There have been loads of posts on Pinterest having to do with wrapping 24 of your favorite Christmas stories to open each day leading up to Christmas Day. I loved this idea and looked forward to starting this tradition with my two!
At first I was worried I wouldn't have 24 books to wrap. I knew I had quite a few Christmas books, but 24 is a lot of books. Well I shouldn't have worried because after I picked out my 24 favorites I still had more then enough to fill our bookshelves in our reading area!
And even more to bring to each child's room for bedtime stories!! Clearly, there isn't a shortage of Christmas books in this house - the result of 10 years in the elementary classroom and a mother who loves Christmas books! However, if you don't have enough for this year - no worries, visit your local library and wrap their books. Just be sure to unwrap and read them before they are due!
This year I simply wrapped each book - nothing fancy - and put them in a basket by our tree.
At first I thought of adding a number to each book - but then decided against it. The only book that I care when it is read is The Night Before Christmas - which I don't have in the basket yet and won't put in until the end. Adding a number would make it a great advent/Christmas Count Down Calendar! How simple would that be? Maybe next year I will be a bit more organized and will wrap each book, # them and then have a corresponding craft/ornament/activity to go with each book. Guess I won't be wrapping them at nap time on December 1st if I go with that plan.
Here are the books I chose to use - I chose a mixture of Christmas and religious books that are geared to the younger crowd.
1. How Santa Got His Job - Steve Krensky
2. Auntie Claus - Elise Primavera
3. The Christmas Cobwebs - Odds Bodkin
4. The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever - Steven Kroll
5. Tractor Mac Saves Christmas - Billy Steers
6. The Dog Who Found Christmas - Linda Jennings
7. This is the Stable - Cynthia Cotten
8. The Littlest Elf - Brandi Doughtery
9. J is for Jesus - Crystal Bowman
10. The Story of Aloha Bear - Dick Adair
11. Llama Llama Holiday Drama - Anna Dewdney
12. Pockets Christmas Wish - Ann Bonwill
13. Merry Christmas Strega Nona - Tomie dePaola
14. The Pinetree Parabel - Liz Higgs
15. Polar Express - Chris Van Allsburg
16. I've Seen Santa by David Bedford
17. Thomas' Christmas Delivery
18.Auntie Claus And the Key to Christmas - Elise Primavera
19.Snowmen at Christmas - Caralyn Buehner
20. Arthur's Christmas - Marc Brown
21. The Spirit of Christmas - Nancy Tillman
22.Corduroy's Christmas Surprise- Don Freeman
23.Once There Was a Christmas Tree - Jerry Smath
24. Twas the Night Before Christmas - Clement Clark Moore