The best Christmas anthologies

This large-format book has been my firm favourite for over forty years. I love it because it encompasses every aspect of the Christmas season.

It is my handbook on how to enjoy the season. Bookended with festive boardgames, it is wonderfully illustrated with many full-page original illustrations highlighting the text. It includes classic stories alongside explanations and histories of the many Christmas traditions, carol lyrics, poetry, craft ideas, recipes, and much more.

I can’t imagine celebrating Christmas without it. It truly is Christmas in a book.

I knew that I would love this book from the moment I first set eyes upon it. I like that the stories and illustrations have been reproduced exactly as they were originally published in the Victorian magazines.

This is a book which I always read alone and free of distractions so that I can not only lose myself in the stories, but also contemplate the messages they contain. Like our Victorian forebears l love the sentimental aspects of Christmas, and this anthology never fails to cause me to think back with a smile, and sometimes a tear, to Christmasses long ago with relatives and friends no longer with us.

I love this book because its slim size makes it ideal to carry and read on the move.

I often read it on the train, in cafes, or in the park when I take a break during my busy workday. The twelve stories it contains are all well-loved classics that have been anthologised many times, but it is that familiarity that I like about this anthology. I never tire of reading these stories, many of which were read to me as a child.

Christmas is a time of warmth, and this selection fills me with festive warmth even on the coldest of park benches.

A family reading session bathed in the glow of the Christmas tree lights is one of my traditional activities during the Christmas season.

I like this anthology because the selected stories are the perfect length – neither too short to disappoint the older members of the family nor too long to lose the attention of the younger ones. I am also fond of the illustrations which perfectly illustrate the classic stories in a contemporary style, and enthrall young listeners.

I would recommend this collection for any family Christmas gathering.

I love curling up in my favourite armchair by the tree with a mug of hot chocolate to read this heavy, bumper-sized anthology.

It takes me back to Christmas Days spent lying on the rug in front of the fire reading festive annuals left under the tree  by Father Christmas. Its twenty-eight stories are reassuringly familiar, ensuring satisfaction wherever I randomly choose to dip in. I really can’t imagine Christmas without it.