Christmas essentials

An essential part of our Christmas tradition is the nightly reading of a Christmas story at Caroline's bedtime. This started when she was tiny, of course, and I've added a new Christmas book or two every year to her collection. No matter how old she gets, she still wants (and I still love to read) these wonderful books at this time of year. And I see we are not the only ones... even after I planned to do an entry about our favorite books, my friend and kindred spirit Loretta listed the ones she shares with her well-into-their-teens kids every year. (We have read a number of them today in bed, as Caroline has come down with my creepie-crawlie flu. Roger is staying clear and washing his hands like a maniac to try to avoid it.) But we are cheery -- we will be healthy well in time for Christmas!

Anyway, the books:



A gorgeous classic illustrated version of the ballet story.



Okay, this is one of my personal favorites, because it's about a harried mom with the flu on Christmas eve, and the Christmas tree lights are a tangled mess, and the dog knocks over the tree... what more can go wrong? It's a very fun rhyming story.


Don't you love Jan Brett's illustrations? "The Mitten" is my favorite...Caroline prefers the reindeer one.


We LOVE Madeline's Christmas, and Caroline laughs every time when I say I wish I had a genie who'd make my dirty dishes disappear, too.


In this wonderfully-illustrated book, a snowman gets sick of NYC in the snow and heads away for a tropical vacation...


Caroline loves this cat's eye view of Christmas:



And we have to read this, over and over:



And of course, popcorn of at the movies makes the mouse want to string it on the tree...


Oh! And have you seen these Look Alikes books? Joan Steiner makes amazing scenes with every day objects, so you can pore over ever picture and find oodles of items, cleverly disguised. They're very fun for kids and adults. We keep this sitting on our living room coffee table.



Another personal favorite... Mr. Willowby buys a big tree and cuts off the top to make it fit in his house, and then all the animals of the forest get to share as more of the tree gets cut off...very charming.


And we always love the stories about strong women...


May you enjoy many snuggly hours with your loved ones reading your favorite holiday stories!