The Books

Last year we brought in from the garage ALL of the Christmas totes.  I was disturbed because I didn't see the tote with all my Christmas books.  I spent a lot of time looking and looking through every closet and every shelf.  I don't have a big house so I thought for sure I would come across it.  I cried because I finally resigned myself to the fact that it probably got taken to Deseret Industries (church donation spot) last year and I would have to start over collecting my favorite books.

And then in early January when we were rearranging boxes and putting the Christmas stuff away,  I came across a box that used to hold maternity clothes and since I know that I'm no longer storing those I was SO excited to find my books.  (Yes, tears again flowing)  In addition, the box had my Pottery Barn tree skirt that matches my stockings, boy was I glad to see that too.
Here's some of the favorites, the hardcover ones:

So this December we are back in business.  We pulled them out a little early and since the kids hadn't seen them in TWO years, we took them on our Thanksgiving road trip and with ten plus hours in the car, they were perfect!  Since we've been home we have had such an enjoyable time reading our favorite books each night by the fire or Christmas tree.  Some nights we have hot chocolate and some, like tonight when it was 65 degrees today, we have egg nog milkshakes.  It's hard to choose, but a few books that I want to spotlight as favorites and/or recent additions are:

• This year we have loved The Forgotten Carols by Michael McLean.  The story put into a children's book version with a CD of the amazing, amazing music will definitely be a family favorite I'm sure for years to come.
• Auntie Clause is a darling book about a little girl who finds her brother's name on the BB&G list (Bad Boy and Girl) and erases it imagining how sad he would be Christmas morning and puts her own name on instead.  One of our favorites for a few years now.
• Elf on the Shelf came to us this year from Grandma Bonnie.  The kids have LOVED finding Elfie the Elf every morning in his hiding spot where he sits to watch them before reporting every night to Santa how they are doing.  It's fun for little ones.
• We love This Is The Season with the words to the beautiful Primary song with the incredible artwork of Simon Dewey.  We have read through this one several times this month and love to sing along.
• Last, but not least to share this year If you're Missing Baby Jesus, Christmas Jars (I won this last December and LOVED it!  Read it first and then share with your family this year to make 2011 especially memorable) also new is the children's version, Penny's Christmas Jar Miracle. The kid's enjoyed that, but I prefer the original Christmas Jars.

I'll be sharing more later on this month from my NEWEST favorite, A Christ-Centered Christmas by Emily Freeman.  I'm such a lover of children's literature, please share any favorites from your family!