Christmas Traditions- Christmas books

Hi

Thank you all so much for your response on the advent post. I loved reading about your advent traditions. All so different but clearly so special to you.

So, today I am moving on to another tradition in our family which is the christmas books.

Books are big in our house. Each room has at least one bookcase and I have known my family to spend an hour or more in a bookshop- just browsing. My Mum has even given a book away to a charity shop, promptly forgot what book it was and subsequently bought it again the next week. True story.

You get the picture. It then only follows that we have a plethora of christmas books that come out in December. With mum being a teacher, most of these are childrens books. I have to admit though, they still come out every year and we still read them. There is a strange sense of cosy familiarity that comes with reading a book year after year.

Very simply I just want to give a list of my favourites. My favourite christmas books that I come back to year after year.

First up is Letters from Father Christmas by Tolkein

This is a truly beautiful book. In it's simplest form it is the collection of letters Father Christmas wrote to the Tolkein children. The book is complete with pictures of the original envelopes and letters. As time went on and the children grew up, Father Christmas writes longer and longer letters as he expanded his household to include several elves and a very naughty north polar bear. Tolkein included beautiful hand drawn sketches in each letter.

A really magical book that honestly lets you believe in santa again.

The Christmas Mystery.

A book for older children and a fictional tale of a young boy who recieves a magic advent calender. Each day a piece of paper falls out with the continued story of a young girl who makes the pilgirimage back in time to the birth of Christ. The mystery centres around whether this actually happened and who in fact made the calendar.

I am reading this to the girls in my dorm and they are enthralled by it. There is a chapter for each day of advent so it is keeping them well and truly hooked.

Mary's first Christmas.

This book has the most beautiful illustrations I have ever seen. A childrens book with a difference. The story follows the boy Jesus as he starts asking questions about his birth and Mary his mother gives her account. Very biblically sound and a beautiful message.

A Wayne in a Manger

Not a childrens book but about children. Gervase Phinn gives a true and very amusing account of life in the dales as a school inspector. Very very funny. Typical antics of a childrens nativity. Below is a short introduction to it..

"Every teacher of young children has a story to tell about the Christmas Nativity play. There was the time the Innkeeper, when asked if there was any room in the inn, answered, 'Plenty', and ushered the startled Holy Family inside; the occasion when Mary dropped Baby Jesus, immediately bursting into floods of tears as the large pink doll rolled off the stage; the time that the Archangel Gabriel informed Mary that he had tidings of great joy to bring but had completely forgotten what they were; and the memorable moment when the giant cardboard star, which had been suspended on a wire above the stage, fell on Joseph who, very much out of character, rubbed his head and exclaimed, 'Bloody 'ell!' Then there was the time when the little boy playing Joseph strode confidently onto the stage and asked the small figure in blue who was cradling her baby, 'And how's our Jesus been today, Mary?' 'He's been a right little so-and-so!' came the blunt reply."

So. What are your favourite christmas books. I would love recomendations. Are there any new christmas books you have found?
 

Thanks for stopping by

 

xxx