The weather is finally colder, Thanksgiving and all your annoying relatives are close at hand, and that can mean only one thing: Christmas mania. And although I like to pretend to possessing an insouciant New York je ne sais quoi, I get as swept up in the season as anyone who wears brighter colors. This past week, I dove into what my husband not-so-laughingly refers to as the Leaning Tower of Romance, the stacks and stacks of paperbacks that are spilling off our bookshelves and onto the floor.
My purpose: to unearth, and display, my enormous collection of Regency Christmas anthologies*. I know I don’t I have them all (a gal’s gotta have goals, after all), but an informal count yielded approximately 30 Christmas-themed books.
There are one or two medievals in there, but the majority are Regency-set Christmas stories. Every year, I pull them out, place them lovingly in a basket, and display them somewhere near my ginormous Christmas tree (we’ve got 12′ ceilings, and we usually buy at least a 9′ tree).
And then, because the collection has grown so large, I place the overflow of books on the floor near the basket. And then? I pick them up and read them throughout the season, hopefully with a glass of wine at my elbow. 
See, it’s a busy time at Christmas, and you don’t always have the ability to commit to a full-length book. But a short story, penned by masters such as Mary Balogh, Edith Layton, our own Amanda McCabe, Carla Kelly, Allison Lane, et al? Perfect. And if you do get the chance to read a longer book, you’ve got myriad choices there, too. Mary Balogh has written at least three “Christmas” traditional Regencies, and Diane Farr, Elisabeth Fairchild, Carla Kelly and Lynn Kerstan/Alicia Rasley each have one. Regency Christmas stories convey the essence of Christmas cheer (even though those Regency people didn’t celebrate Christmas so much–that came later, with the Victorians). I’m a sucker for all that good will, not to mention the wine, and I love the times when I can settle down with a good book that’ll satisfy my urge for a good romance AND a good Christmas story. So what are your traditions? Do you collect any particular type of book (besides Regencies, of course)? Do you collect any kind of Christmas trinket? Which is your favorite Christmas romance story?
Megan
*and in case you think my husband has any right to complain, keep in mind he has over 300 Christmas music discs, with more arriving as I type. Obsessive media types? Uh, yeah, that’s us. Too bad our apartment isn’t quite as large as our appetite for music and reading.
Hmmm…makes me think I should get some of these to read next month.
Megan … how did you ever figure out how to evoke the Regency period in your writing? I think your unabashed love of these books probably did most of it … but it still looks hard to do.
Steven:
Some would argue I don’t invoke the period, at least in terms of historical accuracy (hence my prickly response to all that). I think it’s ’cause I absorbed the period through reading at an early age. I started writing my book without really realizing I had a Regency flavor to it. Have you read it yet? I know your daughter is toting it around…
Steven,
Just want to say hello! I was beginning to wonder if there were any other men of the male gender in existence.
Also, on the topic…there is a Metzger story in one of the collections, in which the hero’s disaffected secretary switches the cards on all the gifts, so that all the heartfelt messages come across as deliberate insults. Very funny. One of my favorite Regency Christmas stories.
Todd-who-delivers-his-own-gifts-to-avoid-this-very-problem
Oh, and also Steven–the archives here explain a lot how we all came to write Regency. Not that you have to plow through them, but there they are.
Thanks for coming over here, btw! (Steven is the spouse of a good friend from college, a journalist guy living in LA).
That is a great idea, Megan, displaying the Christmas books in a basket! I’m going to have to copy you on that, then I’ll know where they are when I want to read them. Just bought the new “Regency Christmas Courtship” anthology, and am saving it for a trip I’m taking in 2 weeks.
That Metzger was a great story, Todd! Wish I could find it and re-read it. I’ll have to give some thought as to which story has been my favorite over the years…
Megan, what a great idea! I have many christmas anthologies that I could put out in a basket by my reading chair. I haven’t re-read some of my favourite Christmas romances in years. Just may have to pull that off this year.
Cindys
Hi all:
I just found an anthology over the weekend I didn’t have, A Regency Christmas Carol, which had Carla Kelly’s “Make A Joyful Noise.” It made me cry (although that could’ve been the lack of sleep).