Is your holiday spirit lagging? Stressed out by decorating, buying gifts or creating the perfect Christmas menu? Bookaholic is here to recommend family reads to give you a bit of calm and beauty.

Here are my recommendations for great holiday reads

1. A Family Christmas by Caroline Kennedy. "When I began assembling [this] collection, I was skeptical that I would learn anything new about Christmas, but reading and reflecting on the history and spirit of Christmas brought back many memories, and taught me a great deal. . . . The literature of Christmas ranges from the miraculous to the tragic, the profound to the ridiculous, but always represents the connection to something larger than ourselves" said Caroline Kennedy. The book contains #Christmas #poetry, prose, scriptural readings, and #lyrics that feature authors as diverse as Harper Lee, Nikki Giovanni, Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Collins, John and Yoko, and Charles Dickens. I purchased this book when my sons were children. I bought it for them to develop the love of Christmas and it worked.

2. American Christmas Stories edited by Connie Willis. Acclaimed author, Connie Willis presents an unparalleled collection of American stories about Christmas. Spanning from the origins of the American tradition of holiday storytelling in the wake of the Civil War to today. From ghost stories to the genres of crime, science fiction, fantasy, westerns, humor, and horror, stories of Christmas morning, gifts, wise men, nativities, family, commercialism, and dinners from New York to Texas to outer space, this anthology reveals the evolution of Christmas in America--as well as the surprising ways in which it has remained the same. (Bookshop.org)

3. A Vintage Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems

4. A Timeless Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems

5. A Classic Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems

• Books 3, 4 and 5 are closely related as you can see by the titles. I purchased A Timeless Christmas, last year and read the most beautiful origin story of Santa Claus that I have ever read. It was written by Frank L. Baum of The Wizard of Oz fame. I never even HEARD of this version. This story transported me to my childhood in pure fantasy. These books feature stories from the Christmas writing gods and godesses including Louise May Alcott, Charles Dickens and O. Henry. These are must purchases to add to your book collection.

Order these books today and start a family tradition of the love of Christmas.