In a month that is crammed full of tradition from start to finish, one of my favorite traditions is my own personal practice of reading Christmas books every evening – ideally by the light of a Christmas tree. I don’t have the tree yet (getting it tomorrow, I think!) but I’m already deep into the twinkly reading. I never manage to make it through my entire Christmas shelf in a single holiday season, but I sure do have fun trying. Here’s what’s on my Christmas 2020 reading agenda:

• The Folio Book of Christmas Crime Stories, by various authors. I’ve already started this one! It’s a fun collection of short stories from the golden age of crime, featuring Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and other famous names – as well as a few new-to-me authors.
• Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year, by Laurie Lee. I wanted to read this one last year, but couldn’t find it. When it turned up during unpacking from our recent move, I made sure to secure it safely on the Christmas shelf.
• Winter Solstice, by Rosamund Pilcher. Another one I wanted to read last year – in the case of Winter Solstice, I just didn’t get around to it. This year!
• Round the Christmas Fire, by various authors. Another one that was missing, and turned up in the move. Who can resist a volume of Christmas stories from Charles Dickens, Nancy Mitford, and everyone in between?
• Christmas Crackers, Volume I, by John Julius Norwich – Last year, I read Norwich’s hilarious The Twelve Days of Christmas (and I’ll probably re-read it this year; it takes about 20 minutes and is an absolute riot). But I’ve also been wanting to dive into Norwich’s commonplace books, which he called Christmas Crackers. There are literally decades of them, but I’m planning to tackle the 1970s this year.
• A Country Doctor’s Commonplace Book, by Philip Rhys Evans, and An Englishman’s Commonplace Book, by Roger Hudson – More commonplace books! Country Doctor has been a Christmas Day tradition of mine since Slightly Foxed published it two years ago, and Englishman is a new addition to the library this year. I’m eagerly anticipating both!
• Christmas at Thompson Hall, and Other Stories, by Anthony Trollope – Yet another one that was missing, and turned up in the move. I love Trollope and have been carefully rationing his novels; this will tide me over until I get around to the next installment in the Chronicles of Barchester.
• The Twelve Birds of Christmas, by Stephen Moss – Unpictured, because it’s not here yet – my copy is winging its way (see what I did there?) to me from England as I write this. I loved Moss’s book about English bird names, Mrs. Moreau’s Warbler, and I’ve had my eye on his bird “biographies” for many months now, so I’m excited to read this when it arrives.
• Silent Nights: Christmas Stories, edited by Martin Edwards – There’s nothing like a little murder at Christmas, am I right? The British Library Crime Classics series includes several entries set at and around Christmas, and this collection of golden age crime stories looks great.
• Crimson Snow: Christmas Stories, edited by Martin Edwards – Another volume of stories from the British Library Crime Classics – I may not get to this; we’ll see.
• Portrait of a Murderer, by Anne Meredith – One more BL Crime Classic! I doubt I’ll make it through all of these, of course, but they’re ready and waiting on the shelf.

Well, this is some list, right?! And this isn’t even my entire Christmas shelf. I think it’s extremely unlikely I’ll make it through all of these (although you never know). What I do know is that it’s looking like a very good month of reading ahead.

What do you like to read to celebrate the holiday season?