Our 2019 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels {Plus Lots of Christmas Books to Giveaway!}

Advent begins just one week from Sunday! 

The length of Advent always varies from 22-28 days, beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30th) and embracing four Sundays. The first day of Advent can fall as early as November 27th or as late as December 3rd. This year Advent begins on December 1st.  I love it when that happens! 

Every Advent our family counts down the days until Christmas with picture books, Advent Calendars, and the Jesse Tree. Years ago, when we didn't have enough Christmas themed picture books to wrap one for each day of Advent, I would check some Christmas books out from the library just before Advent began, using Christmas Mosaic as a guide. We have added many books to our home library since then, giving one Christmas themed book to each of our children on the feast of St. Nicholas, and our collection has definitely grown.  (You can find this year's St. Nick books here!) 

In the past I have filled our Advent basket with Christmas Mosaic titles and our children's 35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books. One year I picked twenty-six of MY favorites (although I still find new favorites to add to my list each year!) and one year I left the choosing up to my husband and our oldest daughter. We've had great lists the last two years too: 2017 and 2018. 

I currently keep all of our Christmas picture books on the bottom two shelves of a corner bookshelf upstairs... The other night I went up there and pulled out a whole bunch of my favorites. I sorted through them all, removing the ones I wrapped and read to our children last Advent (with the exception of a few annual favorites including The Donkey's Dream, The Miracle of St. Nicholas and Bambinelli Sunday) and that's how I came up with this year's list! 

{Note: All links to Amazon are affiliate links. If you choose to click any of the links, then add an item (any item!) to your cart and complete the purchase, I will receive a commission. Thank you!}

December 1 - 1st Sunday of Advent: Waiting for Christmas: A Story About the Advent Calendar - set up Advent Calendars and Jesse Tree

December 2: Christmas Farm

December 3: Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree

December 4: Kristoph and the First Christmas Tree

December 5: The Legend of St. Nicholas - write letters to Christ Child/Saint Nicholas, bake Speculaas or St. Nicholas Cookies, and decorate St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins to give to others

December 6 - St. Nicholas: St. Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins

December 7 - St. Ambrose: The Attic Saint - (New Release... Coming soon!) Bake a Honeycomb Cake, decorate Christmas Candles

December 8 - Immaculate Conception and 2nd Sunday of Advent: Apple Tree Christmas

December 9: A Wish to be a Christmas Tree

December 10: The Bears' Christmas Surprise (Back in print!! Find this year's reprint here!) 

December 11: The Christmas Cobwebs

December 12 - Hanna's Christmas - prepare for tomorrow's feast day

December 13 - Santa Lucia Day: Lucia Saint of Light

December 14: Bambinelli Sunday (this year we'll read it on the eve of Bambinelli Sunday) 

December 15 - 3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete Sunday: The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher

December 16: Nine Days to Christmas: A Story of Mexico

December 17 - O Sapientia: The Miracle of St. Nicholas

December 18 - O Adonai: The Donkey's Dream *Catholic Mosaic - pray Litany of Mary from which the names of Mary used in this book were taken 

December 19 - O Radix Jesse: My Wonderful Christmas Tree

December 20 - O Clavis David: Silent Night: The wonderful story of the beloved Christmas carol

December 21 - O Oriens: Bethlehem (Catholic Edition) 

December 22 - 4th Sunday of Advent - O Rex Gentium: Small Camel Follows the Star

December 23 - O Emmanuel: The First Christmas (Brand new! O Antiphon gift for this year.) 

December 24 - Vigil of Christmas: There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve

About four or five years ago I switched to brown paper along with purple and pink ribbon, instead of the original purple and pink wrapping paper I would use years ago... This year I'm reusing brown paper bags along with the ribbons I reuse every year and our homemade labels!

As always, we'll unwrap and read one book each night during Advent, following our family rosary. The rest of our book collection will be placed in additional baskets for the kids to read whenever they'd like during the seasons of Advent and Christmas. 

If you'd like to use my little labels too, you can download my Advent Book Basket Labels for 2019 over at Dropbox.

(Note: I made two versions this year: Extraordinary Form or Novus Ordo...The difference is that the feast of the Immaculate Conception is transferred to the 9th on the New Calendar and remains on the 8th for Extraordinary Form. I included the Ember Days on both sets.)

I'm still waiting for The Attic Saint to arrive and I'm also saving the new brand new book I ordered for December 23rd to wrap along with this year's O Antiphon gifts for O Emmanuel. It's a really cute book with rhyming text, but not quite as cute as our brand new baby. We are all looking forward to having everyone home again for her First Christmas!

.: ADVENT BOOK BASKET GIVEAWAY :.

Prize #1: Advent Coloring Book, Holy Heroes: The Childhood of Jesus Coloring Book, Celebrating Advent with the Jesse Tree, Celebrating Christmas, Brother Francis O Holy Night DVD, Brother Francis The Christmas Pageant that Almost Wasn't Storybook, The Three Gifts of Christmas with Audio CD, Novena for Christmas Magnetic Bookmark, and Numbering My Days: How the Liturgical Calendar Rearranged My Life sponsored by Sacred Heart Books and Gifts (value over $65.00) 

Prize #2: Gifts: Visible and Invisible, Saint Rudolph and the Reindeer, The Forgotten Christmas Saint: St. Anastasia, Saint Magnus, the Last Vikikng, and My Prayer Journal 

sponsored by author Susan Peek (value $61.79)

Prize #3: The Rosary for Little Ones 
and Divine Mercy for Little Ones

sponsored by author Kimberly Fries (value $25.98) 

Prize #4: Digital Copy of Awaiting the Messiah: A Family Advent Journey with Handel's Messiah sponsored by Barefoot Abbey (value $15.00) 

Enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter box below

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For additional Christmas book suggestions you can find some of our lists in the archives: 

Feasts & Seasons :: Advent & Christmas Collection

Feasts & Seasons :: Our December Book Basket

35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books for Children

Last Year's Advent Book Basket

December :: Month Dedicated to the Divine Infancy

Christmas Mosaic :: A Review & Featured Book List

You can find the rest of our booklists here.

P.S. There is still time to enter the St. Nicholas Giveaway!

Christmas Carols (Little Golden Book)

Christmas Carols 

Back in print—a Little Golden Book full of classic Christmas carols to sing!

"This festive Little Golden Book from 1946 is back in print for the first time in 40 years! Beautiful vintage illustrations bring to life sheet music and lyrics for beloved carols and hymns that families have sung together for many generations: "Away in a Manger," "Joy to the World," "Deck the Halls," and more. Perfect for placing on the piano, or to give to a child or a collector of the classic Little Golden Books, this book will be cherished each holiday season."

Here are some pictures of this gorgeous little book:

Christmas Carols 

One of our favorite ways to prepare for and then celebrate Christmas is with a basket filled with beautiful books! We started our book collection nearly 20 years ago when our eldest son was a baby and, even though we now have a pretty incredible collection, I still love adding to it each year! One of our new additions for this year will be the recently republished Christmas Carols and I’m excited to send a copy of this sweet book to one of you too!

Once again I’m teaming up with a group of ladies over on Instagram to give ONE FAMILY the opportunity to receive *OVER 30 BOOKS* for their very own Advent Book Basket!! With a title for every day of the season this Advent Book Basket makes a perfect literary Advent Calendar.

You can find all the details here! 

New Christmas Books for the Feast of St. Nicholas {and a St. Nicholas Giveaway!}

"The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God's giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves." - St. Nicholas of Myra

The feast of St. Nicholas is just three weeks from today! On December 6th our children always wake up to find that the letters they wrote to the Holy Child and/or St. Nicholas have been taken and their (sometimes new/replaced) slippers have been filled with little treats, oranges, chocolate gold coins, candy canes, and often times a note from St. Nicholas.

Our children (and teens!) have also always received a new Christmas book as well, which has helped us build an amazing collection over the last twenty years. It will be so great to pass each of their collections down to them when they eventually start families of their own.

The darling wooden St. Nicholas toys in the above pictures are from Marzipantz and Ostheimer Wooden Toys.  The kids haven't seen these yet, but they will be added to our collection this year.

{Note: All of the links to Amazon are affiliate links. If you choose to click any of the links, then add an item (any item!) to your cart and complete the purchase, I will receive a commission. We are so grateful for this additional source of income. Thank you!}

Here is the list of books I picked out for our children this year:
(I didn't get books for our college boys, but 'm hoping to mail them a St. Nicholas care package too!) 

For Twinkle Toes: 

The Twelve Days of Christmas Cats

"First published in 1998, The Twelve Days of Christmas Cats is a beloved picture book with full color illustrations by Don Daily. The traditional twelve days of Christmas poem is creatively transformed, with each spread featuring one of the twelve cats with its resepective adorable artwork. Siamese, leopards, persians, calico cats and kittens playfully ring in Christmas cheer as they dance across the pages of this heartwarming classic."

For Chiquita:

Red & Lulu

"Red and Lulu make their nest in a particularly beautiful evergreen tree. It shades them in the hot months and keeps them cozy in the cold months, and once a year the people who live nearby string lights on their tree and sing a special song: O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree. But one day, something unthinkable happens, and Red and Lulu are separated. It will take a miracle for them to find each other again. Luckily, it’s just the season for miracles. . . . From Matt Tavares comes a heart-tugging story combining the cheer of Christmas, the magic of New York City, and the real meaning of the holiday season: how important it is to be surrounded by love."

I had such a hard time deciding which book to give to Chiquita and which one to give to Rose...
This one goes so well with Rose's little collection of wooden birds (the tooth fairy brings her a sweet little bird every time she loses a tooth!) but her older sister will love it too!

For Snuggles: 

Once Upon A Silent Night

"Once Upon a Silent Night is a beautifully illustrated book for children ages 4 to 8 about the creation of the famous song. After the mice in a small Austrian town destroy the church organ, the parish priest and the choir director compose a song to fill the silent church on Christmas Eve. The townspeople and the mice celebrate Christmas with a new tune that reflects the humble birth of the Savior and inspires joy in the hearts of his people."

For Rose: 

Ricka, Flicka and Dicka and Their New Skates

(Updated Edition with Paperdolls)

"Early one Christmas morning in Sweden, Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka opened their eyes. Soon they would have their Christmas gifts! For the first time in over thirty years, this classic holiday tale returns, in a deluxe hardcover edition. Longtime fans of the series will delight in revisiting the story, and new readers will find fun and excitement as the girls must save their friend Bertie after an ice-skating disaster."

For Bud: 

Santa’s Priority: Keeping Christ in Christmas

"As Christmas becomes more and more commercialized, it is easy to get lost in the shopping and decorating; the parties and the lights; the presents and the food. In this charming and beautifully illustrated story, Santa himself comes to town and reminds everyone of the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Show your children—and remind yourself—that without Jesus, there is not Christmas. Santa’s Priority is an instant Christmas classic, that your family will read together for years to come."

This seven, soon-to-be-eight year old, needs an extra reminder on what Christmas is all about! ;)

For Grace: 

The Tree That's Meant To Be

"A small, crookled fir tree is left all alone after the others near it in the forest are chosen by families as Christmas to bring home. But when the forest animals gather around the lonely little tree to cheer it up and celebrate the season, it finds the warmth of the holidays in the heart of a cold, snowy forest."

For Lily: 

Guess Who's in the Manger? A Christmas Story

"Told from the perspective of a barn owl, Guess Who's in the Manger is a beautiful Christmas story sure to delight children four to seven years old--and their parents as well. Guess Who's in the Manger is perfect for reading aloud (what child doesn't enjoy the gentle "hoo" of an owl, reflected here in the sound of "who's in the manger?"). Written by Vicki Howie, author of Once Upon a Silent Night, this Christmas story is sure to delight."

Bonus Books for the Family: 

I also picked up these three new books this year too! They'll either be given to the children on the first day of Advent or in their Epiphany Book Stacks. 

Advent A-Z: 26 Days of Hand Lettering with the Saints 

(My girls are going to love this!) 

The Best Advent Ever (The Adventures of Nick & Sam, Book 3)

(I picked up my copy from Sacred Heart Books and Gifts! Keep this small Catholic family owned business in mind for Christmas book shopping - all their items are automatically 15% off!) 

Sisters of the Last Straw Book #5: The Case of the Christmas Tree Capers

(Be sure to check out the other books in the series!)

.: Giveaway :. 

Once again this year I will be hosting FOUR Advent and Christmas themed giveaways! Here is the first giveaway in preparation for the feast of St. Nicholas:

Prize #1 - Set of Five Cookie Stamps with Recipe Booklet 

(Includes: #001 - Santa Claus, #031- Noel Stocking, #317 - Old St Nick, #357 -Santa on the Rooftop, and #413 - St Nicholas) 

sponsored by Rycraft Cookie Stamps (combined value $64.95)

Prize #2 - St. Nicholas Special Edition Box

"This special edition box contains a beautifully designed canvas with paint and a wooden easel, my favorite story on St. Nicholas, a fun ornament craft, yummy recipe, a beautiful St. Nicholas statue and all of the materials needed to make a trip to Turkey, passport and map included!"
sponsored by Saints Around the World (value $55.00)

Prize #3 - Advent & St. Nicholas Prize Package

Advent Guide Book,  Advent Guide PDF (46 Pages), 

St. Nicholas Holy Card,  20 St. Nicholas Chocolate Coin Stickers, 

and Saints of Advent Stickers 

sponsored by My Little Patron (value $52.24)

*Stickers are currently 50% off thru today only with code: LITTLETHINGS

Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter box below:

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You are welcome to download my St. Nicholas labels over at Dropbox with either Black or Green text...

And here is the link to the St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins! 

(You can find another option, an adaptation this original idea of mine, over at St. Nicholas Center.

I also just made an updated printable for this year which I will try and share soon!)

For additional Christmas book suggestions you can find some of our lists in the archives: 

Saint Nicholas & the Nine Gold Coins {Beautiful book!}

Christmas Mosaic: A Review & Featured Book List

35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books for Children

Feasts & Seasons :: Advent & Christmas Collection

Our 2015 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels 

Our 2016 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels 

Our 2017 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels 

Our 2018 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels 
{I'm planning to share our 2019 Basket and Labels soon!}

New Christmas Books for the Feast of St. Nicholas: 
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

Stacks of Books on Christmas Morning or Epiphany: 
2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

You can find the rest of our booklists here or scroll through all our past St. Nicholas Day Celebrations in the archives.

Even more St. Nicholas themed gifts can be found in these past posts filled with Christmas Gift Ideas & Stocking Stuffers from 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018!

Martinmas Lantern Walk

In A Book of Feasts and Seasons author Joanna Bogle shares that “the main festivity on St. Martin's Day especially in France and Germany is that of making paper lanterns and carrying them in procession.” Our family decorated glass jars years ago for our annual Lantern Walk on Martinmas.

Sometimes I really miss our old home, especially on special feast days. We lived there for over 18 years and left with countless wonderful memories. Lately I've been missing all the beautiful trees on our old property. As much as I love our new home, we only have a handful of very young trees... Even though we aren't riverfront, we DO have river access, so for this year's Martinmas Lantern Walk we headed down to the river to enjoy the trees, the gorgeous sunset, and create some new memories!

 

 

 

 

Martinmas Lanterns 🍂🍁🕯✨

"Allow me, brothers, to look toward heaven rather than at the earth, so that my spirit may set on the right course when the time comes for me to go on my journey to the Lord." - St. Martin of Tours