These Early Days of Advent

 We are enjoying the Jesse tree this year and are using Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas for the scripture and illustrations.  However, we are talking through the stories and not reading the lengthy devotionals.  I posted more thoughts on this book last year here.  More photos of the tree are here.

The little clay advent wreath is one of many advent crafts that Isaac has brought home from preschool.  I am so delighted to have him at our church for preschool especially because they are teaching the children to tell time by the church year.  I'm so very grateful for the reinforcement of what we are doing at home.

The older three boys and I have been enjoying some Christmas chapter books.  We finished The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which the boys now look forward to each year.  We also read I Saw Three Ships
for the first time and that is a delightful book!  We actually read the whole book in an evening, it is so hard to say no when they ask for another chapter and I'm just as eager as they are to see what happens next.

We are now onto The Christmas Surprise and I'm hopeful we'll make it through this stack by Epiphany.  It has been working well to read after our advent devotionals while the boys color in Christmas coloring books.  Mr. 4 has trouble listening to some of the longer books if his hands aren't busy, and yet he so wants to be part of what I'm doing with the older boys, so this works well.

Note: I've never read the Swindoll book in the stack above, it was a gift.  I think Jonah might enjoy it, but I can't recommend what I haven't read.  The others in the stack I can heartily recommend as excellent read alouds.


The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The Christmas Surprise

The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas

The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause

The Thirteen Days of Christmas (We read this over the twelve days of Christmas each year.)

I Saw Three Ships

Here is a photo I took of some of the chapter books we read last year at Christmas time.  In this group I really love The Family Under the Bridge which didn't make it into this years stack.  At least not yet...
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What are your favorite Chapter books for Christmas?  Please Share!