Our 2020 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels {Plus Giveaway!}

Advent begins this upcoming 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 Sunday, November 29th.  

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!) 

I currently keep all of our Christmas picture books on the bottom two shelves of a corner bookshelf upstairs in our school room... 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 few years too: 2017, 2018 and 2019.

This year I branched out a bit from the usual and decided to include some other excellent Catholic books that I really wanted to pull off the shelf and read to my children this Advent.  Here is the list: 

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November 29 - 1st Sunday of Advent: The Wonder Story - set up Advent Calendars and Jesse Tree

November 30 - Feast of St. Andrew: Old Testament Rhymes

December 1: The End of the Fiery Sword: Adam and Eve Jesus and Mary

December 2: Of Bells and Cells: The World of Monks, Friars, Sisters and Nuns

December 3: The Miracle of St. Nicholas

December 4 - First Friday: In the Candles Glow

December 5 - First Saturday: The Baker's Dozen - 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 - 2nd Sunday of Advent - Feast of St. Nicholas: St. Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins - St. Nicholas Brunch

December 7 - Feast of St. Ambrose: The Attic Saint - Bake a Honeycomb Cake

December 8 - Immaculate Conception: Nikola and the Monk - Decorate Christ Candle

December 9 - Feast of St. Juan Diego: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Pop-Up Book)

December 10: Kristoph and the First Christmas Tree

December 11: The Christmas Cobwebs

December 12 - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Bambinelli Sunday - Las Mananitas/Holy Mass at Dawn, Our Lady of Guadalupe Brunch, Prepare for Santa Lucia Day

December 13 - 3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete Sunday and Feast of St. Lucy: Lucia Saint of Light 

December 14: Saint Francis Celebrates Christmas

December 15: The Miraculous Child: A Christmas folktale from old Russia

December 16 - Ember Wednesday: Catholic Nursery Rhymes

December 17 - O Sapientia: An Alphabet of the Altar And Other Holies

December 18 - O Adonai and Ember Friday: A Child's Rule of Life

December 19 - O Radix Jesse and Ember Saturday: Marta and the Manger Straw

December 20 - 4th Sunday of Advent - O Clavis David: Silent Night: The wonderful story of the beloved Christmas carol

December 21 - O Oriens and Winter Solstice: The Angels' Alphabet

December 22 - O Rex Gentium: Twas' the Evening of Christmas 

December 23 - O Emmanuel: The First Christmas

December 24 - Vigil of Christmas: The Wonder Days

About five or six 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... Sometimes I use brown paper bags and sometimes I pick up a roll of brown craft paper from the craft store to use 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 to read 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 2020 over at Dropbox.

.: ADVENT BOOK BASKET GIVEAWAY :.

Prize #1: Premium Fabric Felt Advent Calendar (value $34.95) 

**I'll share a few more pictures of this Advent Calendar soon, and how I'm planning to use it this year!**

 

Congratulations, Nicole Ernest! 

"Great list and ideas! Thank you!"

Prize #2:  Three BRAND NEW books from Ignatius Press!

The Phantom of the Colosseum (In the Shadows of Rome)

The Interior Castle: A Boy's Journey into the Riches of Prayer

and The Adventures of Loupio, Volume 5: The Cave (value $33.97) 

Congratulations, Tonia!

"Thank you for all of the great inspiration to form our children in thier faith."

Enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter box below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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!