I cannot tell you how excited I am about getting to do the whole Christmas thing on our own, especially now that Ella is really into the concept.
One of the projects I've worked on quite a bit over the last couple of weeks is getting together a collection of Christmas books and wrapping them all so that Ella can open one each day until Christmas.
Also, reading to a toddler is an activity I can do while holding a newborn, so that makes it very appealing this year.
We own a few of these titles and then the rest I checked out from the library (which is, admittedly, a bit risky what with the possibility of other people requesting them, forcing me to either pay fines or unwrap a bunch of presents - I did write the names of each book on the back of the wrapping paper so I can find ones as needed).
And thanks to having a few more books in our Christmas collection than I'd remembered, I started a couple of days early, just so it wasn't EVERYTHING starting on Dec 1st. I put one book under the tree each night and Ella opens it in the morning. It's fun to start the day snuggling together in our bed with a new book.
I'll probably buy copies of the ones we like best this year and continue to grow our collection over the years, swapping in a few new titles every year to keep things fresh.
Anyway, here are the 25 books under our tree this year:
- The Christmas Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood and Renata Liwska
- Toot and Puddles: Let it Snow by Holly Hobbie
- Albert and the Angels by Leslie Norris and Mordicai Gerstein
- A Creature was Stirring by Clement Clarke Moore and Carter Goodrich
- Pete the Cat Saves Christmas by James Dean and Eric Litwin
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson and Laura Cornell
- One Starry Night by Lauren Thompson
- Mouse's First Christmas by Lauren Thompson and Buket Erdogan
- Millie in the Snow by Alexander Steffensmeier
- Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner and Mark Buehner
- Oliver and Amanda's Christmas Jean Van Leeuwenand Ann Schweninger
- Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney
- Dream Snow by Eric Carle
- Christmas in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Renee Graef
- Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Alison Jay
- Inside Outside Christmas by Robin Spowart
- Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell and Jason Cockcroft
- Toot and Puddles: I'll Be Home for Christmas by Holly Hobbie
- Reindeer Christmas by Mark Kimball Moulton and Karen Hillard Good
- Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry
- Santa Mouse by Michael Brown
- Listen to the Silent Night by Dandi Daley Mackall, Lou Fancher, and Steve Johnson
- Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
- Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas by Julia Rawlinson and Tiphanie Beeke
- On This Special Night by Claire Freedman and Simon Mendez
What fun. I love the idea of getting library books and wrapping them to add to your collection. Between the books and the Advent activities, you, Bart, and Ella are going to have a great Christmas. And we are excited for Ella's little sister to come and join in the fun. Hope everything goes well.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't done this before, but my oldest daughter, who is 11 - and way more organized than her mother- got this lined up, and I have been wrapping a few books here and there. Just 10 more to go! Then we'll start in with the book a day thing until Christmas, too. I included a few chapter books - A Newbery Christmas and Truce by Jim Murphy for my older girls that we obviously can't read all at once.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Thanks for sharing this! I'm passing it on to my sisters for their kids :)
ReplyDeleteThe best countdown to Christmas idea I've ever heard!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you have Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree on your list. That is one of my favorites. We just moved and our new place has *ahem* some mice issues. (Ew.) When we got our tree in the house we had to snip the top off, as it was a smidge too tall, and I about died (laughing) when Tom put the tip under the stove (where the mice come up from the crawl space) for the mice. I like the idea better in book form. :)
ReplyDeleteMy mom gave Llama Llama Holiday Drama to T this year, and it is darling. Although nothing can compare to the original Llama Llama.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first year we're doing our own thing, too. And even though T doesn't get it, it's nice because he doesn't expect certain traditions. We might fly the coop and head to Tahoe for Christmas! We'll see.
I love this idea! It makes me want to dig out my favorite Christmas books - although I guess Clara is a few years away from appreciating The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.
ReplyDeletedude. seriously cute idea.
ReplyDeleteWow, I am in love with this idea. Great, as always!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea!
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to do this. Maybe I still can a day late. I think I have more than enough books even without the library. Of course I will have to make them take turns opening them. . .
ReplyDeleteI love this idea.
ReplyDeleteI just maxed out my library hold allotment trying to get as many of these as possible ;)
ReplyDeletewhat a cute idea! How fun that Ella gets to unwrap something every morning :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.randomthoughtsandfeelings1.blogspot.com
I am so curious about Mr. Willoughby's Christmas Tree... our favorite is called Once There Was a Christmas Tree. Same story, but with all animals. It looks like it might be an updated version of the same story?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Once-There-Was-Christmas-Tree/dp/0439724996
Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini is popular with my little guy. We got it as part of a Christmas book pack from the Scholastic order form. We got 12 books for less than $20 total so less than $2 each. I read a different book to him each night for the twelve nights before Christmas. Mooseltoe was, by far, his favourite.
ReplyDeleteIf you have access to Scholastic order forms through school or preschool, it might be worth it to pick up a pack for next year. It'll save you from stressing over late fees from the library and you can always donate them after your children have grown out of them.