Holiday traditions are one of my MOST favorite aspects of the season, but as a “millennial” mom I’ll be the first to admit we are stuck between obliging that of our parents who still are adamant about hosting and trying to make our own. So in my search to make my own annual traditions for my little family I came across this idea, the best parts are that it’s just a little something we get to do EVERY night from December 1st through December 24th as a family, it takes minimal effort, and affects no holiday plans because your kids go to be EVERY night.
With that, I give you our version of an advent calendar ‘The 24 Books of Christmas’!
Every year around the end of November I unpack my box of holiday-themed books and individually wrap each one {or if its a super short one I double that up with another}, making twenty-four individually wrapped books. One, in particular, I label ‘DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE”, as you can guess I save ‘The Night Before Christmas‘ for this one. Cue my favorite tradition we rotate nights of my kids picking one of the wrapped books and unwrapping to read as a family before bedtime.
A few of our family favorites are:
–Little Blue Truck’s Christmas
–C is for Christmas
–The Broken Ornament
-Sneezy the Snowman
–The Berenstain Bears and the Joy of Giving
-How to Catch an Elf
–The Nutcracker
-The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish
–Bear Stays Up for Christmas
–Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree
-I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
-The Magic of Friendship Snow
–Pete the Cat Snow Daze
–How to Catch Santa Claus
–Sounding Joy
-Zetta the Poinsetta
–The Polar Express
-The Night Before Christmas
-How the Grinch stole Christmas
–Construction Site on Christmas Night
I love it, my kids love it, we giggle over which books pop up and I love how their little minds remember certain stories from the year before or the excitement when they draw one of their favorites. It’s easy, cheap, and most of all one of my favorite memory-making events each year.
Now I am not recommending you hop on Amazon this minute and Prime 24 books to your doorstep. This is the perfect opportunity to dig through those bookshelves, inquire with family if they have any holiday books they wouldn’t mind passing along, or checking out those local thrift bookstores. Guarantee for less than $50 you can have a new family tradition that is the gift that keeps on giving all month long… and for years to come!
What are your favorite children’s Christmas themed books?
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