A Christmas Tradition – Children’s Books

In 2000 we started a tradition of buying a children’s Christmas book each year.

Each year we bring out all the Christmas books we have bought over the years and try to read them all at some point before we put them away till the following year.

The first year we had The Candymaker’s Gift. It’s a story about the legend of the candy cane.

Then it was A Cricket’s Carol, a sweet book about a little orphan boy who finds a home and family.

Then we’ve had The Candle in the Window.

A Child’s Christmas at St. Nicholas Circle

Christmas Day in the Morning ( I love this book!)

The Tale of Three Trees (another great one)

Christmas Stories for the Heart

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

and this year’s book is The Little Match Girl.

I thought the cover looked adorable and that it was probably a very sweet book.  I should have realized that with Hans Christian Andersen writing it, I should check twice.  Anyways, it’s a sweet/sad story and because I had read the end already I bawled all the way through when reading it to the children. I finally couldn’t continue any longer and let Russell finish. Sad stories really aren’t my cup of tea.  On the plus side, my kids will not forget this story; the storyline is not predictable like most children’s books, but  causes one to think of those less fortunate than themselves.

I guess I missed doing it for 4 years because we only have 9 books. So that’s one tradition we have.

What traditions do you have at this time of year?