Midwinter Reading

How many times have I promised to read A Christmas Carol each year as December approaches? And how many times have I clutched that little book in my sweaty palms ready to open its pages and start reading those familiar words.....

"Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail."

First edition 1843

And then something happens and I don't read it and it lies unread, unattended to, lying abandoned on the coffee table like last year's tinsel.

I will read it this year I swear, for I can think of no other book that will take me to the station marked "Enthusiasm and exuberance for Christmas" quicker than this.

If you're an avid reader like myself, is there a book that gets you in the Midwinter Christmas mood, if so what is it?

What do you read at Christmas?

And don't say the Bible.....please

 The ghosts of Christmas visit Scrooge, and we all feel Christmas approaching

Is there a finer image of Christmas than this?