This is my first year doing this tradition, and it wasn’t a tradition in my family when I was growing up, but I read about it on the internet and thought it sounded like a GREAT idea. I have so many winter/Christmas/Hanukkah/Holiday children’s books (from collecting books as an education student and as a teacher), and this tradition will make sure they are all read and enjoyed each year. Some people number the books to make sure they are read in a certain order. I’m going to just let things happen as they will.
You will need:
- 24-25 books, depending on if you want one for Christmas day. (if they are not all “winter themed” just fill in with other books you already have)Funky Polkadot also reminds you that you can even wrap books from the library — just make sure they won’t end up overdue!
- Wrapping paper and tape
- A special basket
- Your kids
Step 1: Wrap all the books with wrapping paper.
Step 2: Place in a special basket in your snuggly reading place.
Step 3: Each night, let your kids choose a book to unwrap, and read it together before bed.
Step 4: Before putting the books away after the holiday season is over, wrap them again so they’re ready to go for next year AND you get to use up any leftover wrapping paper.
I love the idea of adding activities for each day on a tag on each book, at TheLittleBig. That’s something I’ll probably add in a few years, when the kiddos can get really excited about it.
Another perk of this is that Anneliese is getting lots of practice unwrapping gifts! By Christmas day she’ll be a pro and ready to go! She has enjoyed some stories more than others, and some of them she has even carried around for a while in a hug, and asked me to read them multiple times. Others, she gets up and leaves mid-story (some are a bit involved for a 16-month-old at this point, but that’s okay).
So, I have a lot of books… I’ll probably rotate some out if I notice that Anneliese (and later Joseph) isn’t very interested in them, and pull in new ones now and then.
The books I wrapped up this year for our Christmas Advent:
 If You Take a Mouse to the Movies |
 Santa Claus The World’s Number One Toy Expert — hands down, Anneliese’s favorite so far. |
 Bear’s First Christmas |
 Merry Christmas, Strega Nona |
 The Night before the Night Before Christmas |
 Who’ll Pull Santa’s Sleigh Tonight |
 Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah |
 Christmas Mice! |
 The Very Snowy Christmas |
 Our Eight Nights of Hanukkah |
 The Family Christmas Tree Boo |
Jingle the Christmas Clown (she also LOVED this one, and kept pointing at the baby animals and saying “baby!”) |
 Gingerbread Mouse |
 Mooseltoe |
 How the Reindeer Got Their Antlers |
 I Have a Little Dreidel |
 Snowmen at Christmas |
 Olive, the Other Reindeer |
 Merry Christmas Stinky Face |
 Winter Lights |
 I Spy a Candy Cane |
 Can You See What I See? Christmas |
 The Night Before Christmas |
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5 Comments
[…] crafting and trying out new things, so I jumped at the chance. I planned to make a basket for my Christmas Book Advent Countdown. I wanted simple triangle-style Christmas trees on one side in my holiday colors – orange, […]
By the way, I noticed you use gDiapers! We’ve been using them for 3 years, love them! Glad to see a fellow gmama spreading the word 🙂
Ok, thank you. Around the ankel inside jps is a great idea!
Wow, I love this idea! I am so doing this for my kids next year! I have a random question for you. Do you leave Annalieses amber necklace one all the time? Do you take it off when she rides in the car or sleeps? I just bought my daughter one and I don’t know if I can leave iton her all day long or if I should only put it on for a n hour or two while she seems to be fussy.
It’s on pretty much 24/7. She doesn’t really mess with it much or try to chew on it (if she did, it wouldn’t be okay for sleeping). A lot of people will wrap it twice around baby’s ankle (inside of footed PJs) at night instead of as a necklace. And I think you’re really supposed to take it off in the bath too but I usually don’t…