A roundup of some of the best MR PORTER content from 2016, to keep you entertained when you’re detained with your family.

It’s the most magical day of the year. But sometimes, also, the most boring. We realise that some people out there have a full schedule of wonderful, heartfelt activities planned with which they will be entertaining themselves well into the wee hours of Boxing Day. But we are also well aware that sometimes the big CD gets rather slow post-lunch, and that you might be in the mood for some fireside reading. To facilitate such pursuits, we’ve thrown together the below list of long-ish, thoughtful pieces from this year’s issues of The Journal and The Daily. Hopefully there’s something there you missed first time round, and can enjoy now as you thrust various chocolate-shaped things down your throat. Oh, and Happy Christmas, by the way.

Exhausted by the spiralling torrent of nonsense that the digital, connected world threw our way in 2016? Tempted to indulge in a slightly more monastic lifestyle? Please do not do so without reading Mr Richard Godwin’s exhaustive guide to the subject, compiled with self-sufficient living expert Mr Nick Rosen. Read it here.

The Spectator’s literary editor and Booker Prize judge Mr Sam Leith recommends three wonderful tomes that are worth repeated visits. Chances are, you have one of these kicking round the house, so why not do yourself a favour and tuck in? Read it here.

Given that you’re not currently at work (we hope), maybe it’s time to reflect upon your professional behaviour this year. If you’re fortunate enough to be in charge of one or more minions in your day-to-day, then Mr Jonathan Openshaw’s guide to different kinds of management strategy may well prove illuminating. Read it here.

The eternally wise contemporary philosopher Mr Alain de Botton opines on the best ways to muddle your way through matrimonial life. Includes such gems as “Despair of being understood” and “Be ready for admin.” Ah, love. Read it here.

MR PORTER’s resident columnist Mr Chris Elvidge was, up until late 2016, writing under the heading “Young Man in a Hurry”. Then he turned 30. Here’s how he dealt with the whole tricky experience. Read it here.

Esquire’s deputy editor Mr Johnny Davis ponders a question that well and truly caught the attention of readers in the fledgling weeks of our new channel The Daily in April 2016. This piece was commissioned to coincide with the move of American Psycho the musical to New York. Unfortunately, though, we’re still as vain, groomed and terrifying as ever, so you’ll probably find this still relevant. Read it here.

This year MR PORTER visited chef Mr Massimo Bottura in his home town of Modena Italy. Shortly afterwards, his restaurant, Osteria Francescana, topped the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants for 2016. Could this really be a mere coincidence? Perhaps. But surely our film, in which Mr Bottura makes signature dish  “Five Different Ages Of Parmigiano Reggiano In Five Different Textures And Temperatures” didn’t do anything to harm this status. Watch it here.

Where did all the heroes go? No, not all the famous ones – they’ve been plastering themselves over cinema screens ever since Mr Bryan Singer’s revival of Marvel’s X-Men franchise in 2000. We’re talking about the weird ones from the 1930s and 40s that never made it: Nelvana of the Northern Lights; Stardust the Super Wizard; Fantoma. To mark the release of Captain America: Civil War, novelist Mr Ned Beauman pondered what would happen if marvel’s key players faced off against these oddities. Read it here.

When you should really, really insist on the window seat: pilot and author Mr Mark Vanhoenacker recommends the cities that offer the most spectacular fly-overs in the world. Read it here.