Today I’m sharing this beautiful Christmas picture book, The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, by Gloria Houston, illustrated by Barbara Cooney. If you don’t know who Barbara Cooney, is, go here. She is a famous, amazing illustrator! I got to see her children’s wing of the public library named after her in Maine last August. Go here to read all about that.

This book is so wonderfully beautiful and sweet. It’s about parental love, tradition, sacrifice, honoring your word, community, and the Christmas spirit. It’s about a mom who is left to parent alone when her husband goes off to war. Will she be able to pull through with all the family’s Christmas traditions without the husband there to help? You will have to read it to find out. Get it from your public library, or buy it from amazon, or keep your eyes out for it while thrifting. I’ve found most of my Christmas picture book collection that way.

The Schole Sisters just had such a meaningful discussion of this book. You can listen to it here. These ladies brought up points of the book I had never thought about before. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it!

If you want more picture book ideas, go here or here. If you want an easy way to do a picture book advent, without wrapping the books, go here. Merry Christmas!

Oh, and if you want to engage in an audio Advent Calendar, go here. It’s lovely!