25 Books of Christmas

I saw this years ago on pinterest and decided to make it my own. We have been doing this for years now and we love it. We have taken some time figuring out what books we like. We’ve given away and gotten rid of a LOT of books that just didn’t make the cut. There’s a couple here that may get changed out in a couple years, but for right now, these books are the ones that we have and love.

I haven’t even told you what the 25 Books of Christmas is yet! It’s pretty self explanatory. I wrap 25 Christmas books every year and, starting on December 1st, the kids get to open a book each night. We all sit down and I read it to them. We usually do it on Facebook Live so that friends and family can join in—it usually is pretty fun. There’s videos of the children being hilarious, me almost falling asleep (I might actually have even fallen asleep for a second), Spencer dangling a child upside down, and general funness. I treasure this tradition and the videos we have of it every year. We started when we only had Xavier, so it has been such a joy watching our family grow throughout the years in these videos.

We added a little bit to the tradition a few years ago by buying matching Christmas pajamas for the kids to wear during the 25 Books of Christmas. Matching kids are just adorable, so how can you go wrong?

Anyway. So these are the books we currently have and enjoy. Some of these stand out and I LOVE them, but all of them are great. There is one missing in this list, and that’s because it is out of print. It is an old copy of Mickey’s Christmas Carol. I honestly don’t even remember where I got it, but it is old and we can’t find it anywhere online. You’ll have to come up with a 25th one on your own.

That’s it! That’s our 25 Books of Christmas tradition. It’s super fun (and, might I say, way better than Elf on the Shelf. We’ve definitely dodged that bullet) and such a sweet, special tradition. Reading is so good for children, and it makes us slow down. Everyone is always so busy. This tradition makes us slow down and take the time every night in December to sit around as a family to read a book. It adds to the beauty and special spirit of the season.

I’d love to know what some of your favorite Christmas books are!