Jana So there's a Mitford Christmas book with Father Tim? I gotta find time to download and read that? A lot of good books have been mentioned. Perhaps what impresses me about Christmas literature is a recurring theme of the underdog prevailing, poor more important than earthly wealth, values triumphing over possessions, and similar themes. Out of whack priorities are replaced by substance, and a sense of right replaces pompousness. We see this in all sorts of titles from the classic Christmas Carol to even in Rudolf the Red-Nosed Rheindeer where the much laughed and scorned animal becomes the prized lead team member on the sleigh. It is too bad that we cannot maintain that same theme in our lives the remaining 49-50 weeks of the year where seemingly earthly messages dominate the biblical one. Perhaps the message in these books, some straightforward and other subliminal, can become internalized in how we treat each other,, choose what we choose, and all the rest from Dec 26 on. While I don't recall in which of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books it is described, there is a sobering picture of Christmas in one of them. The treat of eating an orange, simple homemade gifts, no 4-figure costing gifts, et al.