Christmas, Feast Day, and Winter Books

One of the things that I like about this time of year is snuggling up with my children and reading picture books.  Each year, we read a lot of Christmas, Feast Day, and winter books. This year, some of the books are new to us, but most of them are old favorites. The books that we have read so far are:

The Animals Christmas Carol by Helen Ward
Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett

The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale by Aaron Shepard (December 6)

The Christmas Bird by Bernadette Watts
The Christmas Coat by Clyde Robert Bulla
The Christmas Donkey by Gillian McClure
This is a beautiful story about a proud and stubborn donkey who learns a very valuable lesson from the Holy Family.
Christmas in Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren*
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski*
Christmas in the Stable by Astid Lindgren

Christmas Trolls by Jan Brett

Cobweb Christmas: The Tradition of Tinsel by Shirley Climo
The Donkey's Dream by Barbara Helen Berger*
Father and Son: A Nativity Story by Geraldine Mccaughrean

The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen, adapted and illustrated by Bernadette Watts
Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett

Good King Wenceslas by John M. Neale (December 26)*
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss*
The Huron Carol by Frances Tyrell*
Jingle the Christmas Clown by Tomie dePaola

The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie de Paola (December 12)*
The Legend of the Christmas Rose by William H. Hooks

The Legend of Old Befana: An Italian Christmas Story by Tomie de Paola (January 6)

The Legend of Saint Nicholas by Demi (December 6)
Little Boys Christmas Gift by John Spiers*
The Little Donkey: A Christmas Story by Gerda Marie Scheidl, illustrated by Bernadette Watts

The Little Drummer Boy illustrated by Kristina Rodanas*
We really like the illustrations in this book.
The Little Drummer Mouse by Mercer Mayer

Mary: The Mother of Jesus by Tomie de Paola (December 8)*

The Miracle of Saint Nicholas (Golden Key Books) by Gloria Whalen (December 6)*

The Mitten by Jan Brett*
Mousekin's Christmas Eve by Edna Miller

Night Tree by Eve Bunting

An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco*
Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell
My children (ages 6 and under) really like this book and will often ask for me to reread it.

Saint Francis and the Christmas Donkey by Robert Byrd
Saint Nicholas by Ann Tompert (December 6)

Silent Night: The Song and Its Story by Margaret Hodges
A Small Miracle by Peter Collington
This is a beautiful, wordles picture book.
The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden*

Take Joy! The Tasha Tudor Christmas Book by Tasha Tudor*
This Is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten
Cynthia Cotten uses lyrical verses to tell the story of the first Christmas.  The illustrations add to the beauty of the story.

The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren
The Tomten and the Fox by Astrid Lindgren

Trouble with Trolls by Jan Brett
We Three Kings by Gennady Spirin

Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? by Jan Brett
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story by Gloria Houston

Books that we own are marked with an asterisk*.

Dates indicate Feast Days when we make a point of reading or rereading a book.

As we read more books from our home library and from the library, this Advent and Christmas season, I will try to remember to update this list.

Thank you to Jenn Miller for sharing The Cobweb Christmas and The Christmas Bird with us via her blog.

Originally Posted: December 8, The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Updated: December 12, The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe