One of the sweetest traditions of the Christmas season in my home are the books that we enjoy together. For years now we have been adding to our collection. These special Christmas editions have a home high on the bookshelf until just this time of year when we nestle them in a basket among the couches and blankets we snuggle into most evenings.
While we seem to find new favorites each and every year there are a worn and weary few that have found a way into our collective memories and Christmas would not seem complete without them.
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In case you are still adding to your collections as well, here are a few of our absolute favorites:
Who is Coming to Our House?
This board book appeared the Christmas after we had our first baby, ten Christmas’s ago, and has been read to every child we’ve had since. I’m pretty sure my husband and I both have the entire prose memorized which means it’s never waned in popularity around here. Farm animals and their sounds, the New Born King in his humble beginning, a Christmas read that doesn’t simply focus on Santa and presents? This one has it and it’s a pretty great choice for your Christmas collection. I’d recommend this primarily for toddlers, although our kids have continued to love the book for years.
Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend
This is a fun book that covers the history of the real Saint Nick and separates fact from legend. I added this book to our collection more recently after it came highly recommended from another mother. As a homeschooling mama I have to fulfill my obligation to turn every holiday, celebration (or trip to the grocery store) into a lesson of some sort and this book fits the bill. 😉
The Greatest Christmas Stories of All Time: Timeless Classics That Celebrate the Season I know this one is no longer even available on Amazon but it may very well be our favorite Christmas book of all so I have to list it anyhow. This collection of stories by Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Charles Dickens, among others, does not disappoint. We don’t go a year without reading The Little Match Girl
, The Nutcracker
, and The Gift of the Magi
and I’ve loved having all of these beloved stories in one fabulous book. But if you can’t find a copy, there are lovely illustrated versions of the individual stories at the links provided.
Christmas Carols for a Kid’s Heart I ordered this book a few weeks ago and am already going to call it out as one of my newest favorites. A dozen of the most cherished Christmas carols, a devotion type story to go with each, a prayer and Bible verse to accompany and a cd with each song to top it all off. I’ve been working on practicing hymns with my children this year and I’m so excited to dive into this book with them this week!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Simple fact: I wouldn’t consider any collection complete without it, because every child really should have the opportunity to visit Whoville.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
– Some of my favorite books to introduce to my kids are the ones that own a spot in my own childhood memories and this is certainly one of them. The antics of this book are hilarious and leave my kids both wide eyed and giggling, but the message at the end is what brings it all home.
These are a few of our favorites to get you started but most certainly don’t stop there. Read The Small One
and Room for a Little One. Read God Gave Us Christmas
and The Christmas Shoes. By all means, spend some time pouring over the real Christmas story in Matthew and Luke. There are so many beautiful books out there and pulling them out just for this season brings excitement and anticipation to your everyday reading. And don’t forget the advent books we talked about over here.
So, there you have it friends; some great Christmas reads to help you make this season even more memorable and a discount code to help you get that shopping done sooner rather than later.
What are a few of your favorite Christmas books? Share them in the comments so we can all keep growing our collections of Books that Bond Families.
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We enjoy Little Red Buckets by Linda Nelson and The Golden Ring by John Snyder. I like your list. I will have to check some of them out.
We love books all year and pulling out the ones reserved for Christmas is always a treat! Haven’t gotten to that yet this year . . . Who Is Coming To Our House is a fun one. We also like the Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (grab the kleenex box before you start!) and so many more. Reading together is truly a great way to bond as a family.
You are the second person to recommend Jonathan Toomey to me this year, Abi! I’m definitely going to make that happen. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. Reading with my kids is probably one of my absolute favorite parts of being their mama. 🙂
What a great selection of Christmas books that will bring families together!
I know it’s not a Christmas book but one of the very earliest book memories I have is when my teacher read us The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. That book touched my heart in such a profound way and features a tree who sacrifices her life for a boy she loves.
Oh, I love that book too! Such a hauntingly beautiful story of sacrifice.
as long as Jesus is acknowledged in the Christmas story 😀
We have the Greatest Christmas Stories of All Time! My girls are now 19 and 21 and they still love for me to read to them from this book when they’re home on college break! lol (homeschool kids – there’s just a bond and a closeness and an out-of-the-box kind of thinking!)
Also love the Christmas Pageant book – classic! And the Grinch.
I just love books! And so do my now grown kids. Yours will too because you’re doing this now!
Sharing with my readers this week – greetings from CBB!
I love that, Ruthie; I so hope I still get the opportunity to reading to my kids when they are 19 and 21! I’m a book lover as well so as long as they will keep listening, I’ll keep reading. 😉 Thanks of sharing!
Oh man, I completely forgot about The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! I need to get that book, stat. Also, I ordered the John Piper advent book you posted on IG, I’m looking forward to it so much. Thanks for sharing!
Yay! I’m glad you got John Piper. I’m totally texting you now when I’m blown away by certain passages. You must get The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Tyler just about died when they were smoking cigars. Pretty great humor for 10 year olds. As long as they don’t follow suit. 😉
Loved this list! I have a few of these, but I also saw some I would love to get! Thank you for sharing. Also, the quote at the end, love it! Definitely sharing this!
Loved your intro to this post! It made me feel cozy. ^_^
You’ve got a great list here… to add to the collection, my family always loved the Jan Brett books, and especially her Christmas themed ones. The illustrations are amazing!
Ooh, I love The Mitten, Hannah! We definitely need to read more Jan Brett books around here. Thanks so much for the recommendation!
I must have been the worst Christmas mother ever…..,
No way! These are only tools for making memories, never obligations for doing so! 🙂
Great roundup!
Thanks, Kelly!