Reading Our Way Through Advent

My kids came downstairs this morning to find our basket of "Advent" books. My daughter said, "Yeah! Those are some of my favorite books!"  The kids have been inspecting them and trying to decide what to pick first... but they can't start until tomorrow!

For my daughter's first Christmas, I wanted to do an Advent calendar, but she wasn't quite one, and I wasn't keen on the idea of giving her a piece of chocolate every day (and I didn't know about all of the other wonderful homemade Advent calendars like those that I've seen all over the web this year!) I saw an idea in Family Fun Magazine for doing a basket of 24 Christmas books... unwrapping one book to read each day.

Not wanting to splurge on a bunch of new books, I decided to buy a few and just count down for as many days as I had books. Then, each year, on Christmas, my husband and I give all of our kids a new Christmas book. (I also do this for my Godson and will be doing it for my new Goddaughter as well!)

Finally, this year, we have MORE than enough books, so I was able to leave out some of the "filler" books and I was able to include mostly favorites! As our collection continues to grow, I will either just pick 24 favorites, or if we get enough, possibly have more than one basket (perhaps one with young kid books and one for the older kids.)

Want to make your own? Don't worry if you don't have 24 Christmas books... if you have 10 books, do a ten day countdown this year. Other options are using library books, or checking out the Salvation Army or Goodwill for inexpensive books.  I've also had people give me Christmas books- once I told them about our idea, they were excited to help us add to our collection.  Not all of the books are great, but the quality is increasing each year as the kids get their new Christmas books.

Here are some of our favorite Christmas books:


Two favorites for which I couldn't find images are: "Santa's Beard is Soft and Warm," (This may be out of print... but I LOVE it. I had it as a child and it is a "touch and feel" book that is always a favorite. You also get to "snap" Santa's suspenders- how great is that??! ) "The Gift of the Maji," by O'Henry is another one of my childhood favorites- and has such a good message.

What are your favorite Christmas books? I would love suggestions since I'm still searching for this year's "new books," for Christmas day.

Here are some books I'm considering...

Crystal from Money Saving Mom shared my link in her post: Six Free Printables for Advent. Be sure to check out the post for more great ideas, including a different way to display the books using your mantel.

Disclosure: The images of the books contain my Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I receive an advertising fee.