Do you have a fantasy idea of the perfect Christmas? Do you create it for yourself every year? Or do you simply dream about it, but never make it happen?

My favorite childhood Christmases involved a lot of family, a tree we all decorated, and presents that were carefully wrapped and piled under the tree. When I grew up, and tried to recreate a similar Christmas for my own family, I quickly realized how time-consuming it was. I hear the same from other people — so much work goes into that fantasy Christmas that doing it once a year seems like more than enough.

And yet…that Christmas magic can be a pick me up in difficult times, which happen all through the year.

Which is where Christmas books (and movies, of course) can help. What kind of Christmas magic do you feel like experiencing (without doing all the work)? An old-fashioned oranges and nuts in the stocking Victorian Christmas? A Christmas fantasy getaway to a tropical island? A cruise? For someone else to do all the work to give you your perfect Christmas? A Christmas where miracles happen? Where old grievances are resolved?

I’m collecting these books here on the Christmas page of my website for you to find whenever you need a touch of Christmas magic (full disclosure, I may earn a little from your click, through the use of affiliate links that are invisible to you.

I’ll start you off with a recommendation, which I’m calling a Jim and Kelly Quick Pick — we both read this book, and loved it. Considering that it was a Christmas book from John Grisham, the thriller author, with nary a murder to be investigated, we *had* to read it. Are you curious now? Click on the cover to check it out on Amazon.

And feel free to drop a Christmas book recommendation in the comments below and we’ll add it to our collection of Christmas reads for any time you need a little bit of Christmas magic.