You’ve probably heard or read about the idea of doing a Christmas Picture Book Advent. I started doing it years ago, when all seven of my children lived at home. After one year of wrapping 25 books, I was done. With the wrapping, that is. We still do Christmas picture books, one or two a day, more if I can squeeze it in, as part of our Christmas Morning Basket. I just pull them out and pretend that we just unwrapped them, haha. My lovely genius daughter, who is married with two little boys, came up with this great idea for moms like me who don’t want to wrap the books: gift bags. Why didn’t I think of that?

Being a minimalist, she loves the plain brown paper bags, as shown below. She embellishes them a bit with a white gel pen.

She just hangs them from string with clothespins. Then they aren’t accessible to curious little fingers.

She says you can get them on amazon, like here. Trader Joe’s has more decorative ones.

Even if you start this idea late, and/or don’t keep up with reading a book or day, or have more books than fit between December 1-25, it’s OK to be reading Christmas picture books after Christmas. I do it all through January as part of my “hygge homeschooling” or “hyggeschooling.” Here’s where you can learn more about that.

Dear daughter got a lot of book titles from me. I’ve been collecting picture book titles for years, especially for Christmas. You can get suggestions from lists I’ve created here and here.

The one she’s reading aloud below, however, is one I hadn’t heard of before.

It’s called Red and Green, Blue and White by Lee Wind, illustrated by Paul Zelinksy. It’s based on a true story of friendship between a boy who is Jewish and a girl who is Christian. I put it on hold at the public library the other day and can’t wait to read it. I invite you to read it too! Remember, don’t feel like you have to buy any of these books. Your local public library probably has a bunch. If you feel like buying them, don’t feel like you have to pay full price. Keep your eyes out all year round when you go to thrift stores and you will find many that way. Happy reading!

Did you know there’s a Christmas Eve tradition where you are supposed to stay up late and read books? It’s true! Go here to find out more!