Christmas Bookshelf Challenge – 12 Days of Christmas 2021 Day 8

Lords a leaping – it’s day 8 of 12 Days of Christmas 2021! For today’s post I’m participating in a Christmas book tag which I first saw on Michelle’s blog. It was created by Turn Another Page and looks like a lot of fun.

Find a book with “Christmas” in the title

Christmas with Cocoa by Cleopatra Margot

Robin McKay is determined to save the struggling Animal Shelter and head her hometown’s local Christmas event. but when plans go awry and Nate Ashford, Robin’s former best friend, are factors at play, will her Christmas wish come true?

This book sounds so sweet, and I can’t resist the Golden Retriever on the cover!

Find a book that has a scene set during Christmas.

Where Treetops Glisten: Three Stories of Heartwarming Courage and Christmas Romance During World War II by Tricia Goyer, Cara C. Putman, and Sarah Sundin

Three siblings forging new paths and finding love in three stories, filled with the wonder of Christmas.

Turn back the clock to a different time, listen to Bing Crosby sing of sleigh bells in the snow, as the realities of America’s involvement in the Second World War change the lives of the Turner family in Lafayette, Indiana. The Turner family believes in God’s providence during such a tumultuous time. Can they absorb the miracle of Christ’s birth and God’s plan for a future?

Read in 2019, this is one of my favorite Christmas books. See my review here.

Find a book that has a red and/or green cover

Christmas at the Cat Café by Melissa Daley (Cat Café #2)

The Costwolds’ town of Stourton-on-the-Hill has its very own cat cafe. Resident cat Molly, and her kittens, live here in feline paradise, while owner Debbie serves the locals home-made goodies. But even in the most idyllic surroundings, things don’t always go to plan…

When Debbie’s heartbroken sister Linda arrives at the cafe, Debbie insists she move in. But Linda is not alone, and the cats are devastated with the arrival of Linda’s dog, Beau. Sadly, Beau’s arrival is not the only bombshell – now Molly’s home is also under threat when a rival cat moves in on her turf.

With Christmas approaching, Molly is unsettled, barely roused by the promise of tinsel to play with. Fearing for her feline family she hopelessly stares out of the café window searching for an answer. Only a Christmas miracle could bring everyone together…

I came across this series at work one day, and I have wanted to read them ever since! They sound like so much fun.

Find a book adapted into a film or tv series that’s always on at Christmas

A Timeless Christmas by Alexis Stanton

Megan Turner is in love with the past. As a tour guide at a beautiful historic mansion, she tells visitors about its original owner, Charles Whitley. An inventor and businessman in the early 1900s, he rose from poverty to wealth…only to disappear without a trace.

Charles was always intrigued by the future. He just never expected to go there. But when he repairs a mysterious clock he bought on his travels, he’s transported to the twenty-first century, with his home decorated for Christmas and overrun by strangers.

Charles is determined to find a way back to his own era, especially when he learns about what happened after he left. But as Megan introduces him to the wonders of smartphones, pizza, and modern holiday traditions, they both feel a once-in-a-lifetime connection. Could it be that, somewhere in time, they belong together?

Does it count if the book and movie just came out last year, but I’ve already seen it on again this year? I read A Timeless Christmas last year, but I didn’t end up writing a review. It was fun, but parts fell flat for me, so it’s a solid 3.5 star read. If you’re looking for something generic and Christmasy with a time travel twist, this is a great choice! But if you’re looking for something with complex characters or any semblance of reality, this might be a book to pass over.

Find a book that sends characters on a magical quest

The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork

Clara Stahlbaum has her future perfectly planned: to marry the handsome pianist, Johann Kahler (ah!) and settle down to a life full of music. But all that changes on Christmas Eve, when Clara receives a mysterious and magical nutcracker.

Whisked away to his world—an enchanted empire of beautiful palaces, fickle fairies, enormous rats, and a prince—Clara must face a magician who uses music as spells…and the future she thought she wanted.

I don’t see what this prompt has to do with Christmas, and I rarely enjoy books which use magic, but The Enchanted Sonata is still on my TBR list and it appears to fit the bill.

Find a book cover as white as snow

The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas by Ann Voskamp

Thousands of readers have already fallen in love with Ann Voskamp’s “One Thousand Gifts,” and this Christmas, Ann will help readers celebrate the lineage and the majesty of God’s greatest gift–Jesus Christ. In what is sure to become an instant holiday classic, Voskamp reaches back into the pages of the Old Testament to explore the lineage of Jesus via the advent tradition of the Jesse Tree. Beginning with Jesse, the father of David, “The Greatest Gift” retraces the epic pageantry of mankind, from Adam to the Messiah, with each day’s reading pointing to the coming promise of Christ.

I haven’t read any of Voskamp’s work and to be honest I’m a little hesitant since I have seen it shelved in bookstores next to theologians I fully disagree with, but it certainly fits this prompt!

Find a book by an author whose name is associated with Christmas

The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans

This inspiring holiday tale tells the touching story of a widow and the young family who moves in with her, and the ways in which they discover together the first gift of Christmas and what the holiday is really all about. Written by the author as a token of affection for his daughters, The Christmas Box has captured the hearts and minds of over a million readers. 

While I haven’t read any of Evans books, his is one of the first names that I think of in connection with Christmas books. I’ve lost track of how many he has written!

Find a book that you were given as a Christmas gift

The Common Rule by Justin Whitmel Earley

The modern world is a machine of a thousand invisible habits, forming us into anxious, busy, and depressed people. We yearn for the freedom and peace of the gospel, but remain addicted to our technology, shackled by our screens, and exhausted by our routines. But because our habits are the water we swim in, they are almost invisible to us. What can we do about it?

The answer to our contemporary chaos is to practice a rule of life that aligns our habits to our beliefs. The Common Rule offers four daily and four weekly habits, designed to help us create new routines and transform frazzled days into lives of love for God and neighbor. Justin Earley provides concrete, doable practices, such as a daily hour of phoneless presence or a weekly conversation with a friend.

These habits are “common” not only because they are ordinary, but also because they can be practiced in community. They have been lived out by people across all walks of life—businesspeople, professionals, parents, students, retirees—who have discovered new hope and purpose. As you embark on these life-giving practices, you will find the freedom and rest for your soul that comes from aligning belief in Jesus with the practices of Jesus.

I received this book in a Secret Santa-style book swap last year. Read my review here.

Find a book that’s not necessarily about Christmas but you associate with the holiday

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor’s mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don’t believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they’ve been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch’s sinister spell.

Christmas does happen in the book, but it isn’t really about Christmas. Still, it’s a wonderful book that often comes to mind around Christmas time.

Spell ‘Christmas’ in books

C – (The) Christmas Cat by Melody Carlson – See my review here!

H – (On this) Holy Night by Max Lucado

R – Red Boots by Kate Willis – See my review here!

I – If the Fates Allow by Rainbow Rowell

S – Season of Love by Vivi Holt – See my review here!

T – (A) Timeless Christmas by Alexis Stanton

M – Mutts and Mistletoe by Natalie Cox

A – (The) Angel Tree by Daphne Bendis-Grab – No full review, but featured here.

S – So, This is Christmas by Tracy Andreen

Whew! That was a longer tag, and this post is going up later than I initially intended, but it was fun! I hope you found some literary Christmas cheer today.

Until the next chapter,

Jana