Yes, I realize that it’s only September. But it’s actually about to be October. Which means November is technically right around the corner and December is on our heals. Feel free to adopt my philosophy on Christmas that pretty much states holiday planning can begin as soon as the calendar month begins with an “S”. Hop to it, folks, we’re almost switching over to “O”.
In true Jacquie style, I’ve begun my planning already with quilt tops started for both girls and a brand new Pinterest inspired tradition that I’ll be doing with the girls this year: 25 Books of Christmas- advent calendar style. In the next few months I’ll be gathering up the best collection of Christmas-ish books you’ve ever seen. And I’m on the hunt for those extra special, anything-but-ordinary books that will hopefully become family treasures for years to come. Hopefully I can avoid the “Elmo’s First Christmas” and “Dora Visits Santa” type books in hopes of finding more special stories… but I’ll let a little character love into the Christmas collection if I still need to reach 25 books. Luckily I have my Mom on the hunt and trust me when I say, that woman can find some awesome books.
I plan on wrapping each one up in some brown butcher paper and painting on a red or green number from 1-25. I’ll display them all on the mantle and each night, from December 1st to December 25th, I’ll let Lilly unwrap one book and we’ll read it as a family before bed.
This little gem is going to be number 24. It’s a beautiful die-cut paper edition of The Night Before Christmas that my mother in law found on a business trip. If you can find it, it’s a definite must have for any and all children’s book lovers.
We’ve also got these books stashed away to throw into the Christmas Book pile:
Do you have any good Christmas book suggestions? Leave me a comment so I can add to our stash. I’ll periodically update this post to fill you in incase you want to start this book tradition too!
Oh, and my apologies if you are still trying to pretend it’s the end of summer. Breathe deep, my friends. Fall is in full swing!
ali shoup says
what a cute idea! love it!
Light and Life Bible Ministries says
I love Christmas and I love books. I miss the winter and festivities. Thought to visit from Twitter. I’m an American mom of 4 (they have dual citizenship) living in South Africa.
Tina – author of 5 blogs
http://abooksandmore.blogspot.com