An Advent Countdown with Books: 2014 Edition

It is satisfying to have this be our third Advent countdown with books!  What fun to look back at previous years.  We started this tradition in 2012, and we enjoyed it once again in 2013.

I love a lot of the titles on these lists, but if one thing haunts me a little, it's that the books are so serious- and I've already held back on including some of the more popular make-you-weep books in the past.  My oldest is almost seven; I haven't wanted to overwhelm him with themes that are too heavy.

The only paper I had in large supply was a roll of easel paper.  I punched out 1" holes with a hole punch in both purple and pink, representing the weeks of Advent.  This year, I labeled starting with the 30th of November.

So, this year, we will make sure to balance things out with a little fun (though, where there is Tomie dePaola there is almost always fun).

Here we go with this year's list:

Sun 30: The Very First Christmas (audio book recorded by husband's parents)
Mon 1: The Legend of the Candy Cane (Walburg & Bernardin) New!
Tue 2: The First Christmas (a book of biblical text and puzzles) New!
Wed 3: Tomie's Little Christmas Pageant (dePaola)
Thu 4: A Christmas Carol (Boddy) New!
Fri 5:  Saint Nicholas: the story of the real Santa Claus (Joslin & Cann)
Sat 6: Saint Nicholas: the real story of the Christmas legend (Stiegmeyer & Ellison)
Sun 7: Immaculate Conception (booklet - Winkler)
Mon 8: Our Lady of Guadalupe (pop-up - Serrano, Davalos, & Guzman)
Tue 9: St. Joseph's Story - (Guadagno & Lo Cascio)
Wed 10: Who is Coming to Our House? (Slate & Wolff)  New!
Thu 11: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Bernier-Grand & Engel)
Fri 12: The Nativity Play (Butterworth & Inkpen) New!
Sat 13: An Angel Came to Nazareth (Kneen)
Sun 14: Bambinelli Sunday (Wellborn & Engelhart)
Mon 15: Great Joy (DiCamillo & Ibatoulline)
Tue 16: The Night of Las Posadas (dePaola)
Wed 17: My First Book of Christmas Prayers (Roche)
Thu 18: Good King Wenceslas (Neale & Henterly)
Fri 19: Uno, Dos, Tres, Posada! (Kroll) New!
Sat 20: The Clown of God (dePaola)
Sun 21: The Story of Christmas (Pingry & Thornburgh)
Mon 22: Room for a Little One (Waddell & Cockcroft)
Tue 23: The Legend of the Poinsettia (dePaola)
Wed 24: The Nativity (Sanderson)

I traditionally end with the nativity reading from Luke out of our New American Bible (NAB), but I decided to go for a book as well this year.  We will be sure to use the Bible, too.

I lined up some feasts again this year: St. Nick (6th), St. Juan Diego (9th), Our Lady of Guadalupe (12th), but I let go of the other feasts (St. Lucy, St. Stephen).  I thought about trying to line up the O Antiphons with books, but I let that go, too.  Last year, I tried to assigned books to the days after Christmas- the 12 days of Christmas!  We read the books from those 12 days (some great books on St. Stephen, King Wenceslas, and the Wise Men!), but we didn't always read them when I had assigned them.  We were juggling post-Christmas burnout (including recovering from a bad bug), buying a new van, last minute baby prep, and a New Year's birthday for our oldest during that time.  This year, we are sticking to the 30th through the 24th because that's what we got done!

What's left of the countdown and what's already been read

This Christmas, I've been trying to really crystallize what Advent and Christmas traditions serve my family.  Unlike other things, the Advent Countdown with Books did not fall away!  I used what I had, grabbed some new-to-us books from the library, and got them wrapped up.  Not much different this year, but it doesn't have to be different to be good.

The book countdown utilizes what we already do (read books at bedtime), keeps focus on the reason for the season, and adds an element of fun to our anticipation of Christmas.

What about you?  Do you do a bookish countdown?  Do you love Tomie dePaola like me?  How do you countdown to Christmas, if you even do?