Every year we kick off our advent activities with new holiday and winter books, so that we can maximize our time with them. I intend to get the kids each one new story, but that number always blossoms— I just cannot turn down a beautiful book! I am excited to share this year’s titles. They are each so wonderful, fascinating, nostalgic and darling in their own way.
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Before we dive into the books, I also thought I’d share how we manage our advent activity calendar:
In late November (or frantically on the morning of December 1) we cut out and decorate paper ornaments with the kids. Then we write each activity on a paper ornament. Then every day we hide the ornament featuring the day’s activity somewhere in the house. We write a clue about where to find the ornament on a little piece of paper that we roll up and tuck into the coordinating advent calendar drawer. Once the kids find the paper ornament, we begin our advent activity!
We have the ornament AND the clue for a few reasons: it gives Isla extra reading practice, it’s fun for the kids to go on a mini scavenger hunt each day, and we display the ornaments on the kids Connection Tree, but they are too large for the advent calendar drawers and we don’t want to fold them, so we needed a work-around. Don’t you just love when problem solving leads to an even more fun outcome?! We realize our method has a few extra steps, but we enjoy the creative process of it all!
Aaaand, back to the books!
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A Homemade Together Christmas. The sweetest, most perfect-for-us Christmas story there ever was! The End. But seriously, if you appreciate homemade gifts and the thoughtful process behind them, this is the perfect book! We also love Maryann’s seasonal series: Let it Snow, Let it Rain, Let in Shine, and Let it Fall.
Winter Sleep: A Hibernation Story. Our kiddos love spending time with my mom in her garden, so this book immediately tugged at my heartstrings. This sweet story features a child following his grandmother outside in familiar spaces, while learning how the Earth prepares for winter.
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Walk This World At Christmastime. A busy and beautiful lift-the-flap book that highlights Christmas and winter traditions all over the world. Having experienced so many other fascinating traditions during our years abroad, I was eager to learn more alongside our kids!
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Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein. Continuing in the vein of helping our children learn about different traditions, beliefs, and cultures, I thought this book was simply darling! It follows along with Rachel, a girl who is Jewish but loves the festive traditions of Christmas. It is a heartfelt and honest story that provides great opportunities for conversations about how people celebrate the holidays.
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Santa’s Story. With darling illustrations and a sweet and simple story line, this book reinforces our love of tradition and reading!
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Construction Site on Christmas Night. We just love these Construction Site books! The emphasis on this story is giving, and the rhymes are so wonderfully playful!
You can find more of our favorite Christmas books HERE.
Have you found any wonderful new holiday books this year? Please share! We are always eager to open our hearts and home to wonderful stories.
