Reading With the Seasons: Christmas Edition

When it comes to Christmas books, I like cheese with more cheese on top. In other words, sappy, heartwarming, and ridiculously sweet. I don't know what comes over me. Through the other eleven months of the year, I look down my nose at such writing, and in December, it is almost as if I embrace it. Bring on Richard Paul Evans! (You think I'm joking. I'm not.)

What's more, one good, ol' tear-jerking story is not enough. I read book after book through the entire month of December. Don't believe me? Here's what I read last year:

Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans (See? I told you.)
The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck (Yes, I really did.)
How Will Christmas Find Us? a collection of short stories by various authors
The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens (my only redemption of the month)
Santa Maybe by Aubrey Mace (I not only liked this book, I loved it so much I took it home to Colorado with me and made my mom and my sister read it, too. And I really would like to read it again this year.)

Some of you may want to wait until January to check this blog again. But if there is anyone else like me (please tell me who you are!), then here's what I have planned for the month:

Lost December by Richard Paul Evans (I didn't get to it last year, but now it's already loaded onto my iPod ready for me to start anytime.)
The Christmas Train by David Baldacci (I've had my eye on this one for a couple of years. I've never read anything by Baldacci, but I'm going to try it this year. It may be one of those that I only read the first few pages of.)
A Dog Named Christmas by Greg Kincaid (I don't like dogs, but last year my family had me watch the Hallmark adaptation of this, and I have to admit, I really liked it. So this year, the book.)
Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett (I love A Christmas Carol, so it's only natural that I'd want to try this prequel...or is it natural? I get the feeling I'm not quite normal with my book taste in December.)
The Mansion by Henry van Dyke (Ever since President Monson mentioned this a couple of Christmases ago as one that he always reads, I have wanted to read it. But it is a hard one to get your hands on in December--especially in Utah.)

And that is how I'll be spending these next few weeks. I can't wait. These kinds of books are one of the things I look forward to the most come Christmastime. I save them up all year, and then just go for it. It is a little bit embarrassing to admit, but I am not ashamed of it. I like feeling happy and excited and Christmas-y.

There is one more book that I'm looking forward to. I didn't list it with the others because it's different, but I think it might invite the spirit of Christmas better and faster than any of those other, perhaps gushy, titles. And that is The God Who Weeps by Terry and Fiona Givens. Christmas is nothing to me without focusing on the Savior. I really mean that. And so what better way to celebrate the season than by improving my relationship with Him?

Surely I'm not the only one out there who loves Christmas books! Please say I'm not! And please share what's on your agenda for the month (or what you've read in the past). As before, I'll compile all suggestions into one master list at the end of the month!