Christmas Countdown Books

I originally saw the idea to do an Advent Calendar with books on the blog site, Made.  I thought it seemed like a great idea given how much K loves books. We were lucky enough to own several Christmas books already although I did have to buy quite a few. The good news about this kind of Countdown is that you reuse the books year to year since they only come out in December (or replace a few depending on the age range of the books).

Here is a picture of our books and I've included a list of the ones we're using this year. Even though it might be a little late to start yourself, it's a cool idea to keep bookmarked until next year. K is so excited to open a new book every night (plus it gives me a chance to use some of my favorite hand-painted wrapping paper).

Obviously the pile on the left are the ones still to be opened and the pile on the right are the ones we've already opened.

These are the books we already owned:

The Mouse Before Christmas by Michael Garland
Christmas is Coming, Marley by John Grogan
I'll Be Home for Christmas (Toot & Puddle) by Holly Hobbie
Let It Snow (Toot & Puddle) by Holly Hobbie
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey Saves Santa by Sheila Sweeny Higginson
Reindeer Run by Julia Woolf
Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer
The Little Drummer Boy by Ron Berry
Christmas in the Manger by Nola Buck
Frosty the Snowman by Jack Rollins
The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
Rodney Reindeer and the Holiday HATastrophe! by Tom Shay-Zaplen


These are the books I bought:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Rick Bunsen
God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa T. Bergren
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Donald's Christmas Gift by Sheila Sweeny Higginson
The Mitten by Jan Brett
The Animals' Christmas Eve by Gale Wiersum
Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner
Humphrey's First Christmas by Carol Heyer
Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell
Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson
Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson
Merry Christmas, Curious George by H. A. Rey
If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

So far K has really seemed to like all of the books she's opened. I have a few as back up for later years ('The Polar Express' and 'Saint Nicholas: A Veggie Christmas Story (VeggieTales)'. Also, I decided to use 25 books instead of 24 like a typical Advent Calendar because I think it's more fun to open one gift each day, including Christmas. If anyone is interested I would think that all of these books can be found on Amazon.

I hope you all are enjoying these last few days before Christmas and aren't going too crazy. K and I went out to do a bit of shopping today and everywhere we went, it was PACKED. It's hard to believe Christmas is only 9 days away! Tonight Grandpa came over and we all went to the mall together to buy K's Christmas present. She has become a Build-A-Bear junkie and picked out her 7th "Furry Friend" - a pink Hello Kitty. She has gotten to the age where anytime we go to any store, she wants something. Usually it's not too expensive but that kind of stuff adds up and it's SOOO hard for me to say no when she looks at me with those big beautiful eyes of hers and says "Puh-puh-puh-please." (I can thank Daddy for that one.) Today at Once Upon A Child she picked out this ratty old doll and told me it was cold and needed to come home with her. She was getting tears welling up in her eyes and saying, "But it wants to be my doll." Oh my gosh, are you kidding me!?! How am I supposed to resist that kind of torture? I was the SAME WAY as a kid and I still have that kid inside me who wants to "save" every stuffed animal friend I see. The only thing that kept me from caving is that this was a seriously ratty doll. Thank goodness it wasn't a new one or something or I'm sure we'd have it. I think we're just going to have to avoid stores for a long, LONG time.