Simon Cox Blog: 10 Books You Should Read to Your Kids This Christmas

Monday, 19 December 2016

10 Books You Should Read to Your Kids This Christmas

I celebrate the season by reading stories to my kids. Here are our favorites.

For every child filled with eager anticipation about Christmas, I suspect there’s a mother wondering how she’ll manage all the extras that accompany the month of December. As a mom with three kids, I’ve discovered a way of entering into the season that doesn’t involve a trip to the grocery store, an afternoon of marathon baking, or craft projects that require sequins, fabric, or hot glue (I’m a little tired just typing that). You can even do it lying down or in your favorite chair.

It’s reading.

Years ago, our family started accumulating a small collection of the many Christmas books written for children. Each year, a child would receive one new book as a Christmas gift, and throughout December we would read our way through the growing collection. These books—which do a masterful job of showing instead of merely telling the gospel truths of Advent and Christmas—have delighted me as much as they have my children. As we near the end of Advent and approach the 12 days of Christmas, here are 10 favorites for you to read and enjoy:

The Story of Holly and Ivy

by Rumer Godden (illustrated by Barbara Cooney)

A six-year-old orphan girl goes looking for a home, a doll in a toyshop wishes to be loved, and a childless couple longs for a family. Godden’s book is a captivating story about the ache of emptiness, the desire to belong, and the triumph of good over darkness and futility. I’ve read it to my daughters year after year, and it’s so enchanting that I’ve discovered them pulling it off the shelf to read even during summer months.