This is a repost from last year, but I thought my book-loving followers might enjoy it.
I’ve wrapped up the books again, and the boys are eagerly unwrapping them — perhaps a little too eagerly. Finley unwrapped five books today! We have a planned trip to the library to check out some Christmas books and shore up our stash.
Enjoy!
Growing up, I remember our advent calendar held a small candy cane for each day until Christmas. My brother, sister and I would eagerly take turns removing the candies (even though peppermint isn’t my favorite). We have a traditional advent calendar in our house now; each day the boys remove a different figure from a numbered pocket and velcro it onto the manger scene. Since Thanksgiving, my older son has been asking me if it’s December 1st yet, so he can start creating the scene.
Because this is such a special time of year, I’m always interested in new ways to count down to Christmas. My friend Nancy recently shared a good one: a Christmas book a day. Here’s how it works. Scour your children’s book collection for 25 books about Christmas. Don’t have 25 books about Christmas? Neither do I, so I also included books about winter and snow. For example, I include The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton. You can also visit your local library to supplement your collection. Just make sure to keep those at the front of the pile so they don’t become overdue! Also consider that booksellers may have Christmas books on sale during the holiday season.
Once you’ve amassed your pile, find a nice basket to hold all your books, and put it in a special spot, for example under your tree, by your fireplace or on a side table in the family room. Then it’s time to start wrapping! Pull out the wrapping paper, ribbon and bows, wrap each book and place it in the basket. (Note: You could use your recycled Christmas cards in lieu of bows here.) There’s nothing children love more during the holidays than unwrapping a present. Designate a special time each day (first thing in the morning or bedtime, for example), and let each child take turns unwrapping a “present.” Then you can all enjoy reading the book together. What a nice holiday tradition!
Kirsten W. Larson 
We didn’t use books as part of our Advent calendars (wish I’d read this back then!), but I would display a pile of holiday books from the library among the traditional decorations for the kids to choose from. What I could have saved!
I think it’s fun to incorporate Christmas books no matter how you do it. The boys just enjoy the surprise of ripping open a present each day. It makes the books they’ve read over and over special.
I can remember the very early days, when unwrapping was enough to keep them happy!
And boxes…
🙂
Cool! I also like the idea of building the manger scene over eating candy. I will have to store this idea away for when I have kids.
There are so many great ideas out there. I am sure you could find quite a bit on Pinterest. I am trying to avoid it because I’m sure I’d be on there for hours.
This is a lovely idea 🙂 You could also get books from the library that way you can mix it up every year. At our library you can borrow books for up to a month.
Great idea, Melissa. I actually just checked out three from the library today. They wouldn’t let me check out more than three. 😦
This is such a lovely idea, Kirsten! I so wish I’d thought of it when my kids were little!
Nice!