Whether one is collecting everything one can about Christmas, or only focusing on a particular aspect of the holiday, most folks building a private library around this theme generally include on their shelves one or two books about the origins and evolution of the holiday...
...including its associated religious and/or secular traditions...
...and perhaps also the evolution of the holiday in various locales:
For most folks, this is about as far as they delve into the origins and evolution of the holiday, preferring instead to focus their time and money on those one or two aspects of Christmas in which they are most interested (collectibles, cookbooks, etc.).
Others will delve deeper, adding to their shelves books that deconstruct the holiday bit by bit....
...generally starting with ancient pagan antecedents, them moving forward to the various Christian accretions...
The deeper one digs, the more book shelves one needs. Especially since certain works of fiction also have had a tremendous influence on how Christmas is celebrated....
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