Christmas tree lit, hot chocolate in hand, fuzzy blanket ready: it's the perfect time for cuddling on the sofa to read your holiday favorites with your littles. We keep our Christmas-themed books packed up with decorations so that they are kept special for the season (because who wants to read about Rudolph in May?). Some of our books come from our own childhoods, maybe even with our names and the date inscribed on the first page. Some are baby gifts our kids received in recent years. From our entire collection, I've narrowed down a "nice list" of our family's top 7 Christmas books for you:
- The Night Before Christmas -- Really, pick any book that illustrates this traditional Santa Claus poem. The ones I've read since I was a kid seem extra magical.
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer -- This book follows the classic Christmas special Rudolph. It's fun to follow this story and song we know well in a different format.
- The Christmas Book -- This one I received on my first Christmas as a baby. It is Golden Press Shape book that tells the story behind the holiday, following Mary & Joseph through to the birth of baby Jesus.
- Must Be Santa -- Based on the song with the same name, just try to read this one without breaking into song!
- The Shepherds' Surprise: A Pop-Up Book -- From my own childhood, this is an interactive pop-up book that tells the story of the Nativity from the shepherds' perspective.
- A Charlie Brown Christmas --Also based on the TV special, we love reading this board book of Charles M. Schulz's characters for another look at the story.
- Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien -- This one is so cool! There are no hobbits in this longer book given to our kids by their grandparents. Older kids will even enjoy reading about and looking at the drawings of the adventures of Father Christmas and the North Polar Bear, told in letters that you can pull out of envelopes throughout the book.
- The Twelve Days of Christmas (Anne Geddes) -- You might be surprised that this one made a top-7 list! But our 4-year-old daughter cannot get enough of it! In case you missed the 90s, Anne Geddes was a popular photographer who photographed babies in fantastical pictures. It makes me giggle just to think of it. But kids love looking at the babies dressed up as the 12 gifts from this classic song.
What's your favorite book from this season? Comment on our Instagram post @macaronikidhendricks to let us know.
