I recently attended a Maternal and Child Health conference for my public health career and was reminded of the great importance of reading to and with your children. Of course I know this information! But, when I’m presented with facts about how truly critical this is in your child’s development, I pause a little and ask myself if I’m doing enough. It was only a few days after the conference that I read this blog post “What Primary Teachers Wish All Parents Implemented At Home” and immediately shared it with Mark. I wanted him to read for himself what teachers would say to us as parents.

It seemed the moral of the story is: READ. Read to your children. And then read some more. {Although there are certainly other important takeaway messages. Such a good article!}

I heard about this 25 Books of Christmas idea last year but just didn’t get my act together soon enough to execute it. Because of these most recent reminders, I’m going to do it this year for sure.

Here’s what you do: Buy your family 25 Christmas-themed books. Wrap each of them and put them under your tree by December 1. If you won’t have your tree up yet, set them out so your little ones can see. Beginning on December 1 and each night thereafter through Christmas Eve, let your child(ren) choose a book from the stack to unwrap and read. (I’ve also seen this numbered so they can search for the next in line!) Each night you can enjoy the story together. Take the time together to talk about the illustrations, the characters and what the story means. You can enjoy yourselves each night leading up to Christmas by taking some time to slow down while you read together – during a season that seems to go by far too fast with far too many commitments.

That’s it — Simple. Time. Togetherness.

The meaning: You are giving more than just a wrapped present to your children. Each night you are giving the gift of time and teaching and love. Year after year, you can wrap and gift the same books, allowing your children to select one to unwrap each night December 1-25. You’ll create memories of reading the same stories each season and allow your children to grow up with a tradition that keeps on giving. Or, if you’d like to mix it up, certainly you can buy some new, too.

Start this tradition THIS YEAR with your kids. You won’t regret the special time together and you can build upon the tradition for years to come.

We want to share some of our Christmas book favorites with you!
Get started with this collection:

1. The Spirit of Christmas
2. A Christmas Prayer
3. Bear Stays Up for Christmas
4. Little Blue Truck’s Christmas
5. Llama Llama Holiday Drama
6. The Not Very Merry Pout Pout Fish
7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
8. Dream Snow
9. The Snowman
10. Room for a Little One
11. Angelina’s Christmas
12. The Polar Express
13. The Wild Christmas Reindeer
14. The Night Before Christmas
15. Elf on the Shelf
16. A Wish to be a Christmas Tree
17. Olive, the other Reindeer
18. Olivia Helps with Christmas
19. Mortimer’s Christmas Manger
20. Humphrey’s First Christmas
21. Night Tree
22. The Baker’s Dozen
23. Christmas Present
24. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
25. Mr. Willoby’s Christmas Tree

Getting started THIS YEAR: You could purchase all new, or even wrap Christmas books you have and supplement with a just few new ones this year! As I mentioned, having the tradition of wrapping the same books year after year will be a really fun way to create memories based upon the stories. But, you can always feel free to add in a new book here and there, too!

Wishing you all wonderful nights full of reading + a slow and loving Christmas season.

XO