I thought it would be a good idea to share our families Christmas book/Advent Tradition that we do in our home. Many of my friends have been asking about it this time of year. It's been a few years since I did my first write up on this, so I thought I would do a new one to update everyone with the current list of books we have. Each book is linked to Amazon if you want to go ahead and get one for you collection too!
Here's what we do: I have gathered (and still am gathering) books about Christmas. In our home, the focus of Christmas is about Jesus' birth. While we do have some books with Santa, we choose not to put a huge emphasis on him in our home. Most of the books in our Christmas countdown have an emphasis the Christmas Story, some have Santa, some are about snowmen, kindness, helping others, and books that I had in my basket when I was growing up. The same book is always used on Christmas Eve, and that is the the book that tells of the Christmas Story from the bible. I have a version that is easy for younger children to understand. Now that our older two are 8 and 6, we let them read the Christmas Story out of their bibles to us. This book is also always wrapped in a golden/shiny box that I bought at the dollar store and it goes under the tree. Our children know that this is the most important present under the tree because it's the story of how Jesus came to save the world.
I usually buy more books after Christmas when they go on clearance and also look throughout the year at garage sales and mom2mom sales. Scholastic Book Orders are another great way to collect books and to help your childs teacher earn points for free books for his/her classroom. I also keep out a basket of other winter/Christmas books in the house during the season as well for the boys to choose from when looking for something to read.
Here is a list of the books that I have to choose from, actually there are more, but these are some of my favorites and will get you started if you want to begin this tradition in your home. This year we will have an assortment of books ranging from board books for the youngest up to longer books that my oldest will be able to read to us if he chooses.
Ten Christmas Lights by Teresa Imperato - an adorable counting book with little lights that glow when you push the button.
Biscuits Snowy Day by Alyssa Capucilli , Biscuit Gives a Gift by Alyssa Cpucilli, or this awesome Biscuit Christmas Collection would be a great addition for the puppy lovers and early readers in your home. We will use this one when our 3rd is ready to read it to us.
One Night In Bethlehem - a touch and feel board book
Seek and Find Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown and Seek and Find Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (found this through Scholastic books) - my boys LOVE seek and find books so these are a fun addition to the Christmas Collection.
Room For a Little One by Martin Waddell and Jason Cockcroft - a board book about an Ox who invites all the animals into his stable and then when Mary and Joseph come along he invites them in. Beautiful illustrations
Pete the Cat Saves Christmas by Eric Litwin - I'm not sure this is one of my favorite books in our collections, but I have 2 boys who are huge Pete the Cat fans so I snagged this off a Scholastic book order last year and added it to the collection. My 6 year old was THRILLED that he was the one who got to open it! Mom win!
12 Dogs of Christmas by Emma Kragen - a board book using the 12 days of Christmas song but with different breeds of dogs. Actual pictures of the dogs with silly illustrations to go along with it.
Little Porcupines Christmas - by Joseph Slate, this book is about a porcupine who can't seem to find a place in the Christmas play. He feels very left out and his friends make fun of him. However, in the end, he saves the day by becoming the star on the tree.
Jesus Me and My Christmas Tree by Crystal Bowman - A board book shaped like a tree (this one is fun to wrap). In this book a little girl is decorating her tree and all the ornaments have a story about the Christmas story "the star on my tree, like the star in the sky, point us to Jesus, our Lord from on high" Great book for ages 2-4 I think.
Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson -if you haven't checked out any of the bear books, you should! They are so sweet, they rhyme, and have adorable illustrations
God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa Bergren - one of my favorites! I usually wait 'til the week of Christmas to open this one
Baby's Santa Mouse by Michael Brown - I'm not sure this book is even available anymore. I have the copy that my mom put in my Christmas book basket from when I was a little girl.
The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scary - another book from my childhood. I have the one from when I was growing up, but the scratch and sniff has been worn so we have a new one for the boys. It's an adorable story about a bear who finds all the smells leading to Christmas (gingerbread, candy canes, Christmas Tree, hot chocolate, and more). This one is a favorite in our home.
Don't Push The Button Christmas Adventure by Bill Cotter - if you haven't tried interactive books with your 2-4 year old, you need to start! Don't push the button books are some of our favorites! This is just a silly Christmas version of the book
Santa's Favorite Story - by Hisako Aoki and Ivan Gantschev - I love this book because it blends Santa and the Christmas Story. The animals in the forest find Santa sleeping next to a tree. When he wakes up he tells them of the story of Christmas, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Beautiful but simple pictures about the story of Christmas. This is one of my favorites that I have found.
An Otis Christmas by Loren Long - in a house full of tractor loving boys, Otis is a favorite.
Mortimer's Christmas Manger by KarmaWilson (author of Bear books - a sweet story about a mouse who makes a home in the nativity scene but then each night keeps coming back to find that Jesus is back in the manger and has to keep removing all the pieces until one night, he hears the family telling the story of Jesus and decides he doesn't need the cozy bed anymore. We read this during the week before Christmas.
Humphrey's First Christmas by Carol Heyer. A beautifully illustrated book and story about the journey to the manger from the Camel's perspective.
Mistletoe the Christmas Kitten by Joe Troiano - a story about a kitten who looks different from the rest and doesn't have a cozy home to go to. He rescues some stranded kittens on a blistery Christmas Eve and finds them a cozy home to live in and get adopted into the family as well.
Snowman's Story by Will Hillenbrand This is a FAVORITE of mine. It is a book with no words, just pictures. The boys love taking turns telling their own version of the story. We've heard some very funny ones, and some pretty creative ones. You can each take a turn per page or have someone tell the whole story. This book is a blast. I believe it can also be found in Scholastic Book Orders.
Goodnight Manger by Laura Sassi (same author as Goodnight Ark, beautiful pictures) - when we received Goodnight Ark as a gift, I was blown away with the beauty of the pictures and loved that it was a goodnight story about Noah. I was so excited when I found Goodnight Manger!
Construction Site on Christmas Night by Chronicle Books - all the boys in my house LOVE anything that has to do with construction trucks. We love the Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site books and I just added this one to our collection for this year to be opened. I'm excited to see the boys reaction to it when they open it.
Little Blue Truck's Christmas by HHM books - we love Little Blue Truck books and I think my youngest will enjoy opening this one this year.
Where Do Diggers Celebrate Christmas? by Random House Books - another new one that was added this year to our collection. There are 3 books that have similar titles and we love them all in our home. This should be a fun one for them to open!
Christmas Love Letters from God by Zonderkidz - I got this book on sale after last Christmas and I cannot wait to have the boys read it this year. Because this one is a longer book, we may do a page every few days at breakfast time or dinner time with the boys. This would be a very long bedtime story if I chose to have them open it at night. I probably wont wrap this one.
The Jolly Christmas Postman by LB Kids - I remember reading the Jolly Postman when I was little and loved it. I found the Christmas version a few years ago and picked it up. Now that the older two understand some of the classic fairy tales (with some thanks to Super Why), I think they'll enjoy reading this one.
The Christmas Story by Patricia Pingry (this is our Christmas Eve book) we wrap this one in gold/shiny box because it's the most special story and is opened on Christmas Eve. This book is very age appropriate for the younger children (6 and under). Like I mentioned earlier, now that our 8 and 6 year old are reading, we let them read for their bible. Our oldest received THIS bible when he accepted Jesus in to his heart. I love that the text is at his reading level (maybe slightly above), but it makes him feel like a big kid because it looks like mom and dads bible.
At the end of November I'm busy wrapping up 24 books. It takes a bit to organize the books and put them in order for the boys (they take turns opening one each day so I want to be sure the book is appropriate for their age level even though we will read them all together). My youngest is 18 months and will have lots of board books/touch and feel books, while my older three (ages 4.5, 6.6, and 8) will enjoy longer stories this year. There are a few methods to my madness with this process. 1, I wrap the books in different paper (so each child has a specific paper) so they can tell who gets to open the book. 2, I also number each book 1-24 because they don't all fit nicely in the box in order. Another idea which I may do this year, is use the same wrapping paper and then write the childs name and the number on a tag since the older 3 can read their names. Again, the last story (The Christmas Story) in the gold/shiny box and placed under the tree because it is the most important story at Christmas.
My oldest now remembers some of the books from years past and keeps asking when we will get to read a certain book....but it's all a surprise as to which book will come next (and it varies year to year). I love books and instilling a love of reading in my children (and I love that they love to read!). The boys love being able to open a present each night leading up to Christmas. It allows us to keep the focus of the season on Christ and create fun family memories reading together before bed each night while also not going crazy waiting for Christmas to open their gifts (it's like a little present each night). On Christmas Eve the boys will get to open up new pajamas and we will all open the 24th book of the Christmas Story and read it before bed.
What are some of your favorite Christmas stories? I'm always looking for new books to add to our collection. When the boys are grown and start families of their own, I hope/plan to bless them with some of their favorites from this tradition in hopes that they will want to do something similar in their home.
**please note that the links associated with these books are affiliate links to amazon. I receive a small compensation if you purchase through these links and I am so grateful for that! All opinions of the books are my own and I do not get paid to advertise these titles. Thank you in advance!**
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