But myself, being a Christian, focus on the religious aspects and that makes it all fine.

Regardless of any religious tones, you might better relate to the season if you were to focus on friends and family (the good ones of both groups) and enjoy the parties and secular celebrations. And of course the food.

[Himmelslicht]

I've celebrated Christmas while being Christian (not anymore but that's not the point). The problem is: none of my family is together. I have family in Portugal, Spain, Brazil, and god knows where else. We're all separated to the point we barely speak to each other (still have a strong connection to our family in Portugal).
I got separated from my parents at a really young age. Since then Christmas lost all its meaning to me. It's just another day in the calendar. Every year in Christmas there's always something that ruins it because something happens in the family (either a divorce or someone who passed away the same year).
We're not very Christmas-y. But at the same time I'm not annoyed by it.

[moderntimes]

Note that I did avoid the "Bah! Humbug!" rejoinder. ha ha

-- 15 Dec 2014, 13:48 --

Well, at my age, my family are mostly all gone, although I have nephew and his wife, and two stepsons, but that's about it. I myself didn't have very good interaction with my aunts, uncles, and cousins when growing up, so I tended to avoid family gatherings soon as I was "of age" to opt out.

My religious connection is strong via my love of music. I've always had a good voice, learned to read music and sing (in church choirs) as a kid -- my upbringing was "high-church" Anglican so I had Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Handel, etc. Later I sang semi-pro as a classically trained operatic baritone, so I've been involved in numerous Christmas and Easter concert performances.

For me, although I enjoy a somewhat selective set of good friends (my girlfriend and I share a home) and we get out socially a fair amount, my central focus during Christmas is religious. I could go to Christmas Eve Mass and I would be just as satisfied if there were nobody else in the congregation. And yes I do have friends at my church but it's the liturgy that brings me there, not the socializing.

Anyway, when growing up, I never got along with my secondary family (aunts, uncles, cousins) -- we simply had nothing in common. So as soon as I was old enough, I backed out of the family gatherings and just mailed a card to them.

Bottom line, for me, I never let the socializing and parties or family pressures get in the way of the religious aspects of the season. I was congenial to my family but that fact that we traveled in different spheres kept us separate. When I was in the church, all the commercialism and goofy pressures of the season disappeared.

But I can understand how some people feel, too.

[suzy1124]

I love the Gift of the Magi because it is just so sweet and real and true I think that if everyone read this book they would think of life in a whole different light at least I hope so. I also love A Christmas Carol because it is written by Charles Dickens who I love. It is a Victorian novel set in the 1900's in London, England about a man who does not like Christmas and he is visited by three spirits that show him what Christmas was like and will be like for him. I have read this book 3 times each time in December it is actually a ghost story. it is a wonderful book if you like Victorian writers and that time period of literature you would like this book. I loved this story the first time I read it Charles Dickens is really a artist with words.

Wonderful post Tracie!...very HEARTFELT!...........I see that you're a NEWBIE, welcome aboard!

[moderntimes]

I love the Gift of the Magi because it is just so sweet and real and true I think that if everyone read this book they would think of life in a whole different light at least I hope so. I also love A Christmas Carol because it is written by Charles Dickens who I love. It is a Victorian novel set in the 1900's in London, England about a man who does not like Christmas and he is visited by three spirits that show him what Christmas was like and will be like for him. I have read this book 3 times each time in December it is actually a ghost story. it is a wonderful book if you like Victorian writers and that time period of literature you would like this book. I loved this story the first time I read it Charles Dickens is really a artist with words.

Wonderful post Tracie!...very HEARTFELT!...........I see that you're a NEWBIE, welcome aboard!

Yeah, I guess I was a bit harsh with tracie because she mistakenly thought that Christmas Carol was set in the 20th century.

Welcome to the forum!

-- 16 Dec 2014, 21:06 --

Regarding A Christmas Carol, Wednesday Dec 17, on TBS (American cable channel), is the superb Patrick Stewart version, the made-for TV version of his 1-man theater production. I think that regardless of the great British 1950s version w. Alstair Sims, the Stewart version is the best. I highly recommend it.

[Spontaneo]

Mine is a little different...

The Christmas Survival Book, by Alice Slaikeu Lawhead.

A totally cute book!

[GPM]

Could never beat 'The Gift of the Magi in my estimation, although there are other good ones.

Came here to see some suggestions, saw this title. I already read it. It was a touching Christmas story for all.

[Mary Garrison]

The Christmas Shoes

[Felloh]

I like The Popular Express.... Amazing