CHRISTMASSY :: PICTURE BOOK ADVENT CALENDAR/Basket

One of my favourite things each year is pulling out our favourite Christmas books – and picking some new ones to join them!

I always really love the idea of doing a bookish advent calendar, where 24 books are wrapped up and one opened each day in the lead up to Christmas, but I also like to put my own spin on it so it works for us. When Amelia was small, and a book a day was a bit overwhelming for her, we started with a new book each week, and then every few days. The past year or two I’ve planned to do the full wrapping 24 books, but when it comes down to it I start to feel a bit sad for the books that don’t get open until toward the end. These books only get a month to shine – I want them to get as much love as possible! So instead of wrapping this year we’ll have a basket of books under the tree, and then just 4 that are wrapped – one to open on each Sunday of Advent.

I wanted to share these now, because all of a sudden there are less than 10 days until December! I feel like November always disappears so quickly – I think its because at the start of the month there are still almost two months until Christmas, and that feels so far away, and we forget that really for a lot of us Christmas starts at the start of December, so we sort of lose those three weeks. Maybe?

In any case, I really wanted to share this now so that you still have a bit of time to order books or request from your local library. I have focused here on just a couple of our favourite books, but you can check out the video I made on Instagram that shares a few more titles as I packed them into our basket (click here to have a look). I might share a bit more here in the next week or so about the books I’ve included. We’ve been collecting them for years, and just add a few more each year. I like to have a mixture of funny/silly things, traditional stories, books that reflect our Aussie summer Christmas, some tell the Nativity story, and a few activity books like Where’s Wally at Christmas. Having them all available in the basket means they are available if Amelia wants to grab one any time.

Our favourite picture book, that was read over and over last year, was Pick a Pine Tree. It’s a really sweet, beautifully illustrated and presented book about Christmas tradition, and I found it lovely to read aloud. You can check out my review of it from last year here.

As I mentioned above, I like to add a couple of new books each year, and this year’s newbies include Christmas is Coming: An Advent Book. I had my eye on this one last year, but didn’t quite get organised in time. I didn’t realise when I ordered it, but the front cover is actually an Advent calendar with little windows…
Every day of December brings a delightful new Christmas tradition in this keepsake advent book. Each flap on the cover of the book reveals a clue to a festive activity that can be found inside the pages. It might be a recipe for a delicious homemade treat, instructions for a cozy craft, a game to play, a carol to sing, or a beautifully illustrated story to read with the whole family. This inviting twist on the traditional advent calendar is perfect for families who love to put their own spin on celebrating the holidays.
Isn’t that an adorable idea?

Amelia has been really into the Rainbow Magic Books by Daisy Meadows this year, so for wrapping up to open one a week I’ve got my hands on a sweet set of four festive editions (with extra sparkle!). I had to go online to find this one, you can’t quite see from the the picture there but the included books are Holly the Christmas Fairy, Stella the Star Fairy, Gabriella the Snow Kingdom Fairy, and Paige the Christmas Play Fairy. It sounds like they follow a story arc, so I’ll have to make sure I take notice of which order they need to be read when I wrap them haha.
The holidays have lost their shimmer!
There’s trouble in Fairyland! Jack Frost is up to his old tricks. Now the fairies are missing their special holiday magic! Will the holly-jolly holidays be changed forever? Or can Rachel and Kirsty help Holly, Stella, Gabriella, and Paige save the day?

I hope that’s given some ideas if you’re looking for new Christmas book traditions to love this year!
I’ll be back tomorrow with the first in my series of Christmassy Q&As with authors – Sandy Barker, whose new novel The Christmas Swap is my favourite festive read of the year so far, will be here to tell us a bit about her work and some of her favourite Christmas things. I hope you’ll check it out =)

xo Bron