The day after Thanksgiving, I head down to the closet under the stairs in the basement and pull out my stash of Christmas books. The closet is cramped and painted a lurid green, and it is usually filled with spiderwebs, but I brave it every year because dusting off these familiar stories signifies the start of the holiday season in our family. My son waits eagerly at the top of the stairs and when I finally emerge from the gloom, we curl up under a blanket on the couch and read each one in turn. We read The Grinch, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, Rudolph, and Charlie Brown until my throat is scratchy. Because these books only come out for a month, they still feel fresh and new, even though we know most of them by heart. Every year, I try to find a few new stories to add to the pile, just to keep things interesting. This holiday season, dinosaurs, a groovy black cat, bears, and the U.S. military are joining our favorites. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
