There are three books that are long standing Christmas traditions at our house. We don't read them every year, but they do get read at least most years.

The Father Christmas Letters (also known as Letters From Father Christmas) by J.R.R. Tolkien is a collection of letters that Tolkien wrote and illustrated for his children over the years. They are both funny stories and also beautifully drawn, and have become family favorites.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree we read the evening we bring the tree in. It's a story from Appalachia just after WWI ended.

And Madeleine L'Engle's The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas we read on Sunday afternoon, a week's worth of advent at a time.

Do you have a favorite Christmas book? Tell us about it. How did you discover it? Why is it your favorite? I don't really have a favorite Christmas book, I haven't read that many, I do love Christmas short stories that I'ver read several of and am planning to read more. My favorite of them is "A Heavenly Christmas Tree" I first read it in 5th grade Russian Literature and fell in love with it. It's really sad in a way, but at the same time, it's so touching and heart warming. Last year I read A Christmas Carol for the first time and loved it so much. I plan to read it again this Christmas and maybe I'll be able to get the rest of my family to read it all together with me I love reading books aloud

Do you have any traditions at your home regarding Christmas books? no, sadly not, I'm the only person in my family who really goes insane over books, everyone else just reads them from time to time, I wish I could get us all to read a book together, but so far it doesn't really work.

Are there books you read every year around Christmas? I always read 'The Heavenly Christmas Tree' around Christmas time. I love that story so much even if it makes me cry.

Tell us anything and everything you care to about your relationship with Christmas books. As I have said before I have a lot of favorite Christmas short stories that I love reading for Christmas time, not so many full books. I did read this one book called "Mandy and Joe's Christmas Surprise" it was cool, but not something I'd read over and over again.

Of the Christmas short stories, my very favorite are:
-The Heavenly Christmas Tree by F. Dostoievski (I sob every time I read it, but love it just the same)
-Where Love Is, God Is by Leo Tolstoy (it's not actually a Christmas story, but I always read it around Christmas time and it happens during winter, so I associate it with Christmas.)
-Christ Coming to Visit a Man by N. Leskov (very rough translation of the title, I couldn't find an official translation so had to come up with it myself.)

This year my mother bought a book that is a collection of Christmas short stories by different Russian authors of the 19th century, I'm hoping to get my hands on it and read it this Christmas I'll be sure to share what I thought of them

I try to read A Christmas Carol each December. Ironically, I was quite 'old' before I read this for the first time - probably because it's such a part of the popular culture and that TV and movies are full of various versions of it this time of year. And I was surprised to see just how short a story it is, since my previous exposure to Dickens was through longer works such as A Tale of Two Cities.

Dickens' tale is not overtly religious or filled with references to the original Christmas story but still is thought-provoking in terms of how the meaning of the day can make a difference in how we live our lives.

Many years ago, I found this book at the library. I really liked it - but it was in the English section, and didn't exist in Norwegian.

This year, with the 50th anniversary edition, it has finally been published in Norwegian, by the publishers where I've done some translations into Norwegian myself. So now I'm going to have my very own copy

I try to read A Christmas Carol each December. Ironically, I was quite 'old' before I read this for the first time - probably because it's such a part of the popular culture and that TV and movies are full of various versions of it this time of year.

That's my experience as well. I love the story. I'm actually in my current re-read of the book. Going on to the third ghost this week coming up. And I've found a better way to read it too. I got the app for my Kindle Fire, a free app, and it's an interactive book. I love it.

I love Christmas books, but sadly I haven't taken the time to read very many this year.

Do you have a favorite Christmas book? Two of my favorite Christmas books that I read every year are Pony Express Christmas by Sigmund Brouwer and One Shenandoah Winter by Davis Bunn, of the two though OSW is my absolute favorite. When I was little my parents read OSW out loud to my siblings and I, they read it to us at a lot of different places. It's always been a favorite of the whole family.

I'm off to watch a Christmas movie, I will come back and answer the other questions.
SnowAngel