This is less a post and more of an appeal.  Since we are coming up on the holidays, we were thinking of adding a “Seasonal” section to the Goodnights Guide and hoped we could lean on your suggestions to fill that out.

Growing up, did you recite “The Night Before Christmas” every year on the night before Christmas? Do you dress up as The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything to read scary stories to your children on Halloween? Do you make time for The Giving Tree every Arbor Day or hold a Wild Rumpus three weeks after Flag Day because why not?

I don’t have a lot of seasonal book traditions myself.  We had a pocket-sized copy of A Christmas Carol amongst our tree decorations that I usually ended up accidentally reading. When I say pocket-sized, I mean it might be the true fit for that mysterious tiny pocket inside jean pockets.  Supposedly those little pouches were designed for pocket watches, but as someone who broke at least one pocket watch trying to ostentatiously consult it during a middle school bumper car outing, I’m not so sure.

Even pocket-sized and incidentally-read, A Christmas Carol makes a good candidate for regular rotation.  If you are going to shirk untangling icicle lights, confronting the ghosts of self-absorption and considering a life ordered by compassion seems like a good option. Of course, to paraphrase countless sermons of Christmases Past, Present and Future, it’s easier to ritualize Tiny Tim as an ornamental fixture than it is to invite him into your home and figure out his insurance situation.

Anyway, if you have any books that set up your spirit for a particular season, let us know.  If you just want to recommend that we make The Very Hungry Caterpillar a Seasonal book because it is comforting to read in mid-January when you are eating your way through your dietary resolutions, that’s not something I’d be opposed to hearing. You can make those suggestions via the link on the Goodnights Guide, or by emailing ben@1001goodnights.com.

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