crafTuesday - Holiday book share, and a reindeer face

In the past I never bought Christmas books.  I've always felt they were a bit silly in our bookcases during the rest of the year, and it took away from their meaning.  We have a Barney Halloween book that my kids had me read all the time and it got old reading about halloween candy and costumes in July.

A couple of years ago my friend Nic shared a FUN idea involving Christmas books and I jumped on that wagon so hard I think I went to Goodwill the next day to forage through their stacks in order to get 24 books.

It's an advent of sort.  Wrap 24 different Christmas books and put them in a basket.  Each night, my girls take turns and one of them chooses a package, unwraps it, and we read a Christmas book every night.  It takes the edge off the urge to open gifts under the tree, and is a fun alternative to something candy related in a calendar (although we have one of those too).  I just loved the idea.

Some favorites that we've added to the stack are:

Merry Christmas, Splat (Splat the Cat) - Have you ever read the Splat books?  The artwork is fun, the message is heartworming, and they are funny books too. 

The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas (Little Golden Book) - Who doesn't love the Poky Little Puppy?


How the Grinch Stole Christmas! - Of course. 

My aunt bought the girls The Night Before Christmas Pop-up when Morgan was a baby and that's a fun one to set aside for Christmas Eve, outside the gift book box, simply because of it's fragility. 

The Polar Express - Of course

Mooseltoe - A moose with a big mustache.  Of course there's pandemonium around the holidays. 


Russell's Christmas Magic - I'm a huge fan of the artwork in this one.  Russell has other books and they are all fun.

A Pirate's Night Before Christmas - this one is a TON of fun to read. 

Walt Disney's Mickey's Christmas Carol (Big Golden Book) - reading the Christmas Carol in some form is always a must because of the message it gives.


The last one I wanted to share was Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas.  We are huge Nancy fans at this house and have all her other books.


Doing this project every year has certainly changed the way I feel about holiday themed books.  I look for new books to update the stack all the time, with the intention of keeping the 24 best that are appropriate at the time (for example, we are done with touch and feel and those pop up style books).

After the holidays, the books are tucked away with the Christmas decorations, that way they are fresh again the following year.  So far, my girls have loved the tradition.

I didn't want to end this post without a fun holiday craft project to share.  This particular project was made with a an almost 2 year old Payton's foot and handprint. 

The first time I was inspired to make this I was watching TV and I saw a little reindeer on the fridge in the background during a commercial.  It goes to show you can find inspiration everywhere.

Simple trace each hand on a piece of brown cardstock.  Trim them out.
Trace a foot on a piece of light brown cardstock.
Put them together with a red circle and some google eyes, and voila:

I love my reindeer.  I bring him out each year for Christmas decor.  Something like this would be really use to do for Grandparents, and what a precious keepsake.  Kid feet certainly grow fast!

Have a great night!  Back in just a minute with my Project 12 for October and my December Daily, of sorts.