Favorite Christmas Books

There are certain books that I could read over and over again during this time of the year.  I think now there is so much overly PC supervision of Christmas in schools (probably rightfully so), but I fondly remember library time and reading classes when we used to read stories about Christmas.  I'm sharing my top five books from when I was little that resonate with the spirit of Christmas.

1. Silver Spurs: This is the story of an elf that was Santa's helper and helped get presents into the homes of those who didn't have chimneys or fireplaces.  Since we lived in a two bedroom apartment in Georgia when I was in elementary school, we definitely didn't have a fireplace and I loved knowing that this elf was helping Santa get me my presents on time.

2.  The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: Loved this book and how rude and misbehaved the children were in the book (I secretly probably wanted to act out, but was too polite to do so).  I am pretty sure that I still have a copy of this book that we ordered from Weekly Reader somewhere in our house.

 3.  The Birds' Christmas Carol:  A bittersweet story of Christmas and what it means to give selflessly.  Despite the sad ending, I still very fondly remember this book and liked how the heroine was so young but altruistic beyond her years.  My fourth grade class performed a play based on this story and I still remember being the narrator (I was a darned good narrator, for a nine year old!). 

 4.  The Little House on the Prairie Books:  I adore the old-fashioned descriptions of Christmas of days gone by in two of the books in this series, Little House in the Big Woods and On the Banks of Plum Creek.  In the first book, there is something quaint and heartwarming about the simple preparations for Christmas (like sewing clothes for a rag doll) and kids being excited to get a stick of candy, a penny and tin cup.  In the latter book, I always wanted to be like Laura and get a fur muff for Christmas. Never mind that we lived in Georgia and it snows about once every eight years.  Fashion transcends weather.

5. The Gift of the Magi: This is that classic O. Henry short story that everyone reads in 7th grade to teach you about irony.  It's funny how you read something completely differently as an adult compared to as a teenager.  Now I appreciate so much more sacrificial giving from a spouse.  Great, classic story.

Any favorite stories?