For a long time my favorite Christmas book was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.  I love the wild and outrageous Herdman family who discovers the Christmas story for the first time.  This is a wickedly humorous, but touching story that has stayed with me since the first time I read it many years ago.  But last year, I read a book that may take that top spot of Christmas favorite.  The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry had me laughing until I cried.  On Christmas Eve, the Barnes family experiences the startling loss of the beloved family dog.  But Doug and his father pull off a Christmas miracle - of sorts - just in time for the Christmas pageant.