I’ve been struggling with the holiday spirit this year. I mean, I’m no elf, but I like the holidays (hate the shopping, but that’s not really the holidays anyway). But this year I’m just not feeling it. First, we didn’t get a tree for a variety of reasons (including, but not limited to, a sick husband, planned holiday travels, and the logistical nightmare of an almost 1.5 year old toddler and ornaments), so there isn’t much around the house that’s festive.

Plus, I have to work and try to get ready to leave my clients/cases for 2 weeks, I have to study (let’s not even get into how insane I am for taking a tax class with the rest of my life), I have to pack for our trip, and even more fun stuff that I won’t bore you with (too late!).

My usual options of drinking hot cocoa and streaming holiday movies till I want to barf is also not going to work this year (see above reasons for lack of time). So I was left being a grinch, until I remembered that holiday themed romances are a thing. Like, a genre unto itself. I may need to indulge in a few minutes here and there of holiday romance reading (perhaps sneaking my kindle into the bathroom wtih me for a few blissful minutes of independent reading time… I can see it now… *knock, knock* uh, hun, you’ve been in the bathroom for 2 hours. Everything ok?)

But it started me thinking about holiday books. Do you have holiday book traditions in the same way I religiously watch Love Actually every year? If so, what books can I not live without reading (doesn’t have to be romance – or even full novels).

What is it about those books that keeps you coming back year after year? Are they blatently holiday themed (smack you upside the head with a christmas tree or menorah?) or are they more subtle, more in the spirit of the holiday and less in the obvious holiday mode?

Basically, what can I do to get my mojo back, in ways that don’t take much effort/energy/time?