Christmas/Advent Books Tradition

Christmas/Advent Countdown

When I was a little girl, I remember my mom getting out a special basket of books during the Christmas Season. They were about Christmas, Santa, Snowmen, how other cultures celebrated the season, etc. When I taught 1st grade in 2007/2008, I wrapped up 26 books (the number of students I had) and let the kids each open one each day (sometimes two) during the month of December leading up to our Christmas break. Now that I have a family of my own, I knew I wanted to bring this into our family traditions and when my husband and I were first married we decided this was the way we could countdown to Christmas.

Here's what we do: I have gathered (and still am gathering) books about Christmas. In our home, we want the focus of Christmas to be 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 but some have Santa, some are about snowmen, kindness, helping others, etc. Below is a list of the books we currently use. The same book is used on Christmas Eve that tells of the Christmas Story from the bible. Currently it's in a version that the boys can comprehend for their ages but eventually we will simply move to reading the story right out of the bible as my husband did that when he was younger. I usually buy more books after Christmas when they go on clearance and also look throughout the year at garage sales and mom2mom sales. I also keep out a basket of other winter/Christmas books in the house during the season as well.

Ten Christmas Lights by Teresa Imperato (adorable counting book), this is the first book we open.
Biscuits Snowy Day by Alyssa Capucilli (my oldest will be able to read these this year as he just started to read!)
Biscuit Gives a Gift by Alyssa Cpucilli
Seek and Find Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (they LOVE the movie and they love seek and find books)
Seek and Find Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown (again, they love this movie at Christmas Time)
Snowmen at Night by Carolyn Buehner
One Night In Bethlehem by Jill Roman Lord (this is a board book for my youngest)
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Emma Kragen (board book)
Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson (we love all of her Bear books)
What is Christmas? by Michelle Adams (found this at Family Christian)
Room for Little One by Martin Waddell (board book)
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 (a book I read when I was little)
The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scary (read this book growing up too but bought a new one so we could smell the pages as it's a scratch and sniff book)
An Otis Christmas by Loren Long (Otis books are awesome too if you have tractor loving boys like me!)
Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Karam Wilson (author of Bear books - we love this book, our pastor read it last year on Christmas Eve and I'm excited to add it to our collection. This book will be done the week of Christmas as well.
Humphrey's First Christmas by Carol Heyer. A beautifully illustrated book and great story.
Snow Friends by Christina Butler
Mistletoe the Christmas Kitten by Joe Troiano
Snowman's Story by Will Hillenbrand (My oldest loves this book because you make up the story as it has zero words....it's different every time!)
Goodnight Manger by Laura Sassi (same author as Goodnight Ark, beautiful pictures)
Pine Tree Parable by Lizz Curtis Higgs
Away In A Manger (this is a song book that plays the song with pictures and lyrics)
The Christmas Story by Patricia Pingry (this is our Christmas Eve book) we wrap this one in gold paper because it's the most special story for us


I already have a list going of books I'd like to get for next winter! Titles Include, Santa's Favorite Story, Ten in the Sled, Christmas Day In The Morning, When Jesus Was Born In Bethlehem, Christmas Alphabet (it's a pop up book), If it's snowy and you know it clap your hands, and I'm sure I'll find more. 


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 20 months and will have lots of board books/touch and feel books, while my older two (ages 5 and 3.5) will enjoy longer stories this year. There are a few different ways I've done this. I have wrapped the books in different paper (so each child has a specific paper) so they can tell who gets to open the book. I also number each book 1-24. This year, I wrapped in the same paper and wrote the boys names and the number on an address label because they are old enough to recognize their names. WE always wrap the last story (The Christmas Story) in gold because it is the most important story at Christmas.

(before wrapping)

My oldest remembers some of the books from last year 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). Just today I was able to see (through Facebook time hop) 2 years ago, a pic of the boys starting the season with their books. It was so precious and I'm glad I have pictures of each year for them.

(all wrapped and ready!)

(excited boys to begin our yearly tradition)

We look forward to this tradition. 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.