Wrapping Up A Literary Christmas, December 2020

It’s finally here – the last day of 2020. I know a lot of people are really looking forward to today and the year that starts tomorrow, but honestly, I don’t have strong feelings about it. I’m excited to start working on new goals and to see what the year brings, though. But before we can start working on next year’s plans, it’s time to wrap up this month and the Literary Christmas Reading Challenge.

About the Literary Christmas Linkup

The purpose of #ALiteraryChristmas is to share reviews and talk about all the Christmas books we read. Participants shared a list of Christmas books they hoped to read this season, then linked up any posts they wrote about Christmas books (mostly reviews). You can see all of the participating blog posts and reviews through the linkup on Tarissa’s blog here.

Books Completed in December 2020

📚 The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture by Haley Stewart; Nonfiction, Theology(ish) Memoir: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

📚 Angels at the Table (Angels Everywhere #7) by Debbie Macomber; Christmas, Contemporary Clean Romance: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

📚 Faithful in Love (Cliff Walk Cousins #1) by Cecily Wolfe; Historical Clean Christian Romance: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ My Review

📚 Unlocked (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8.5) by Shannon Messenger; Middle Grade/Young Adult Fantasy:

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

📚 Library Wars: Love and War Vol. 3 by Kiiro Yumi; Manga, Young Adult Dystopian Fiction: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐.5

📚 The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs; Nonfiction, Theology (Christmas): ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ My Review

📚 The Christmas Turkey Disaster (Hank the Cowdog #66) by John R. Ericskon; Juvenile Contemporary Fiction: ⭐ ⭐

📚 A Timeless Christmas by Alexis Stanton; Contemporary Fiction – Clean Romance: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

📚 The Christmas Plains by Joseph Bottum; Nonfiction, Memoir:

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Average Rating: 4.1⭐s

Christmas Book Reviews Posted for A Literary Christmas

📚 Yesterday’s Christmas by A.M. Heath ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚 The Bridge by Karen Kingsbury ⭐⭐⭐

📚 The Christmas Cat by Melody Carlson ⭐⭐⭐

📚 The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Books Read but Not Completed in December 2020

📚 A Very Bookish Thanksgiving by Various Authors; Holiday Short Story Collection

📚 Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple; Contemporary Fiction: Travel? Mystery? Humor? 

December Goals Follow-Up

Share reviews for at least 3 Christmas books. Supergoal: 5

• I posted 4! They’re listed above. 

 Participate in the Literary Christmas Reading Challenge. Supergoal: actually read all of the books I list for it! ✔

• I read two of the three books that I listed, as well as two others.

 Participate in The 12 Days of Christmas blogging challenge/party/linkup with Faith. Supergoal: post QUALITY posts all 12 days. ✔

• Maybe it isn’t fair for me to judge the quality of my own posts, but I am happy with all of my posts for this challenge.

Send Christmas cards ✔

 Have all gifts bought and prepared early enough that I don’t stress about them later in the month. ✔

Celebrate my own birthday ✔

• It was a very pleasant, lowkey, celebratory day! I went to church, bought myself a fancy coffee (Iced Sugarplum Macchiato from Dunkin’) on the way to brunch with my parents, watched figure skating on TV, went for a walk at a nearby lake, and then my sister’s family joined us for dinner. 

Stay healthy. ✔

 Work on my/Mom’s 1970s era typewriter. This includes successfully taking it apart, deep cleaning, oiling, reassembling, and possibly other steps that I have forgotten. 

• I got so tied up with gifts and Christmas movies and other things that I didn’t get to this. There are still a few weeks before school starts up again though, so hopefully I will get some work done soon.

Other Highlights from December 2020

❄ Significant snowfall before Christmas! This caused the library to be closed all of one day and open late the next, and I thoroughly enjoyed my snow day.

🎄 I signed up for a month of Frndly TV and watched a ton of Hallmark movies for $8. This month I watched (not all listed are Hallmark movies): The Incredibles 2 (2018) ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Signed, Sealed, and Delivered for Christmas (2014) ⭐⭐⭐.5; Christmas She Wrote (2020) ⭐⭐⭐; Christmas in Grand Valley (2018) ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Christmas at the Plaza (2019) ⭐⭐⭐.5; A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992) ⭐⭐⭐; The Case for Christmas (2011) ⭐⭐⭐ (does not live up to its source material of Miracle on 34th Street); Christmas in Angel Falls (2017) ⭐⭐⭐⭐; A Christmas Wish (1950) ⭐⭐⭐⭐; Christmas in Vienna (2020) ⭐⭐⭐⭐; The Nine Lives of Christmas (2014) ⭐⭐⭐; A Timeless Christmas (2020) ⭐⭐.5 (the book is MUCH better); Angel Falls: A Novel Holiday (2019) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎅 Organized and facilitated a remote Secret Santa gift exchange between a group of my friends spread across five states. We had a virtual opening party complete with party games, music, and fun! Since I was already in on who bought for whom, it was especially fun for me to watch everyone try to figure out who their Secret Santa was.

🎉 Celebrated my birthday with my family by getting a Sugarplum Macchiato from Dunkin, watching figure skating, going for a walk, and eating delicious carb-filled food.

I will make a post about my favorite books from 2020, how I fared on my year-long reading goals, and the goals I am setting for 2021 in the next week or so. Today I wanted to give the month of December its due reflection just like every other month this year, and recap the books I read and reviewed for Tarissa’s Literary Christmas reading challenge.

Did you find any new favorite Christmas books or movies this year?

Until the next chapter,

Jana