What are you reading this Christmas?

I've always liked to do a bit of reading over the Christmas period, I have my old favourites that I read every year, the first being a favourite of many,  'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens. The version I have has been illustrated by Arthur Rackham, (1869-1939) a brilliant artist who done a huge amount of work.

A selection of illustrations from 'A Christmas Carol'

  Another book I read every year, also by Charles Dickens, is 'The Chimes' A Goblin Story of Some Bells That Rang an Old Year Out and a New One in. This story is not so well known and it gets lots of mixed reviews, (I know a couple of people who prefer to listen to it by audio book rather than read it). The story of The Chimes can be a bit long winded but I find that like any book, if I read with lots of inflection and emotion (sometimes even accents) then it is more enjoyable.

'The Chimes' by Charles Dickens. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham

 My third Christmas book that I like to flick through is Penhaligons Treasury of Verse & Prose, (pictured below) it was scented at one time but I've had it so long and it's been thumbed through so many times there is no perfume left. As you can guess from the title it is full of wonderful verse, from the well known carol...

The Holly and the Ivy (sung here by Annie Lennox) to 

In the Bleak Midwinter sung by the Moody Blues

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

                                   Treasury of Verse with a picture of a Victorian Christmas Card                                    

Well that's some of my reading organised,  do you have any Christmas favourites?

I have a few new new bits that I painted this week, I'd like to show you but I need to keep them secret ;) at least for one more week :) but I'm going to link this post to 1st Unique Gifts Blog and go and have a peek at some great makes and great blogs.

Whatever you are doing this Christmas, have fun, be good and stay safe. Best wishes to you all.

Jan x