Advent calendars are one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Reading aloud to my kids is one of my favorite daily habits. I combined the two to create an advent calendar tradition my children look forward to every year.

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How to Use Books as a Countdown to Christmas

My children LOVE our advent calendar tradition. In our pocket advent calendar, each day’s pocket has in it a treat, craft supplies, ingredients, or a token that symbolizes a winter bucket list activity. To accompany what is found inside the pocket I set out a book to match that day’s theme.

For example, one day in December we make THESE Christmas “cookies”. In the pocket I will put a baggie of red and green M&Ms. The accompanying book is Cookies for Santa.

This tradition is enjoyable and easy for me. Others might find this way too time-consuming (I get that!). Instead, you could wrap up 24 books and have your children open one book a day as a book advent calendar.

Another option is to have only THIS BOOK as your advent calendar. It’s a cute story about a mouse trying to help get a Christmas wish letter to Santa in time. The book is divided into 24 chapters with each chapter being about two or three pages. At the end of each chapter is typically a craft but sometimes cute Christmas facts or ways to be kind at Christmas. You can choose to do the activities or not. Word of warning, the chapters are quite wordy. I would say it’s best for ages five and older.

Maybe you don’t want to have an advent calendar at all. Instead, below is a list of Christmas/winter children’s books my family has enjoyed over the years. You can pair them with a winter bucket list activity or just enjoy them on their own.

READ MORE: WINTER BUCKET LIST

How to Accumulate a Christmas Book Collection

Amassing a Christmas children’s book collection of (at minimum) 24 books could be very expensive but it doesn’t have to be!

• Borrow books from the library
• Look through the Little Free Libraries in your town
• Buy used/discounted books
• Order a bundle from your child’s Scholastic Books order forms
• Ask for Christmas books as gifts
• Ask friends and family if they have any Christmas books they are ready to part ways with
• Join your local Buy Nothing group on Facebook and ask your community

TIP – One of my favorite gifts to give our children is personalized books. Each of our children at age 3 receives a personalized Christmas book from Santa with a character who looks like them (hair color, eye color, etc) and has their name. Details about your family or where you live are sometimes included. Here are some of the brands we have purchased the personalized books from (example 1, example 2, example 3). The kids ask to read their books multiple times every year. It makes them feel very special.

Children’s Christmas Books by Theme

A few books are listed in multiple categories.

Writing Letters to Santa

Activity Examples: Write Letters to Santa

Pocket Token: Stamps, Envelopes

Santa Post – A girl writes a letter to Santa but what she wants is unreadable and Christmas is soon. Santa enlists others (an elf, a polar bear, and reindeer) to help him figure out a gift for this little girl. They send gifts to Santa that are not right and Santa feels terrible. Luckily, he comes up with a perfect solution. My kids love the lift-the-flap letters in this book.

Dear Santa – Parker’s art class is writing letters to Santa. Most kids emphasize and exaggerate how good they are. Parker knows he’s not perfect but being honest might mean not getting any presents. In his letter, he writes about not liking Brussels sprouts, not brushing his teeth for weeks in summer, etc. Santa writes a letter back stating that he’s glad Parker took responsibility and did many more good things than “naughty” things this year. The book comes with blank letter pages in the back.

Dear Santa: The Letters of James B. Dobbins – A little boy writes lots of letters to Santa asking for what he wants for Christmas. He explains away any incidents that happened at school or at home (like crayons melting on the radiator).

Christmas Tree

Getting a Tree

Activity Examples: Cut Down/Select a Christmas Tree

Pocket Token: Handwarmers, Mitten, Small Measuring Tape

The Littlest Christmas Tree – The littlest tree at a tree lot wishes to become a Christmas tree but keeps getting overlooked. The tree feels lonely until the man who runs the tree lot takes it home for his son to have his very own Christmas tree in his bedroom. The family helps make decorations for the tree. The boy is incredibly happy with the tree and the tree is happy too.

The Perfect Tree – A bunny sets out to find the perfect tree. Each animal she comes across gives her advice on how a tree should look and where to find one. But every tree the bunny comes across doesn’t meet all the criteria. Finally, she finds the perfect tree but can’t bring herself to cut it down. Instead, all the animals decorate it where it stands outside.

Little Blue Truck’s Christmas – For your youngest readers, this beloved series has a cute Christmas book. Little Blue Truck picks up five trees to deliver to friends.

Let’s Get A Christmas Tree – A family heads to a Christmas tree farm. The family finds a tree and the chosen tree gets put on top of their car. At home, Christmas music plays while they decorate the tree.

Decorating a Tree

Activity Examples: Decorate Your Christmas Tree

Pocket Token: Ornament

Let’s Get A Christmas Tree – A family heads to a Christmas tree farm and selects their tree. At home, they decorate their tree as Christmas music plays.

Maple & Willow’s Christmas Tree – Two sisters love winter and bring a tree inside for Christmas. Unfortunately, one sister is allergic to the tree. The other girl feels bad about it and decorates a ladder instead.

Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas – Fancy Nancy is back with her usual over-the-top flair. She has a fancy Christmas tree topper and is devasted when it breaks. Then she ends up making one with her grandpa.

Pick a Pine Tree – A family gets a tree from the lot and decorates it at home. The story rhymes with about two sentences on a page.

The Perfect Tree – A bunny sets out to find the perfect tree. Each animal she comes across gives her advice on how a tree should look and where to find one. Every tree the bunny comes across doesn’t meet all the criteria. Finally, she finds the perfect tree but can’t bring herself to cut it down so all the animals decorate it where it stands outside.

The Tree That’s Meant to Be – An imperfect tree in the woods doesn’t get picked to be anyone’s Christmas tree but animals in the forest decorate it and the tree ends up being happy just where it is.

Christmas Pajamas/Bedding

Activity Examples: Christmas Pajamas, Christmas/Winter Flannel Sheets

Pocket Token: Sleep Mask

5 More Sleeps ’til Christmas – This book has cute illustrations and fun short rhyming phrases about counting down the days until Christmas. Each night a boy claims he can’t sleep a wink from the excitement but he always does fall asleep. My kids find it hilarious.

Homemade Gifts

Activity Examples: Make A Homemade Gift (Ornament, Baked Goods, etc.)

Pocket Token: Craft Supplies or Ingredients

Mistletoe – My children adore this cute book. Mistletoe the mouse loves to be outside in winter but her friend Norwell (an elephant) does not. He would prefer to be cozy inside drinking tea by the fire. Norwell ends up gifting Mistletoe a painting of the mouse in the snow and she knits him a snowsuit so he can be warm out in the snow.

A Simple Christmas on the Farm – This book has a wonderful message. A family invites friends to their barn for a simple Christmas. In the book, the family bakes cookies, makes gifts and decorations, and hosts a potluck. At the party guests play board games, put together puzzles, sled, skate, and make snowmen. Craft directions are included in the back of the book.

The Not Very Merry Pout Pout Fish – The Pout Pout Fish believes that a gift should be big, bright, and perfect. He stresses out shopping because stores are closed and he hasn’t bought the perfect gifts. Other fish tell him it’s gifts from the heart that matter. He ends up making gifts for his friends and his gifts are perfect.

Wrapping Gifts

Activity Examples: Wrap Gifts

Pocket Token: Gift Bow, Gift Tags

Bear Stays Up for Christmas – We love this series. Bear is trying to go to sleep for winter but his friends won’t let him miss Christmas. They make him go get a Christmas tree, hang up stockings, and sing Christmas songs. Bear stays up all night wrapping gifts for his friends. Then his friends give Bear a huge quilt and tuck him in so he can finally go to sleep.

Christmas Movie Night

Activity Examples: Watch a Movie

Pocket Token: Candy, Popcorn Kernels

Elf – This book is a cartoon version of the movie with nice illustrations and summarizes the movie well without going into every single scene. Buddy is a human who was adopted as a baby by an elf and isn’t great at doing elf things. Santa tells Buddy that Buddy’s biological father is on the naughty list. Buddy visits NYC, and his dad wants nothing to do with him. Buddy makes a friend, gets into shenanigans, and saves Christmas by spreading Christmas cheer.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas – The classic tale of the Grinch who wants to ruin Christmas for all the Whos by stealing their presents, decorations, and feasts. But the real meaning of Christmas isn’t about those items and they are still joyful. The Grinch ends up bringing everything back.

Home Alone – Another great book with excellent illustrations. The story follows the movie plot but simplifies it and keeps the story shorter. A kid wishes for his family to disappear after he has been sent to his room. When he wakes up the next day his family has left for vacation accidently without him. At first, it’s fun to have the house to himself but then it gets scary when he learns that thieves plan to rob the neighborhood. Kevin sets booby traps throughout the house to catch the thieves. The family returns on Christmas for a happy reunion.

Home Alone 2 – Same concept as the book above, the book is a simplified and shortened version of the movie. Kevin’s family is getting ready to vacation in Florida over Christmas but Kevin doesn’t want to go. He loses track of his family at the airport and accidentally boards a plane going to New York. When he arrives Kevin decides to enjoy it. He stays at a fancy hotel with room service, goes to a toy store, and walks in Central Park. Then Kevin learns that the same thieves plan to rob the toy store. He lures them to an abandoned house where he creates traps again. The police arrive and Kevin is reunited with his family.

Polar Express – A child gets to go on a train to the North Pole. Santa hands out the first gift of Christmas to one of the children on the train. The boy wants a bell from Santa’s sleigh but on the train ride back home he realizes he lost the bell. The next morning the bell is wrapped as a present.

It’s a Wonderful Life – This book is quite text-heavy, but it still makes the plot easy to understand for kids. George Bailey grows up in a small town and has an angel named Clarence who watches over him. George was a really good kid doing kind and generous things for people in his community. When he starts feeling sad about his life Clarence shows him what the town would look like if George had never been born. Eventually, George realizes what a wonderful life he has.

READ MORE: FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Ice Skating

Activity Examples: Go Ice Skating

Pocket Token: Warm Socks, Mitten

A Day for Skating – In poem format, this book features members of the community skating on a pond, falling down, and warming up with hot cocoa.

Tallulah’s Ice Skates – This series is about a girl ballerina but in this book, she is ice skating. Tallulah goes with her friend to ice skate on a pond. She leaves her friend to practice fancier moves but ice skating is harder than she thought it would be. Tallulah gives up but the next day she has fun skating with her friend again.

Santa

Activity Examples: Pictures with Santa, Put Out Milk & Cookies

Pocket Token: Kids’ Camera, Hair Bows, Carrot

Santa’s Christmas Train – The story is similar to Polar Express but it is better suited for younger children with its bright colors and cheerful pages. Kids get on a train and enjoy eating snacks, singing carols, and then arrive at Santa’s village. They see Mrs. Claus, elves, reindeer, and Santa. Each kid gets one present and pictures with Santa.

When Santa Was a Baby – This book ended up growing on me and the kids love it! Baby Santa’s first words are “ho, ho, ho”. As a young kid, Santa gives away all his birthday gifts. He only wants to wear red. Obviously, the baby grows up to be Santa Claus. It’s funny and cute.

Santa in the City – A girl asks questions about Santa coming to the inner city where she lives. For example, they don’t have a chimney, how come they see multiple Santas each day, and would Santa be able to find the family in Jamaica? All of her questions are answered reasonably.

Santa’s Secret – A girl sees multiple Santas and tries to figure out who the real one is by asking questions to each Santa she meets. Her grandma says it’s Santa’s secret.

I’ve Seen Santa – Little Bear asks Big Bear questions about Santa. Later Little Bear catches Big Bear drinking Santa’s milk and treats. Big Bear puts Little Bear back to bed because Santa doesn’t come until all the bears are sleeping.

Baking

Activity Examples: Bake Cookies, Bake a Festive Recipe

Pocket Token: Ingredients

Carla and the Christmas Cornbread – I love this book and so do my kids. A little girl goes to her grandparents’ house and begs her Grandmother for her special Christmas cornbread. The two make it together and the family enjoys the cornbread at dinner. Then the little girl eats a cookie not realizing it was the cookie put out for Santa. She feels terrible about eating Santa’s cookie. Instead, she and her grandmother make a tiny Christmas cornbread for Santa. He leaves a note saying how delicious it was. The cornbread recipe is included.

Christmas Cookie Day – Baby bear and mama bear bake sugar cookies, decorate the cookies, and wrap them up as gifts. A cookie recipe is included.

A World of Cookies for Santa – One of our favorites! Readers learn what other countries call Santa and what treats they set out for him. The book includes a few recipes in the back and a map on the inside cover.

Building a Snowman

Activity Examples: Build a Snowman

Pocket Token: Coal, Carrot

In the Snow  – This board book has one short rhyming sentence on each page. A little girl is excited to play in the snow.

Snowmen at Christmas– The story shows what snowmen do at night. All the snowmen get together to celebrate. They eat icy treats, decorate the tree, and play outside. Santa comes to hand out presents.

Snowglobe

Activity Examples: DIY Snowglobe

Pocket Token: Glitter, Glue, Figurines

Snow Globe Wishes – Beautiful illustrations and not many words on each page of this story. It starts with a snowstorm coming. Once the power goes out people make the most of it. They enjoy a picnic dinner on the floor by candlelight, build a blanket fort, and play outside in the snow.

Train

Activity Examples: Go to a Train Display, Put a Toy Train Around Your Tree, View a Christmas Train, Take a Train Ride

Pocket Token: Toy Train, Tickets

Polar Express – A child gets to go on a train to the North Pole. Once there, Santa hands out the first gift to one of the children on the train. A boy wants a bell from Santa’s sleigh. Unfortunately, on the train ride back home the boy discovers he has lost the bell. But the next morning the bell is wrapped up as a present.

The Christmas Tree Who Loved Trains – A tree loves to hear and feel trains rush past it. But one day a family digs it up to use as their Christmas tree. The tree doesn’t enjoy being inside but is happier when a toy train is put around it. After Christmas, the tree is put back outside near a train track.

Santa’s Christmas Train – Similar to Polar Express, this book is cheerful and has bright colors perfect for younger children. Kids get on a train and enjoy snacks, sing carols, and arrive at Santa’s village. They see Mrs. Claus, elves, reindeer, and Santa. Each kid gets one present and pictures with Santa.

Santa and the Goodnight Train – Good kids get to go on a fun train to see Santa. This is also a bright, cheerful book with only 2-3 sentences per page.

The Nutcracker

Activity Examples: See a Performance of The Nutcracker, Listen/Dance to The Nutcracker Music, Paint a Wooden Nutcracker

Pocket Token: Tiny Nutcracker

Charlotte and the Nutcracker – The true story of the first black girl to play Marie in the NYC Ballet’s The Nutcracker. The book begins with the girl starting ballet lessons and then attending a ballet where she sees a black ballerina on stage. Now the girl can envision herself on that stage. The book goes briefly into the story of The Nutcracker but it’s more from a dancer’s point of view.

Reindeer

Activity Examples: Go See Reindeer, Make Reindeer Pancakes

Pocket Token: Carrots, Chocolate Chips (for the pancakes)

Santa’s Story – Santa is ready to go deliver presents but the reindeer cannot be found. Each reindeer is doing what its name suggests (Prancer is off prancing, etc). Finally, Santa remembers their tradition. They read The Night Before Christmas before they hitch up for the ride.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – This is a long book about the history of Rudolph. The other reindeer make fun of Rudolph’s nose until one night when it is very foggy. Santa leaves with his team but it’s a hard night for Santa because of how dark it is. When Santa comes into Rudolph’s bedroom to deliver presents and realizes he can see well because of the light from the reindeer’s nose Rudolph is asked to help lead the sleigh. When they return everyone cheers for Rudolph.

Acts of Kindness

Activity Examples: Shop for Toy/Clothing Donations, Shovel an Elderly Person’s Driveway, Donate Food, Bake Gifts for Your Neighbors

Pocket Token: Money (for shopping), Mittens, Ingredients

Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light – An adorable story about a bear who wants friends but the forest animals are afraid of him. A little girl suggests they make cookies and lanterns to give out but the animals aren’t receptive. Then the bear helps a baby deer stuck in the snow and everyone is thankful for the kind bear.

Christmas Craft

Make Ornaments

Activity Examples: Make Popcorn Strings, Birdseed Ornaments, or Saltdough Ornaments

Pocket Token: Craft Supplies

Tough Cookie – This story is a play on The Gingerbread Man. A sugar cookie teases a fox and when the fox tastes the cookie the cookie tastes terrible. The cookie is upset. He tries to sweeten up by doing things that cookies can do but he keeps failing. It turns out he’s not a cookie but an ornament. A recipe for tough cookie ornaments is included at the end.

Night Tree – There are beautiful illustrations in this book. A family drives their truck out to the woods to go to the tree they visit every year. The family decorates the tree with popcorn chains and balls of sunflower seeds. They spread out a blanket and have hot chocolate before heading back home. The book ends with all the forest animals coming to the tree and enjoying the food.

Gingerbread House

Activity Examples: Make Gingerbread Houses, Decorate Gingerbread Houses

TIP: Hot glue graham crackers onto a piece of cardboard to make the house and have pastry bags pre-filled with frosting for each kid.

Pocket Token: Candy, Graham Crackers, Piping Bag

Gingerbread Mouse – A mouse’s home outside is destroyed but then she spots a perfect home inside a human home. It’s a gingerbread house that the mouse makes her own by making furniture and a rug. Santa arrives and says her house won’t last long. Then he gives her a beautiful mouse-sized home. She settles in and watches the human family open gifts.

Sledding

Activity Examples: Go Sledding

Pocket Token: Mittens, Hand Warmers

Ten on the Sled – Just like the song, this book has ten animals but instead of a bed, they keep falling off the toboggan one by one.

Little Red Sleigh – A little red sleigh wants to be big and become Santa’s sleigh. The sleigh heads to the North Pole on a train. Along the way, kids use the sleigh as a sled and it brings a lot of joy. Santa invites the sleigh to the North Pole next year.

I hope this list of themed children’s Christmas books helps you with whatever holiday book tradition works best for your family.