My Favorite Christmas Books

I love getting recommendations for good books. And I love pulling out all of our Christmas books this time of the year. I’ve already added a few new ones to our collection this year. I love the illustrations just as much as the stories.

So, if you are looking for a few new Christmas books to give as gifts or to read in your own home or classroom, here are several of my favorites!

Snowmen at Night

By Caralyn Buehner, Illustrated by Mark Buehner

Everyone should have the snowmen books. The illustrations are wonderful and the rhymes fun to read. My kids love finding all of the hidden pictures inside the pictures.

Snowmen at Christmas

By Caralyn Bueher, Illustrated by Mark Buehner

The second book in the snowmen series. We just love these.

Mortimer's Christmas Manger

By Karma Wilson, Illustrated by Jane Chapman

My sister shared this book with me one year. It is an adorable story of little Mortimer mouse who moves from his cramped mouse hole into a house just his size and learns the real meaning of Christmas.

Room for a Little One

By Martin Waddell, Illustrated by Jason Cockcroft

I fell in love with the soft, beautiful illustrations in this book. The rhyme and story are just as sweet. All of the animals make room for each other and then make room for the little one at the end. Love this book.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

By Susan Wojciechowski, Illustrated by P.J. Lynch

A friend gave this book to me for Christmas almost 15 years ago. It is a beautiful story of Jonathan Toomey a grumpy, lonely woodcarver who is asked to carve a new nativity. As he carves and is befriended by the widow and her son, love and happiness come back to his life.

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree

By Robert Barry

A new favorite this year. I had never heard of this book but it has actually been around for a long time! I loved this story. Mr. Willowby puts up his Christmas tree only to find it is a little too tall. The top is cut off and given to the maid, who finds that her tree is perfect, just a little too tall. She cuts the top off and leaves it out with the trash. The story goes on and on until everybody has a tree as wonderful as Mr. Willowby’s!

Bear Stays Up for Christmas

By Karma Wilson, Illustrated by Jane Chapman

Poor bear is so tired, but his friends help him stay up for Christmas. I love the fun and warmth of their little party inside the cave all through Christmas Eve until Christmas morning. A great rhyming story.

The Night Before Christmas

By Clement C. Moore, Illustrated by Mary Engelbreit

By far, my favorite version of this story. Mary Engelbreit’s illustrations are colorful, charming and beautiful. My kids love reading this story and looking at all of the fun details.

Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear

By Audrey & Don Wood

Another new favorite this year. I love the original story and was excited to find this Christmas version. The illustrations are wonderful and the story is heartwarming as little mouse shares his gifts with the big, hungry bear in the dark, cold cave. A delightful Christmas story.

Christmas Day in the Morning

By Pearl S. Buck, Illustrated by Mark Buehner

Another one of my favorite Christmas stories to get out each year. The illustrations just make it that much more charming. A young boy decides to give his father the best Christmas gift ever by getting up early in the morning to get all of the farm chores done. I love the Christmas message it sends of the best gifts we can give.

Christmas in the Manger

By Nola Buck, Illustrated by Felicia Bond

Simple text. Clear and simple illustrations. A beautiful Christmas story about Baby Jesus.

The Christmas Train

By Thomas S. Monson, Illustrated by Dan Burr

Another new story we added to our collection this year. The illustrations and true story of Thomas S. Monson as a boy are warm and beautiful.

Gingerbread, Gingerbread, Gingerbread

We had another great week of our friend preschool at my friend Camie’s house.

Her theme was GINGERBREAD!

I have been waiting for this week since September. There are so many fun things to do with gingerbread and it was the perfect way to end preschool for the year before our Christmas break.

 

• Jingle Bell Necklaces … so simple and the kids loved them!
  1. Make a simple jingle bell necklace.
  2. String ribbon through a single jingle bell and tie.

• Read “Jingle Bells” illustrated by Normand Chartier. Find it here!
  1. The text in this book is the same as the song “Jingle Bells”
  2. Sing the song as you read the book.
  3. Jingle your jingle bell necklaces as you read.

• Read “The Gingerbread Boy” retold by Harriet Ziefert. This is a simple version that’s easy to read.

 

• Gingerbread Boy Color Game … the kids enjoyed this!
  1. So this is the only picture I got of this game but it was fun.
  2. Cut out several gingerbread boys in different colors.
     • Click on the gingerbread pattern above, then right click and ‘save as’ to use it.
     • Or just trace a gingerbread cookie cutter you may have.
  3. Attach a craft stick to each gingerbread boy.
  4. Have the kids stand up and run in place as you all repeat this rhyme:

     “Run, run as fast as you can until you can name the color I am!”

  5. Run until somebody calls out the color!
  6. Then choose a new color and repeat.

• Read “Maisy Makes Gingerbread” by Lucy Cousins
  1. What a cute story! I don’t have this one, but I will be adding it to my collection soon A perfect book to read if you plan to make gingerbread with your kids!

 

• Gingerbread Boy Ornaments
  1. These came as a ready-to-make set from a craft store like Michaels or Joann.
     • TIP: Right now is a great time to find clearanced Christmas crafts and activities. I like to get a few to save for next year!
  2. Or you can cut out a gingerbread boy or girl from brown craft foam paper.
  3. Cut out shapes from colored foam paper and glue on!
• Wooden Craft Ornament
  1. The kids got to decorate these cute wooden ornaments. Again, available at craft stores.
  2. Use a Q-tip to spread glitter glue on gingerbread cutout or ornament.
  3. When they dry, they sparkle and look so festive.

 

• Decorate a Gingerbread Boy cake! … if you can believe it, Camie made one of these gingerbread cakes for each family to decorate and take home. What a treat!
  1. Bake and cool the cakes. Camie has a great gingerbread recipe here. She used a silicone gingerbread cake mold but said those were a little tricky to bake in. You could even try cutting it out by hand?!
  2. Give the kids a small bowl of frosting and craft sticks to spread it. That worked perfectly.
  3. Have a few bowls of different candies to decorate your man!

 

• Gingerbread Waffles with Ice Cream and Peppermint Sauce. Recipe here.

Can I just say that we are spoiled during preschool at Camie’s house?! This treat was absolutely delicious. I even made it again for my family for our family home evening treats last night and they asked me to please make it again. A perfect way to end our gingerbread day. Thanks Camie!

Mortimer’s Christmas Manger

My sister introduced me to this book quite a few years ago and it is one of our Christmas favorites each year!

• Read “Mortimer's Christmas Manger” by Karma Wilson … this sweet little mouse is tired of living in a cold, cramped, creepy hole in the wall. So he ventures out at Christmastime and “what he finds is wonderful!”

 

• Make a candy cane mouse!
1. Use this simple pattern from Martha Stewart.
2. Trace & cut out on felt.
3. Assemble and add eyes and a felt or pom pom nose with craft glue.
4. Insert a candy cane for the tail!

 

• Nativity finger puppets … in the book, Mortimer makes room for himself in the nativity set displayed on the table.
1. Print out these free nativity finger puppets from Craftaholics Anonymouse!
2. Cut out, fold and tape each one.
3. Color!
4. Insert little fingers and have fun re-telling the story of Baby Jesus.

 

• Brown Paper Bag Gingerbread House … at the end of the story, Mortimer finds a sweet new house just his size.
1. Print out this cute gingerbread house from Making Friends (you can print in color or black & white!)
2. Use as a great coloring page.
3. Or color, cut out and glue to the front of a small brown paper bag.
4. Fill the bag with treats or a small gift.

Gingerbread Man

 

• Read as many different versions of "The Gingerbread Man" as you can find!

• Gingerbread Colors
  1. Make several gingerbread man puppets in different colors (one gingerbread man is red, one is orange, one is blue, etc) on popsicle sticks.
  2. Click on the gingerbread man picture above to print it on several colors.
  3. Hold up one of the gingerbread puppets and have the kids run in place as you recite the rhyme below.
  4. Have them name the color and stop running! Continue with the rest of the colors.

Run, run, as fast as you can

Until you can name

The color I am!

• Make gingerbread cookies together. Decorate them to look like gingerbread men.

• Or have the kids play “Gingerbread Man: Made to Order”
  1. Have them guess how many M&Ms, gumdrops, red hots (or whatever decorations you’re using) it will take to decorate their gingerbread man.
  2. Write the number down
  3. Help them count out that many candies
  4. Decorate the gingerbread man!

Christmas Around the World Advent

In 2009, the Friend magazine had a great advent calendar (pages 24-25).

Every day in December, we learned how kids in different countries celebrate Christmas. We read one each day and tried to do the same activities if we could. I have saved this file and we pull it out each year. I didn’t take many pictures, but here are a few we did…

• Kids in Mexico make farolitos and this is our version.
  1. We used vellum and the kids used crayons to draw Christmasy things.
  2. Tape them into a tube that just fits around a little pint jar
  3. Stick a little tea light candle in and wah-lah. They look really cool when the lights are turned off.

•  Kids in Holland eat banketletter
  1. make a cake in the shape of the first letter in your family's last name.
  2. This is the best I could do for a K-shaped cake. Yummy no matter what letter!

We also had Christmas cake and strawberries like the kids in Japan.

We hung a Coleman lantern on our front porch because that's the closest we could come to putting lighted candles on our roofs like the kids in India.

My 5-year-old loved leaving his shoes by the fireplace and waking up to them filled with candy like the kids in Germany.

We also made a batch of rice pudding (recipe HERE) that we tried like the kids in Norway. We hid a nut in one of the bowls and whoever found it in their pudding got a special prize.

Print out your Christmas Around the World Advent HERE!