Falling asleep under a book next to a lit-up Christmas tree has to be one of the best things about this time of year.
What you need:
1) a quiet house, midafternoon
2) a cat
3) a beverage
4) a small plate of cookies
5) 3-4 books, stacked, within reaching distance
The number of times I manage to do this over Christmas is a pretty good measure of how perfect the holiday was. I think I’d better get started today. Here are some books I revisit each year – some old, some new, just right for this sort of delightful laziness:
Stories for the Season
An Elk Dropped In – Andreas Steinhofel
The Polar Express – Chris Van Allsburg
A Wish for Wings that Work – Berkeley Breathed
The Snowman – Raymond Briggs
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey – Susan Wojciechowski
A Child’s Christmas in Wales – Dylan Thomas
The Box of Delights – John Masefield
The Christmas Orange – Don Gilmour
The Best Christmas Ever – Chih-Yuan Chen
Bear Stays Up For Christmas – Karma Wilson
Merry Christmas, Merry Crow – Kathi Appelt
Snow – Uri Shulevitz
Little Tree – e e cummings
Three French Hens – Margie Palatini
Wenceslas – Geraldine Mccaughrean
Time for cookies and a nap.
Shelf Elf: read, write, rave. 
What if you don’t have cookies, can’t nap regularly (but forced yourself to sleep eight hours last night/this morning) and miss your cats horribly?
I can’t decide what the bigger problem is here – no cats, or no cookies… hmmmm. I’d have to advise borrowing the first and stealing the second.