This Year’s Advent and Christmas Book Baskets

by | Nov 29, 2010 | Advent and Christmas, Advent Book Basket, Christmas Picture Books, Picture Books | 18 comments

The problem with giving our children new Christmas picture books on the feast of St. Nicholas each year (in addition to the other books we’ve purchased or have been given) is that, after 11 years of marriage and 6 children, we have a ridiculous number wonderful collection of Christmas Picture Books!  😉

Inspired by Charlotte, I’m wrapping up some of our christmas picture books this year:  One for each day of Advent and Christmas!   I’ve had the paper since last year (being full term with Rose I just didn’t have the energy to use it) and am so glad I finally have a chance to try out this idea with our children this year!

I have quite a few of our Christmas books in my sidebar right now, but here is a peek at all of our books this year:
~ First Week of Advent :: November 28 – December 4 ~ 


Our additional “Preparation” themed books for the 1st Week of Advent:

A few favorites from the library:
~ Second Week of Advent :: December 5-11 ~ 
Theme:  St. Nicholas & Giving
A Gift from St. Nicholas

The Miracle of Saint Nicholas

The Christmas Candle

Good King Wenceslaus

Pablo’s Christmas

The Three Gifts of Christmas

The Clown of God (Replaced with The Little Juggler)
(Pablo’s Christmas is new to us and just arrived in our mailbox last week!  Thank you Dessi!!   I thought that the feast of St. Juan Diego would be a fun day to read it!) 

Our additional Feast Day books for the 2nd week of Advent:



Our additional “Giving” themed books for the 2nd Week of Advent:

~ Third Week of Advent :: December 12-18 ~ 
Theme:  Our Lady of Guadalupe, Santa Lucia, Los Posadas and Family
These are wrapped in purple paper with pink dots.

Our additional “Family” themed books for the 3rd Week of Advent:

A few favorites from the library:

~ Fourth Week of Advent :: December 19-24 ~ 
Theme : The Nativity and Angels
The Legend of the Poinsettia (Replaced with Miracle of the Poinsettia)

Christmas Bird

Mortimer’s Christmas Manger

Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers

The Donkey’s Dream

There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve


Our additional “Nativity, Angel and Christmas Eve” themed books for the 4th week of Advent:

~ Christmas Day and the Twelve Days of Christmas ~
December 25 – January 6
These are wrapped in gold paper and will be placed in the empty basket on Christmas morning!
Our additional books for the Christmas Season:

18 Comments

  1. Patty

    I just LOVE Christmas Mosaic. I wonder how long it took for Ms. Gibbons to come up with this list of books?! It blows me away everytime I look at that master book.

    P.S. You can also check them out at the library…well, most of them. It helped my pocket book out;)

    Reply
  2. Kelly

    Wow! What a great post! Thanks so much for putting this all together. I wanted to wrap the books up for Advent this year, but ran out of time. I'll be on the look-out for purple, rose (pink) and gold wrapping paper though for next year. Oh, and I too love Christmas Mosaic. Such a fantastic resource!

    Reply
  3. Jessica Gordon

    Oh, I know! The Book Lists that Cay put together in Christmas Mosaic are just AMAZING!!! SOOOO many books to choose from!! I've loved adding our favorites to our own collection over the past couple years!

    I DO love using our library, but I hate relying on them…. A few years back they reopened, but before that they were closed for a couple years and it was just awful! At that time I started building our home library and don't regret it, despite the cost! 😉

    Kelly ~ Charlotte told me to check Target last year and they have the purple paper all the time. They also have the purple paper with pink and white dots which works great for the third week of Advent.

    Reply
  4. Nope

    Ooo, so glad you got it!!! Enjoy!!

    Reply
  5. Tanya

    Thanks for this wonderful post! What a blessing of a resource! I hope you're having a blessed advent season!

    Reply
  6. Yvonne

    Love the book list, our Advent/Christmas books are overflowing as well!!! Our libraries are so similar I can just print your organized list for my Advent folder. I wasn't able to find purple paper this year!!! Last year Michaels had it. So I have been making purple felt "pockets" blanket-stitched with pink thread. I don't have the whole season done in one sitting like last year….but I won't have to hunt for the paper again. Have a Blessed Advent!!!

    Reply
  7. Pamela

    What a great post always love your blog. I grew up without any tradtions and your blog has been a true blessing to our family. We wrapped our books this year with Merry Christmas paper. I hope we can use the purple and pink paper next year what a great idea:)

    Reply
  8. Lori

    Jessica, You are truly amazing!

    I want to be like you when I grow up 🙂

    Love, Lori

    Reply
  9. Lena

    wonderful post and delightful books. i hope to one day have a home library, such as yours.

    it's off to the public library for us.

    pax Christi – lena
    p.s. happy to have you back. i hope your dear father-in-law is well.

    Reply
  10. Kristyn Hall

    I am linking to this awesome list. I don't have the funds to spare on books this year, but maybe someone will get some good gift ideas. Thanks for posting this, Jessica!

    Reply
  11. Anonymous

    I just added your feed to my favorites. I really enjoy reading your posts.

    Reply
  12. Anonymous

    Have a DYNAMITE day my friend!

    Reply
  13. Anonymous

    I just added your feed to my favorites. I really enjoy reading your posts..

    Reply
  14. noreen

    Hi Jessica, I saw your post with the wonderful selection of Advent books and have been working on getting them from our local library. I blogged about them today and linked back to you for the credit!

    Reply
  15. Holly

    Thank you for the list Jessica! I love getting your inspiration in my mailbox! I started an Advent/Christmas reading basket a few years ago. Is the idea here to give new books each day each year? Or wrap up books you already have and be surprised each day with the story? i could probably swing a new book or two…

    Reply
  16. Jessica Gordon

    Yes! Wrap what you have! If you don't have enough, you can check out extras from the library! We have plenty to choose from now, though I still like to sneak in a few new ones to surprise the kids. 🙂

    Reply
  17. so many things to love...

    Have you ever read the book Santa's Favorite Story? It's one of the ones we're picking up this year for OUR Christmas/Advent season baskets, especially since our 3.5 year old has unfortunately really picked up the whole 'Santa' thing, despite us reminding him that it's just a nice story and not the truth behind Christmas. Anyway, Santa's Favorite Story has Santa stopped in the woods by the animals who are excited to have gifts on Christmas morning, and he sits them down and tells them that HE is not the reason we have Christmas, and then proceeds to tell them the story of Christ's birth. I hope it will be a good addition to our library (and the illustrations are lovely) and I hope you'll look for it, too.

    Reply
  18. Anonymous

    Your blog is amazing and full of great help. Thanks for putting your time and talent into helping other family's live the liturgical and homeschool year. You have helped me out so much. God Bless.

    Reply

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