We are now in the season of schools plays and Christmas concerts. In the past, it’s been something of an endurance test, hasn’t it? But maybe it’s different this year.

Over the years, the bookworms at America Media have compiled list upon list of books that would make good Christmas gifts. Here is a sample.

We do not generally think about Christmas carols as about a battle. And yet what does it mean for the Christ child to be our savior, if not a blessed release from some kind of struggle?

“O Come, All Ye Faithful” is a song almost everyone knows. But where did it come from, and why is it so popular?

Kavanagh’s poem looks to Advent for a sort of poetic and spiritual rebirth, a chance to reacquaint ourselves with the “newness that was in every stale thing.”

“Belfast” presents itself as a family photo album: Violence may intrude, but it doesn’t crowd out the Christmas pictures.