Reading Rituals has been on my ‘to do’ list for years, and it was one of my goals to get started in 2025. An international house move (back to the UK from Vienna) along with a house and garden renovation put my plans on hold, but I’m very eager to get cracking with plans for this page in the new year.

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Because I work as a private tutor, the end of the year has been full of festive reading joy. I’ve read plenty of Children’s Christmas classics with my students and we’ve had so much fun making the books come to life.

But now that I’ve finished work for Christmas celebrations, my thoughts have turned to my own reading list for Christmas. Admittedly, my book pile grown larger and larger - it’s pretty unlikely that I’ll get through them all! However, I wanted to share what’s on my list.

I’ve spent the last few evenings cosied up on the sofa reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women by candlelight. It feels like the perfect choice for the Christmas season and has also inspired us to make orange garlands and paper snowflakes.

But in addition to my first Christmas read of the season, I’ve been enthralled by the A.A Milne biography, Goodbye Christopher Robin by Ann Thwaite. Which has rather reignited the Winnie the Pooh obsession I had growing up. What I hadn’t realised, whilst reading the classic books in my earlier years, was the negative impact the books had on the real Christopher Robin. His childhood fame caused him to be horribly bullied at Stowe School (very close to where I live) which has led me down the path of researching other famous children’s authors and their families. I’m planning to do a blog post on this subject in the new year.

On the Christmas bookshelf

A few days ago, I bought a cute Christmas bookshelf themed card and pin badge in my local library. Both are by an illustrator called Laura Crow - I was rather intrigued by her choices. We have most books on her list, although I must admit that I needed to look up Blue Carbuncle (Sherlock Holmes) and Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Agatha Christie).

New to our Christmas bookshelf is ‘Letters from Father Christmas’ by J.R.R Tolkien. Again, this choice was influenced by watching Tolkien (2019). The film focuses on Tolkien’s early life but right at the end, there is a snapshot into the adventures he had with his four children. Letters from Father Christmas is a rather charming insight into Tolkien as a father. I’m planning to dip into these letters throughout the festive season.

Our Christmas Favourites

Now that my children are growing older, we’ve moved past festive picture books to chapter books. My nine year old daughter and I are currently reading ‘Noel Streatfeild’s Christmas Stories’ whilst my teen son has been reading A Christmas Carol.

I’m eager to know what you would add to the list? I feel like my list is very ‘British’, especially with the inclusion of Peter Pan. For those who don’t live in the UK, Peter Pan is a very classic choice for ‘Pantomime’ season.

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I hope that you all have a wonderful festive season with those that you love. Next week, I will be posting a Festive Book and Movie pairing blog to help you occupy the in-between season.

Siân x