Our Christmas Book List

As promised, here's a peek into our December book basket! You will see quite an eclectic mix below. There are also a few that I wasn't able to get at the library so I'll try and remember to post those titles as well. :) 

To preface: In our home we do talk about Santa as well as the true reason for Christmas - the birth of the Christ child. There is a GREAT resource book called Santa Are You For Real? that talks about the real St. Nicholas and how is goal was to keep Christ as the true focus of Christmas. I want my girls to enjoy some of the traditions that I grew up with for Christmas and Santa is part of that - the key is finding the right balance between the emphasis of Jesus' birth and some of the Santa traditions.

And now, on to our library stack! :) 

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Seuss
• The Polar Express - Allsburg (This was the base of our school theme this week. We read this book, talked about the North Pole & watched the movie last night).
• Letters from Father Christmas - truthfully, I checked this out for me and my husband! :) It's a book of beautifully illustrated letters that Tolkien wrote to his boys from Father Christmas. One that I will most definitely be adding to our library some day.
• Ollie's Ski Trip
• B is for Bethlehem
• Auntie Claus - a story about how it is better to give than to receive
• The Three Snow Bears - the story of the three bears. Note: my girls LOVE Jan Brett books. She has beautifully illustrated story books with incredible details.
• Christmas in the Stable
• A Donkey's Dream
• The Last Straw
• The Cobweb Curtain - this is our book for next week. We'll read this story (of a spider the helps Mary & Joseph) and talk about spiders in school. *shudders* My girls will love it. :) (I think we'll do this craft as well.
• Room for a Little One
• The Friendly Beasts - Tomie dePaola, another author my girls enjoy.
• Lotta's Christmas Surprise
• Santa's Favorite Story - Santa himself shares the true meaning of Christmas, baby Jesus
• The Mitten - Jan Brett, again
• Gingerbread Baby - Jan Brett

Some that didn't make the picture:

• Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve - Jan Brett
• The Wild Christmas Reindeer - Brett

And, I'll point you in the direction of some other Christmas lists that I've seen (although I have not read all the books so I'll give that disclaimer!)

• Christmas book and Advent activites at the Crafty Crow
• Check out the lengthy list of books in the left sidebar at Elizabeth Foss' site
• an Advent / Christmas unit using the books of Tomie de Paola
• plenty of books about the real St. Nicholas if you are interested
• a lot of my book ideas came from this post

I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but I have to stop now. Must be off to get girls dress for their Christmas program rehearsal this morning. Happy Saturday!