The first weeks of November are always interesting, especially with our kids. Although we're just coming off the excitement of Halloween, my daughters are immediately ready to flip the switch on Christmas.
At the risk of being portrayed as the "scrooge" in our house, I usually take the side of waiting until after Thanksgiving to begin the Christmas transition. Let's be honest, there's only so many days a guy can handle Mariah Carey Christmas songs on repeat before he goes insane. But with the insanity that has been 2020, we decided to meet the kids in the middle this year and get a head start by pulling out the Christmas children's books.
Even though I'm not quite in 'Christmas mode' this early in the season, I must admit that I do enjoy the holiday picture books. We have dozens of them and will almost surely add more as we get closer to December 25th. No matter if it's a classic, new release, or a seasonal version of one of our favorite book series, my kids will want to read them.
So for this week's edition of "Bennett's Favorite Books of the Week!", we'll be sharing a few of our favorite Christmas books that have already made it into our bedtime rotation this year!
If you're not familiar with Caralyn Buehner's Snowmen at Night series, you should definitely check them out. There are several seasonal variations of the book series, including Snowmen at Christmas, that accompany this original book.
As the title suggests, the book takes the reader behind the scenes to learn just what snowmen do at night when everyone else is asleep. For younger readers, it's an open-invitation for their imaginations to run wild as they see the snowmen come to life and go sledding, play baseball and have the world's biggest snowball fight!
Caralyn Buehner's lyrical text is incredibly clever and helps create a fun, whimsical tone for the story. But as good as the story is, the illustrations by her husband Mark are what really put these books over the top. The level of detail in each page's artwork is fantastic and really pull you into a world where snowmen can come to life.
We love reading this one every year around Christmas. Usually it stays on our bookshelf through winter since the theme isn't limited specifically to the holidays. Snowmen at Night is a great read for kids of any age.
Of all the books I've read with my oldest daughter, the ones in the Drew Daywalt Crayons series are some of my favorites. All of them are incredibly creative and absolutely hilarious. I love it when my daughter finds a book funny, but when its comical for parents as well, we will definitely end up reading it over and over. So when I saw the news last year that Daywalt had a new Christmas release, I was quick to head to our local bookstore to pick it up.
All of the popular characters are back in The Crayons' Christmas. As the crayons are decorating for the holidays, several letters start to show up at Duncan's house. Within each letter, there are gifts, including a world famous hot cocoa recipe, some new decorations for the tree and even a Hanukkah dreidel!
In addition to the Crayons books trademark comedy, this Christmas edition comes with several interactive features. The gifts for each of the crayons serve as actual gifts for the reader as well! There is a board game, a paper crayon character that can be dressed up in different outfits, and decorations for the Christmas tree! My daughter was incredibly excited to hang up some of her favorite Crayon character ornaments on the little tree we let her put up in her bedroom. I look forward to doing the same this year now that we've already read this book several times over the last week.
As you start to prepare for Christmas, you should pick up a copy of The Crayons' Christmas. And if you are new to the other books in the Crayons series, definitely take a look at The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home. We featured these books in our top funny books for kids list earlier this year!
For some parents, the Elf on the Shelf can be a bit polarizing.
Admittedly, I had never heard of this phenomenon prior to my first daughter being born. But since that time, this has become a yearly tradition that I honestly find really enjoyable. It becomes a daily challenge to see how creative my wife and I can get when it comes to setting up new scenarios for our Elf. We'll make sure to post some of our favorites from this year on our Instagram feed if you're looking for new ideas.
While this will be the first year that my one year old will notice, my five year old gets really excited when our Elf returns each year. As part of getting the Elf on the Shelf doll itself, we also got the book which helps set the background for who the Elf is and how she's keeping an eye on things for Santa. It's a book that we've made sure to incorporate into our holiday season really early so that we can hopefully reap the benefits of top-notch behavior from our kids while the Elf is around.
The book has a fun, rhyming pattern and is a pretty quick read. It's not necessarily a Christmas book we'll read multiple times a week, but it's great for kickstarting the holiday season with preschool and younger elementary kids.
Continuing the theme of holiday editions of popular book series, we have Bear Stays Up for Christmas.
Author Karma Wilson follows her familiar lyrical pattern as she tells the story of Bear struggling to stay awake on Christmas Eve. This time around, all of Bear's friends are with him in his den to help keep him busy by picking out a Christmas tree, making fruit cakes and singing their favorite Christmas songs. In a twist, the reader sees all of Bear's friends fall asleep first which creates the perfect opportunity for Bear to wrap Christmas gifts for each of them.
We have checked out several of the Bear Stays Up books from the library and they're always a hit with our five year old. When we pulled out the Christmas books early this year, this was one of the first ones she grabbed to read. It's a great book that promotes friendship and family during the holiday season.
For my one-year old, Christmas doesn't mean much yet since she was only a few months old last year December. That said, I'm really excited to see how she'll react to all of the decorations, presents and music this time around, now that she's much more aware of things.
Most of the Christmas books we own are geared more towards my oldest daughter. But, there are a few board books that we've added to my youngest's bookshelf. The one that she seems to be most interested in is Natalie Marshall's You're My Little Christmas Wish.
The short, rhyming story pulls in classic Christmas references to express a parent's love for their child. There are snowflakes, a snowman, a gingerbread man, and of course, a wishing star all featured within the book. The final pages help tee up bedtime for your little one by showing a reindeer family snuggling together and going to sleep.
While my daughter may still be too young to follow the story entirely, she does love interacting with the book. Each of the characters mentioned above are displayed in a cut-out format which she loves touching and using to turn the pages.
For a cute, simple story for infants and toddlers, we recommend You're My Little Christmas Wish.