countdown to Christmas . . . with books!

One Advent tradition that is quickly becoming a favorite in our home is counting down the days ’til Christmas with books.  We began last year and Sam more-or-less flipped over opening a new book each evening (who doesn’t love opening things?!).  This year, Peter is joining us in this tradition, so we have a small mix of books suited for both ages.

Some of the books we read last year didn’t make it on the list again this year and we’ve added a few new ones that we’ve really enjoyed (we’re already seven days in since we’ll be heading to Texas early this year for Christmas).

I don’t know if this is true in your case, but for me, it seems more challenging than it ought to be to find beautifully written and illustrated Christmas books for young children that focus primarily on the incarnation of Christ.

However, I have my good friend, Haley, to thank for recommending some wonderful books and the others we’ve found over the last few years (we have yet to find 25 that we love, so we only have 13 this year).  We have a small collection of our own and check the rest out at the library for the month of December.

We wrap them up, number them, and this year, we displayed them in our fire-less fireplace.

1. Buck, Nola. Christmas in the Manger

2. Castillo, Laruen. Christmas is Here

3. de Paola, Tomie. Tomie’s Little Christmas Pageant

4. Heyer. Carol. Humphrey’s First Christmas

5. Ladwig, Tim. Good King Wenceslas

6. Lloyd-Jones, Sally. Little One, We Knew You’d Come

7. Lloyd-Jones, Sally. Song of the Stars

8. McCaughrean, Geraldine. Father and Son: A Nativity Story

9. Robinson, Barbara. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

10. Slate, Joseph. Who is Coming to our House?

11. Spirin, Gennady. We Three Kings

12. Vivas, Julie. The Nativity

13. Waddell, Martin. Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale

We are also reading our way through The Jesse Tree each evening with Sam.  We have really enjoyed this book so far, Sam loves it actually. It has been such a joy to talk with him and answer his questions and watch his little heart and mind respond to the stories we read together.  It’s amazing how questions and observations from a three-and-a-half year old can simultaneously make your head hurt and heart swell.

If you have any Christmas books that your family loves- please give me my Christmas present early and recommend them in the comments!