Welcome to my eclectic journey of my life and delights. This year my theme is surrendering my writing pen to the true author, Jesus Christ, while looking forward to the future, reflecting on the past and dancing through my journey.




Monday, December 6, 2010

It All Starts with The Story

My greatest joy during the Christmas season is to read out-loud to my children. Cherished books are retrieved from storage with eager anticipation for their display on the coffee table.  My four-year-old begged for me to get the Christmas books out before he arrived home from school...what a delight to my book loving heart.  So, the books came out before the decorations.
The REASON FOR THE SEASON always holds the highest priority.  Our advent calendar is small books recalling the redemptive plan of our Savior's birth.
Decorating with books as my theme, I set up places to display them, so they are enjoyed by all.
Even the bathroom holds Christmas baskets of small Christmas readings.
More seasonal favorites are resting on the coffee table.
MY FAVORITE EVERY YEAR - THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER!!!
I cry and laugh through this whole book....God always speaks to me through this children's book.
Does anyone ever grow out of pop-up books and snowmen?
Our black and white Christmas picture from 2006!
As they grow I added more depth in our readings.  All of these have become favorites.
Although I wish I could say we always get through them all...well life happens and good intentions aren't
always met.  We get through many of our timeless treasures and know that next year
we will try to read even more.
What are some of your favorite books to read during Christmas?

25 Joining in with more words:

partialemptynester said...

OMGoodness, my family has loved every single one of those books, as well! First the mugs, then the movie, now the books...I'm just a Janette copycat, lol! I'm loving all your Christmas posts!!!!

Kathleen said...

Smart Mom! So often what we learn is more "caught" than "taught"; and what better way to reinforce the worthy than with story-telling?

I'm thinking your own children will do these very same things with theirs someday. It'll happen sooner than you can fathom.

Blessings,
Kathleen

Debbie said...

And yet ANOTHER thing in common...and I shouldn't be surprised as we are so obviously kindred spirits, haha..I have all of these books, and we have read them MANY times. I love them all. AND...I go every year to our local Christian book store at the beginning of the season and they always have their inexpensive little "Christmas" novels that I swoop up and read. Mel is as hooked as I am soo now we read a couple and pop them in the mail back and forth to each other. I loved reading the books to my kids and now my grandkids too. Have a wonderful day. (I've soo much to do!) HUGS

Karen said...

I need to remember to bring these out. But, hard when the boys have grown & one is gone. I remember & they all remember this one "The Smells of Christmas". I guess they liked it so well because it had a scratch & sniff! This is such a wonderful idea. I just love seeing how others make Christmas special at their homes.

Farm Girl said...

This would take pages to tell you, and to pick a few Wow, I just love all Christmas books.
I love seeing your pictures though and that you decorate with books! Right up my alley.
Have a great week!

Trisha said...

I love this, Janette! How wonderful that you set the books out and use them as part of your Christmas decor. I watched the video of The Best Christmas Pageant and was so disappointed. I'll have to check the book out.

Even if I didn't get to all of the books as a read aloud, just having them laying around the house would be enough to make sure they got read.

Hugs!

Mary said...

I love books!!!!!

Have you read "One Wintry Night" by Ruth Bell Graham??

It's a wonderful book to share with children and adults too.

Cindy said...

We have some vintage Christmas books too and I always enjoy them. No little ones to read to now but I still like having them out.

Paula said...

AWEsome!! Way to go in keeping The Reason...Jesus, at the forefront of the season!!!

Sandy said...

Love all of these and I so miss
reading aloud to my boys, at
Christmas and otherwise. I would
have to agree with one of your
readers who said "One Wintry
Night" by Ruth Bell Graham as
being one favorite for sure.

myletterstoemily said...

i love this post! and even though it probably
didn't cross your mind, now your whole
house is decorated with Christmas books.

my favorite Christmas book is "the night the
stars sang," and i'm sharing an excerpt on
wednesday.

you are so right about my busy schedule.
the rehearsal are especially tiring this year.
not sure why. last night i slept 11 hours!

sheesh.

wish we could meet for a cup of tea.

love,
lea

Vee said...

I read "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" every year to my classroom with the same results...lauging and tears. Now that's a great book! My grands are old enough for me to start this...my Christmas books are so beautiful that I hate to have anything happen to them, but this year I'm going to dig them out.

Anonymous said...

Janette,

You sure do have a nice collection of Christmas books. I am assuming that you have collected those over the years?

We don't have any favorite Christmas books that we like to read in our household at this time.

Blessings,

-Lady Rose

Debbie Petras said...

I love Christmas books too. I think that's a great thing to do too; read to your children. I'm sure those books will soon be their favorites too. I have several I love to read each year but they are still packed in boxes in my garage. :( Maybe I'll need to search for them this next weekend.

Love you,
Debbie

Lea @ CiCis Corner said...

I have just started a collection for my two Grans (1 yr and 2 yrs old). I will read one of them as we celebrate Jesus birthday on Christmas Eve. No, we never out grow the pop up books. They are the greatest!

Happy week!

So, I Begin this Journey...... said...

Ah....love each one of your books! I see Polar Express nestled in there too! : )

Books are a child's best friend...... and I love how your little man asked for you to get the books out!
Oh, how fun it would be to have a blogging book club...pass the book around....read and chat about it!

Must check in with you again soon.

xox
Lis

Simple Home said...

We have many of the same books you do. I've always loved reading them to the kids. Some of my pop-up books are from the 60's, the same ones we read as kids :-)
Blessings,
Marcia

Beth Herring said...

I love displaying my books like that too, and when the girls were little I kept them under the tree!

You are a fabulous mom, raising blessed little ones to be amazing Christians!

Diana Ferguson said...

This is so awesome!!! Thanks for sharing all the favs. Have a blessed day.

Sue said...

Good Morning Janette,
I just loooove, this idea, you have so many wonderful Christmas books displayed.
Did you ever see The Best Christmas Pageant on stage, absolutely wonderful.

Tell Mr Benjamin, that hopefully we will have some new baby lambs soon, our ewes are ready to deliver, I am hoping for a Christmas lamb and with your permission, I will send him some pics.
Enjoy your day.
Hugs, Sue

Gwen T said...

We absolutely love the Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. That's an all-time favorite.

Ruth Bell Graham's One Wintry Night is quite good too, although it needs to be spread out over several different nights.

You really show some wonderful Christmas books here - I need to look into these.

Susannah said...

So, the books came out before the decorations.

Marvellous! I love your idea of decorating with Christmas books... what a T-riffic theme! I've collected so many children's book treasures over the years too... now on a shelf way in the back of a closet! So you are inspiring me to get them out and put them on display. Since we're going to visit our married kids in D.C. this Christmas, I've scaled way back on our decorations. But who can live without Christmas books???

((Hugs))

tonya said...

That is awesome to have reading as apart your celebration. Great post!

Mikki said...

I read a lot of books like this with my girls as they were growing up. Now that they are older I miss that so much, but we still pull them out every year and look through them.
I love the Child of Promise. The pictures in there are so beautiful.

Merry Christmas

LisaShaw said...

Hey Janette, I so enjoyed this message and the great photos and the lessons being shared here...

I pray that all is well with you and yours and I'm sure it is because GOD is so faithful.

I love seeing your beautiful smile around blog land. Catching up with you and praying a Merry Christmas for you and your family. Much love!

Related Posts with Thumbnails