I don't know about you, but my kids LOVE Christmas books. And man, does the library have some awful, trite ones. Over the last few years we've slowly upgraded our Christmas book collection, buying a few new ones each year. And now we have a pretty great selection! So I thought I'd share 11 of the ones you can buy without fear of mind-numbing-ness.
Mortimer's Christmas Manger is my favorite. It's so sweet. And it makes me tear up a little bit every time. It's nice because it's Jesus-centered, but not just "let's retell the same old Bethlehem story again".
My favorite line in Morris's Disappearing Bag is when the siblings can't find Morris, and they're worried that he made himself so beautiful that they don't recognize him. Haha! A cute story of sibling sharing and special gifts.
What makes B is for Bethlehem are the pictures. They're absolutely spectacular! And the inclusion of more unusual elements of the Nativity Story than kids' books usually get into is great. (A is for Augustus, after all.)
Humphrey's First Christmas is the Bethlehem story, from the point of view of the camel. Humphrey's facial expressions crack. me. up.
We have a slightly different (out of print) edition of My First Christmas Board Book, and Juliet is obsessed. She will literally flip through this one for a solid 20 minutes, looking at and identifying every little Christmas item. Perfect for toddlers.
I adore The Jolly Christmas Postman. It was mine when I was a kid, and Eleanor loves it too now. It's got puzzles and lift the flaps, and tiny books within books. I wouldn't recommend it for under age 4 or so... you don't want them destroying it. But it's beautiful for slightly older kids. The postman is delivering mail for lots of fictional characters - Santa, the Big Bad Wolf, Red Riding Hood, the Gingerbread Boy, etc.
Christmas Around the World shows Christmas traditions in a bunch of countries - including South Africa, Norway, France, Mexico, and the U.S. Eleanor's mind was basically blown when she discovered that Christmas happens in the middle of summer in Australia.
You can't go wrong with George! And Merry Christmas Curious George is nice - because George cheers up a bunch of sick kids at the children's hospital, by decorating a tree with bandages and x-rays and stuff. Super cute.
I love these Little House picture books! In Christmas in the Big Woods it's so cute to see Mary and Laura's Christmas celebration, and nice to have the story simplified for those who aren't quite ready to read the real thing.
If You Take a Mouse to the Movies follows the usual pattern of the Mouse books by Laura Numeroff. It's really cute though, and Mouse gets oh-so-excited about popcorn and Christmas trees and ornaments! I'm not quite sure why it's such a hit around here, since we have similar books, but we all really like this one.
Ok, Jingle! Jingle! is a bit of a cheat, since we don't actually own it, unlike the rest of this list! Our library doesn't have it, unfortunately, and I've spent enough money on books this year. But we are BIG fans of the rest of the books in the Can You Say It, Too? series. Juliet loves Arf! Arf! and Woof! Woof! and Hoot! Hoot! So I'm assuming that Jingle! Jingle! is super cute too.
What Christmas books do YOU own?
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P.S. Looking for more Christmas books? Check out my (Grownup) Christmas Favorites for Rereading and 100+ Christmas, Winter, and Hanukkah Books (for kids).
