Christmastime Reading Recommendations!

​Reading for 
Christmas 

by Sacred Chickens Staff

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​​Merry Christmas Eve! Since it is that time of year, the entire team at Sacred Chickens would like to share with you some books that put us in the holiday mood! Enjoy your eggnog and happy reading!

This Christmas, Julie's reading.......

Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

By Louisa May Alcott

If I’m trying to get into the Christmas spirit, I always find myself slipping backwards into my childhood, and for me that means diving back into old favorites, since I spent a great percentage of my childhood deep inside the pages of books.  For me the spirit of Christmas is wrapped up in two books, Louisa May Alcott’s Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom.  Each of these books has a Christmas scene that has somehow wrapped itself around my brain to form a pattern of what Christmas should look like with stockings in the morning and a dance in the evening.  Of course, no real Christmas could match up to such expectations, but I enjoyed Rose’s Christmas vicariously.
 
There are, as with any books of a certain age, problematic portions of the books where a younger reader would benefit from discussion and knowledge of historical context, but as I reread the books now, I find Alcott’s thought processes even more interesting.  At the time of publication, the book Eight Cousins scandalized many parents because Rose’s Uncle Alec taught her anatomy and forbid her from wearing corsets.  Like Little Women, the two books display Alcott’s unconventional wisdom about how women should behave.  So each time I read the books, I not only get a Christmas feeling, I get to think about how grateful I am that things have changed and I’m not wearing a corset while opening gifts around the tree.

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Morty's Reading.......

Why is this my favorite Christmas book? The themes seem so current. Think about it.  The Grinch steals the Christmas presents from the villagers not because he wants them, but simply because he doesn’t want anyone else to have them.  The cruelty is the point. Then, your Uncle Morty’s favorite theme of all – repentance. The Grinch realizes that he’s being an ass and somehow grows his heart enough to apologize and to give back everything he’s taken.  None of your doubling down.  None of the pretending that someone else made him do it. Just a sudden realization the he was being a jerk and that he should maybe stop and do anything he could to make up for it. Now that’s a fairytale I like to read at Christmastime. 

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Jarad's Reading.....

The Harry Potter Series- ​

Ok, so this isn’t exactly a traditional Christmas novel like A Christmas Carol or something like it, but each of the Harry Potter books has Christmas in it, so it counts. Anyway, for some reason I associate them with Christmas. I don’t need to convince you to read these books, because almost everyone in the world already has. So go read it again! 

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Chilling Adventures if Sabrina- A Midwinter’s Tale- 

So, I know I’ve already recommended this series before, but a special holiday episode came out on the Winter Solstice, and it is definitely worth watching if you are a fan of a spookier Christmas. I may or may not have seen it twice. Or three times. But whose counting? It has evil spirits, witches, abducted children, all accented by pretty holiday decorations, and it’s a must see! 

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