One of my favorite parts of the season is opening the box of Christmas books and putting them on the book rack right by the Christmas tree. They are, truly, old friends. For me, the mark of a good Christmas book is that it makes me cry.
We have a good number of children’s books for Christmas, and I try to add a new book each year. We have some of the popular ones like The Polar Express and some silly but sentimental ones like Mercer Mayer’s Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad, starring Little Critter. I love to hear my Dad read Twas the Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve. Some of the books we give the obligatory seasonal read and then put back on the rack.
But I have my favorites. These are the books that, without fail, make me cry at some point. My voice catches, a child’s head pops up and looks at me and says, “Mama! Are you crying again?” I can’t help it.
1. The Tale of the Three Trees (retold by Angela Elwell Hunt): This book ties it all together—Jesus’ birth, life, and death—in a simple but eloquent story. I get choked up on almost every page.
2. The Story of Holly and Ivy (by Rumer Godden): This one takes us a couple of reading periods to get through, but it is so well worth it. This is the story of an orphan who wants a grandmother, a doll who wants a home, and a woman who wants a family. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
3. The House Without a Christmas Tree (by Gail Rock): I loved this TV special when I was a kid, but I’m not sure I’d ever read the book until a few years ago when I picked it up at a yard sale. Now my daughter and I read this story annually of a girl who begs her father for a Christmas tree, and I always cry at the end.
4. A Wish for Wings That Work (by Berkeley Breathed): Is it weird to get weepy over a book about a penguin named Opus? I can’t help it; there’s something about Santa saying, “Ho, ho, ho, go!” to a penguin whose wings don’t work that brings tears every time. Also, this was one of the books we bought for our oldest for his first Christmas, so it’s extra sentimental.
5. The First Night (by B.G. Hennessy): This short book starts off with one of my favorite Bible verses: “And the World became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14) and proceeds to tell the birth of Christ in simple but poetic text. I especially love the rustic look of the paintings, done on butternut wood and shaped with a jigsaw. It’s the simplicity of a birth—of a new life—that gets me every time.
6. The Christmas Doll (by Elvira Woodruff): This wonderful chapter book (for ages 9 and up) tells the story of sisters Lucy and Glory, who escape from the orphanage to avoid a deadly epidemic only to face the bitter winter on the London streets. The story starts out a bit scary, as all good orphanage tales do, but ends up absolutely lovely.
What are your family’s favorite Christmas books? Maybe we’ll add them to our shelf this year!
Sarah Small has been reading voraciously for more than a few decades and homeschooling for 11 years. She has her master’s degree in creative writing and enjoys writing poetry. She writes about homeschooling, family, and life in general at SmallWorld at Home. She also offers SmallWorld’s WordSmithery, an ongoing series of free creative writing lessons.
My favorite Christmas book, hands down, is “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” I haven’t read it to my kids yet – this is the first year we’re getting into chapter books with them. I admit that I’ve kind of avoided reading it out loud with them because I can’t get through the last 15 pages or so without crying.
Oh yes! We just finished reading The Best Christmas today again. I forgot how much I love it!
I like “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” I read it with my family every year.
One Wintry Night is a good one.
What an awesome tradition! My husband has been buying me a a disk of Christmas music every year for years now, but I was just looking at my collection & feeling like it was enough. Maybe next year we’ll have to switch to books instead! And I love the idea of having a stash of Christmas books, like we do with the Christmas music. What a lovely tradition!
I love “The Three Trees” also. We just read “Father and Son, A Nativity Story” for the first time after I checked it out at our local library. It talks about how Joseph may have felt about being the earthly stepfather of Jesus. It was a thought provoking book and my 7 yr old enjoyed it.
Thanks for the list; I always love to discover new books! Here are our favorites right now (geared toward toddlers):
http://inthepurplehouse.blogspot.com/2010/12/great-christmas-books-for-toddlers_13.html
My favorite for the board book stage is B is for Bethlehem. The illustrations are breath-taking, and it’s a fun read! http://www.amazon.com/Bethlehem-Christmas-Alphabet-Board-Book/dp/0525473238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292770689&sr=8-1
I’ll have to check out The Tale of Three Trees…it sounds wonderful. Here are some of our favorites this year: http://morethanmundane.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/christmas-picture-books/
Thanks for the book suggestions! Two others we really like are “A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree” and “Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect.”
I love all these suggestions. Many of them we haven’t read, so I am on my way to the library today!
My all time favorites are The Best Christmas Pagaent Ever and Max Lucado’s The Crippled Lamb.