Tomorrow marks the beginning of December, which means Christmas will be here before we know it! We look forward to the Christmas season for many reasons, the number one, of course, being that we get to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
But we also do a lot of reading in December. A LOT of reading. Those who have been reading my blog for a while already know about my favorite Christmas tradition, but for those who are newer, I’ll post the video again.
Do you see what I mean? We do a LOT of reading!
We have our favorite Christmas storybooks that go in the Christmas book basket: Clopper the Christmas Donkey, The Tale of Three Trees, and Who is Coming to Our House?
But we also have favorite stories that take longer than a night to read. Boo is still a little young to appreciate them, but the older kids and I enjoy snuggling up on the couch at night and reading a good Christmas story.
Here are our top 5.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Who can resist the Herdmans, the rowdy, unchurched kids who are taking part in a Christmas pageant for the first time. Their antics are hysterical, but along the way they learn the true meaning of Christmas. If your kids like humor, they will love The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!
The Jotham’s Journey Series
We began this series three years ago with Jotham’s Journey. We read Tabitha’s Travels the next year and finished the series with Bartholomew’s Passage last year. We’ll be starting over tomorrow. Jotham’s Journey (and the sequels) is a story told over 25 daily readings. The stories are suspenseful, keeping the kids’ interest. In fact, my kids begged to finish the story on Christmas morning BEFORE opening presents!
Each daily reading also ends with a thought to bring the reader back to the true meaning of Christmas and what God has done for us through sending Jesus. I can’t recommend this series enough!
The Drummer Boy: A Christmas Tale
Ted Dekker, known for his Christian suspense novels, wrote a short Christmas story based on a future where Christmas is banned. Instead, the country celebrates The Holiday, where prosperity is the reason for the season.
When a little boy receives a special drum to be played for the King, he is determined to play for Jesus, even though it breaks the law. It’s a good story to illustrate how Jesus is often lost in the midst of Christmas shopping and gift giving.
A Christmas Carol
There’s not much to say about Charles Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol, other than there’s a reason it’s a classic. We enjoy the story of Scrooge every time we read it! It’s free for the kindle, too!
The Last Straw
This book was given to us by friends of ours, and we have read it every year since. The McDonald children are constantly bickering, so their parents introduce them to a Christmas game. The game involves doing secret good deeds for each other, and each time a good deed is done, the doer gets to put a piece of straw in the manger. The goal is to fill the manger by Christmas, and of course along the way the kids learn a big lesson.
So those are a few of our favorite Christmas books. What are yours? We are always looking for new reading material!