Holidays in Our Home: Christmas Books

Where to begin? My biggest concern about Christmas books is having enough time to read them all! We have had gross weather this week, with too many home days in a row, but the upside has been plenty of time to read. In order to read all the books we want to read each December, we use Christmas books for tea time and bed time. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and just today I've read and heard about several books I want to add to our collection, but we do consider the following books to be must-haves...

• Dream Snow by Eric Carle  - Patti-Grams bought this book for us several years ago, and this is one of my favorite picture books to read to young children. I love the simple illustrations and the opportunity to review basic counting and animal names. I love that the farmer looks so much like Santa, and I adore the tinkling sound that "tree"makes at the end. This has definitely been Will's favorite this year.
• Baby's Christmas by Eloise Wilkin - This was one of our books when I was growing up, and like many books by Eloise Wilkin, the story is very simplistic, but the illustrations are some of my favorites. Her depiction of family life is one of the sweetest I've seen. She is the author and/or illustrator of most of my very favorite golden books, and I remember falling in love early on with her images of families. 
• Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett - I bought this our first Christmas in Atlanta, and it has become the essential read for our gingerbread house making day. I am also crazy about Jan Brett's illustrations, and her perfect gingerbread house at the end of Gingerbread Baby is what I picture when I set about to build one of my own. (This is not the place to insert this year's picture...) The story is about one naughty little gingerbread baby and can't be properly enjoyed without sampling gingerbread and candy, of course.
• Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco - I bought this book simply because of the author, whose children's books I adore. It is a beautiful story, but a bit longer, not ideal for very small children unless they happen to be stuffing their faces with snack (as Will was when I read this book recently...). Christmas Tapestry is a tender reminder of how the Lord orchestrates events and weaves relationships together like a beautiful tapestry. 
• The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg - A popular Christmas choice, though I don't think we had it until I bought it last year. The illustrations are beautiful, and we simply must drink hot chocolate when we read it!
• The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry - Our copy was illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger, and again this is one of the books we had when I was growing up, so reading it is particularly nostalgic for me. (This particular edition was selected by The New York Times as one of the ten best illustrated books of 1982... This one is again a bit longer, and not ideal for tiny ones. The well-known story is just beautiful though, and I love the picture it paints of sacrificial love.
• Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell  - This book was given to Sophie a couple of years ago by her great grandmother. Again, the illustrations are warm and tender. The story is that of the animals in the barn during the nativity. The preciousness of the story is in being open to a little one, particularly a little one that came to save the world. 
• Jan Brett's Christmas Treasury  - As I mentioned, we love Jan Brett's stories and illustrations. I'm not normally wild about treasuries, but I bought this one because every illustration is included in its full size. You could spend hours looking at all the details she includes in her paintings. I particularly like how she uses foreshadowing in her illustrations, by showing in a panel on the right what will be happening when you turn the page. Included in this treasury is: The Mitten, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, Trouble with Trolls, The Twelve Days of Christmas, The Hat, Christmas Trolls, and The Night Before Christmas. It is hard to pick favorites from these, but the Ukrainian origins of The Mitten and The Hat are particularly special to our family.
• Through the Animals' Eyes by Christopher Wormell - I believe this was new to us last year, given to Sophie by Patti-Grams. It is the nativity story from the animals' perspective, and the illustrations alone make this a must-have. If you have any animal lovers, big or small, you don't want to miss out on this book. I also love the simple text and the font in which the text written. Wormell is a wood engraver, and his illustrations have that texture. His illustration of a lion sitting majestically upon a rock with the text "Her child would be the Song of God, whose kingdom would have no end" gives me chills every time I read it.
• Father and Son by Geraldine McCaughrean - This is new to us this year, given to Will by Patti-Grams. Part of how I know a book warrants re-readings is by whether or not I get goose bumps as I read. Father and Son gave me major goose bumps! It is the nativity story from Joseph's perspective, and he reflects on how he can be an adequate parent to God incarnate. I don't know that this caught the children's attention as much as it did mine, but for anyone who has pondered the great responsibility of parenting our own children, Joseph's struggle is overwhelmingly beautiful. 
  

So many of my memories are tied in to the books our family read at special times of the year, and I so thankful that my children are inheriting this rich treasury of words and pictures that will become part of how they view this miraculous time of year.