Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Christmas Books ULTIMATE list!

I've been collecting Christmas books since Luke was a baby and we get them out every December and have the best time reading and enjoying them.  I love hearing the kids go, "ohhhhh! This one is my FAVORITE! No... THIS ONE is my favorite!" and reminisce about reading them year after year.  

It's one of my absolute favorite Christmas traditions and I so enjoy picking out a few new books to add to our collection each year.  Today I'm going to share ALLLL of our faves and hope that you find a new good one (or two!) to add to (or start) your collection.

Sounding Joy is my new FAVORITE!  "Does it sound like falling snow, or a kiss on your cheek? Award-winning recording artist Ellie Holcomb explores this question through a delightful collection of Christmastime scenes, leading up to the discovery that joy sounds like the angels singing that Jesus had been born."



The illustrations are darling and it's just so sweet!





5 More Sleeps Til Christmas is DARLING!! Again - the illustrations are beautiful and the story really captures the magic and anticipation of Christmas from a child's perspective.






Dasher is from the same author of Red and Lulu and is PERFECTION!!!


Everything is just PERFECT!


Bethlehem Barn is another darling book and if you have older-elementary aged kids who still like reading picture books I highly recommend since it's a bit more wordy than a typical kids book.


"Donkey, Cow, Sheep, Chicken, and Bird are having a typical winter night in the barn.  That is, until Cow finds something in her food trough.  Astonishment turns into awe when Bird reveals that it's a human baby.  And not just any human baby, it's baby Jesus, the people's Savior!

All the animals are humbled--the baby Jesus, in their barn! A frenzy follows, while the animals do everything they can to make Him comfortable, warm, and safe."




 "Walk This World at Christmastime"  is SO beautiful!!!  Every page is a new country and there are flaps you can lift with little tidbits of information about other cultures as Christmastime.



I love the illustration style and how informative it is.


Christmas Night Fair and Bright is a simple (yet comprehensive!) retelling of the Christmas story.  The illustrations are great and the book rhymes which I love.




I ADORE the Nutcracker and am always looking for different versions of the story.   This book won me over with the BEAUTIFUL illustrations.



A New Coat for Anna is a book that my mom used to read to me growing up and it is one of my very favorite stories ever.  It's set in post-WWII and Anna needs a new coat - her mother has to barter and trade to get the materials and the coat takes a full year to have make.  



I told y'all I loved The Nutcracker!   This was the version I grew up reading and when I think about the story this is the way I picture it in my head. ;)



Christmas Farm is so charming.  It's a bit of a "behind the scenes" look at Christmas tree farming and I love the watercolor illustrations.



Who doesn't love Greg Pizzoli?!?!  We're big fans and his  12 days of Christmas didn't disappoint.



Yes... another Nutcracker... but  this one plays pieces of the music and the illustrations are BEAUTIFUL to boot.



If You Take a Mouse to the Movies is an oldie but a goodie and NEVER gets old.


A Pirate's Night Before Christmas was Mason's FAVE and it is so clever and fun.



Love Came Down at Christmas is fantastic.  It also has the entire Christmas story in the back which is super convenient.




12 Days of Christmas in Texas  is so much fun!  And a must-have if you're a Texan ;)



Arthur's Christmas Cookies is from my childhood and it is my favorite to read to the kids. 




Silent Night is a BEAUTIFUL book.  It's the lyrics to Silent Night and we have sung this book dozens and dozens of times.



I really can't say enough great things about the illustrations - I mean - gorgeous.


Last Stop on the Reindeer Express is SUCH a sweet book - especially if your kids are spending Christmas away from family members.  The story tells the tale of a girl getting a letter to her grandpa and the peek through pages and beautiful illustrations are just the icing on the cake for this precious story.




Nativity is one that I love it SO SO SO much!  It's simple text from the Bible and the illustrations are outstanding. 



Mice Skating isn't necessarily a Christmas book but I couldn't resist it considering Griffin's affinity for her Maileg mice.  It's a really cute story of a mouse who LOVES the snow and tries to convince her friends to come and ice skate with her instead of burrowing down for the winter.  We'll probably keep this book out past Christmas time.




Not sure how I forgot to take a picture of the cover of  When Santa Was a Baby but this is probably my kids FAVORITE this season.


It's super clever...


... and the kids think it's HILARIOUS!  Baby Santa does things like train pet hamsters to pull a sleigh and stand in front of the fridge to get the cold :)


Throughout the books his parents are super proud of him and it's just all around adorable.


I'm not going to lie... when I read  Red and Lulu for the first time I bawled. 


Essentially, Red and Lulu have made a home in the perfect tree...


... and one day the tree is cut down (I KNOW!!!) and Red and Lulu are separated.  (I KNOW!!!)


Red starts searching for Lulu and I mean... just read this page...


Spoiler alert - he finds her and everything is find but Y'ALL!!! It's such a touching story, the illustrations are beautiful, it's set in NYC and there's some great history/info about the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree included.  It's Christmas perfection.


Last, but not least - The Crayon's Christmas.


We LOOOOOOVE the crayons books and this one is no exception.  It includes folded letters that the kids can take out of the envelopes and delves into lots of Christmas traditions as well as Hanukkah which I thought was so cool. 


It even has paper doll clothes for naked peach crayon :)



I'd probably recommend this book for elementary-aged kids due to the loose pieces it comes with but it's a GREAT one!  Super engaging.



The Day Santa Stopped Believing in Harold is a really fun "twist"... Santa doesn't believe in Harold (and his letters, cookies, etc.) and the story is super funny and sweet.




Tough Cookie is my new FAVORITE... when Cookie hops out of the oven all warm and sugary he gets caught by Fox only to discover that he doesn't taste sweet!  He struggles to figure out who he is if he's not a tasty cookie and finds out in the end that even though he doesn't end up where he thought he'd be he's exactly where he was meant to be!




I Got the Christmas Spirit is a super simple book with GORGEOUS illustrations.  It's also great use of onomatopoeia if you're a teacher! 




The Twelve Days of Christmas is just that - the lyrics to the classic song illustrated BEAUTiFULLY!



The Tree That's Meant to Be is another FAVORITE - beautifully illustrated and shares a really sweet story of a tree who gets passed over as a Christmas tree but realizes that he has another special purpose.

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PS - this post contained affiliate links... thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog!


 

8 comments :

  1. Oh my goodness! I'm so excited about this post! I always get my daughter a couple new Christmas books every year, and I love that these are not your typical/traditional ones. Thank you for sharing! Adding to cart now!! :)

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  2. I love your blog (my favorite of all I check daily!), but today's post was very hard to read due to an ad in between each photo (which made it refresh each time). I understand the need to monetize, so I get that - but I just wanted you to know because it's the first time I had to close out before finishing a whole post of yours and I wouldn't want you to lose readers.

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    1. Thanks so much for letting me know! I’ll email my and company as it definitely shouldn’t be like that! I appreciate the feedback!

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  3. Yeah, I agree. I love your blog (and read it everyday), but everyday it gets harder to read b/c of all the ads
    Today, I counted, and there were 35 ads that ran through your post. I only read on my phone (not on a desktop)--does that make a difference? Like I said, I read it everyday, but it gets harder and harder b/c the ads are everywhere!

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    1. Hey, Callie! Try clearing your cache/cookies. when I read on my phone or desktop I see four ads. I’ll forward your message on to my ad company and see if they have any other feedback! Thanks for letting me know l!

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  4. I need to invest in some of these!! This year, I took 24 books we already own and wrapped them for an additional advent calendar or sorts. We'll open one each night to read together. I'm hoping this gets us actually reading some of the books that just sit in our Christmas book basket untouched and makes it a little exciting!

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  5. I love all of your book posts! Several years ago after reading your Christmas book post I started collecting books for my grandkids. I have a huge basket that I put all them in and when they are over we read through them. I have about 30 books and every year I say I don't need anymore but then you post one I don't have and I just can't resist! Thank you for always sharing the BEST books!!

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