While most lists tend to focus on short Christmas read alouds, there are some longer Christmas chapter books and Christmas short stories for middle school grades that could either be read aloud as a family or left in a basket to encourage free-time holiday reading. Consider a classic like The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, or the slightly newer classic, The Best Christmas Pagent Ever by Barbara Robinson. Or perhaps a little more subtly, something like The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, where it's "always winter but never Christmas."