Countdown to Christmas with Picture Books

So, it’s getting closer to Christmas and I’ve seen a lot of ideas for counting down the days with kids, from basic candy calendars (which are simple and delicious) to more altruistic ideas like kindness calendars and reverse advent calendar projects where you make donations to people in need.

We may do a combination of different ideas this year but one thing we’re definitely doing is a ‘Countdown to Christmas with Picture Books’. This is perfect for book-loving families like ours because you basically just wrap up a month’s full of books and count down to Christmas by cuddling up together to read.

I did this with my kids a couple years ago and it was a big hit. But this year I wondered if they’d still be up for it considering that now they mostly like to read chapter books and middle grade novels on their own. Maybe they miss reading with me as much as I miss reading with them because, when I mentioned reviving the idea, they were TOTALLY excited about unwrapping a pile of picture books to read with their mom. I’m thrilled – I miss sitting near them and reading together as much as we used to do when they were young. And, as a writer, I still love good picture books because they’re little works of art when done well. I believe no one ages out of enjoying picture books.

With that in mind, I picked out a variety of picture books (mostly all published in 2016 and from the library) that will have us laughing, learning, and smiling together. I’ll share about the books on the blog as we open them throughout December. I can’t wait to hear about your list if you do this activity, too! Start getting your books together now so you’ll be ready to go on December 1st.