I usually look forward to the holiday season and this year was no exception. I had a number of things I wanted to do in November that I either hadn’t done in a long time or had never done:

• drink an apple cider slushy from a cider mill
• eat apple cider doughnuts
• puree pumpkin, acorn squash, and butternut squash to use in future recipes
• try out new recipes for holiday meals
• sew some new pillows for the living room

I also spent a lot of time catching up with friends and family. Because I chose to focus on making these happy memories instead of checking off books from my reading list it means that, for the first time since I started these posts, I have no new books to recommend.

Is that surprising? It is to me, because I have so many good books waiting to be reread or partway begun that I haven’t yet shared, but perhaps that’s okay. Sometimes it’s nice to have the reminder, or maybe for some of us the permission, that it’s okay as a reader to have busy months or years where reading is just not happening no matter how much we want it to. Sometimes the mind is working through something and instead of reading being an escape reading becomes a chore. I am working on accepting this season for what it is, whatever it is.

Although I don’t have a new recommendation, I do have a reread that is short and sweet and fun:

• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson. I read it for the first time (I think) last year, although I was familiar with the story because of the movie and stage play. I highly recommend it.

In other news, today is the inaugural C. S. Lewis Reading Day! I’ve recommended a number of his works and expect to recommend many more. His Chronicles of Narnia are my favourite rereads at this point in my life.