Fableself
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Gift guide · New year & holidays

A Christmas Gift Made of the Year Itself

The best thing under the tree is rarely the biggest box. A book that gathers the year, the new house, the lost tooth, the summer at the lake, into one illustrated story gives the whole family something to read aloud on the night itself.

An illustrated page from a Fableself book, New year & holidays

Holiday books work well with ensemble casts: kids, grandparents, pets, all drawn from photos into one story. Naive folk art and Ghibli-inspired styles glow in winter-light scenes.

Order early in December; proofs take a few days and holiday printing queues are real. The book arrives boxed, ready to wrap.

Before you order

When should you order?
Late November is comfortable and the first week of December is fine. After that you are betting on a printer and a postal service in their busiest month, and the odds get worse daily. Past the third week the honest advice is to order anyway and give it in January, when it will be the only present anyone still remembers.
The detail that brings the story to life
A Christmas book is a year, not a feeling. The move, the new dog, the week everything broke, the holiday where it rained for six days and everyone now insists it was the best one. Pick three to six things that actually happened; a book that says the family had a lovely year says nothing at all.
How many people can be in it?
Up to three named characters in a self-serve book. December gifts tend to want more than that, and a bigger cast is a custom order we quote by hand rather than pretend the wizard can handle. If everyone has to appear, folk art is the style that genuinely holds a crowd on one spread.

Styles that suit the occasion

Four illustration worlds we reach for most often. There are twenty-four in total.

See all 24 styles

How it works

Send a few photos and the moment you want remembered. We write an original story, illustrate every page in your chosen style, and send you a digital proof. You approve it before any payment is taken; then we print and ship the hardcover.

The whole process, step by step

From the journal

Start their book

Most books are proofed within days. Tell us the moment; we do the rest.

Begin the story

Hardcover, $137.50, shipping included. You approve a digital proof before paying.