Advent begins three weeks from today! Advent varies in length from 22-28 days, beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30th) and embracing four Sundays. The first day of Advent can fall as early as November 27th or as late as December 3rd. With the first Sunday of Advent falling on December 3rd, we are going to have the shortest Advent possible… This year the Fourth Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve!
This past week — as my cute little one allowed — I spent a little time sorting through our Christmas books to fill this year’s Advent Book Basket.
My little gnome ❤️ She keeps trying to catch the butterflies that are flying around on her tights 🍄
Years ago, when we didn’t have enough Christmas themed picture books to wrap one for each day of Advent, I would check some Christmas books out from the library just before Advent began, using Christmas Mosaic as a guide. We have added many books to our home library since then, giving one Christmas themed book to each of our children on the feast of St. Nicholas, and our collection has definitely grown…
In the past I have filled our basket with Christmas Mosaic titles and our children’s 35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books. One year I picked twenty-six of MY favorites to wrap up and last year I left the choosing up to my husband and our oldest daughter.
This year I used a mix of some of my favorites and some that tie in nicely to the various feasts and activities I hope to incorporate throughout Advent and got started wrapping them up…
A few years ago I switched to brown paper, instead of the purple and pink wrapping paper, along with purple and pink ribbon (which I save to reuse each year) and homemade labels for each day.
If you’d like to use my little labels too, you can download my Advent Book Basket Labels for 2017 over at Dropbox.
As always, we’ll unwrap and read one book each night during Advent, following our family rosary. The rest of the books will be placed in additional baskets for the kids to read whenever they’d like during the seasons of Advent and Christmas.
Here are the 22 picture books that I am wrapping up for our 2017 Advent Book Basket:
December 3 – 1st Sunday of Advent: St. Francis and the Christmas Donkey *Catholic Mosaic -discussion questions and modify the activity… Hoping to make an “Advent Calendar” path for St. Joseph, Mary and the Donkey (pictured above)!
December 4: Shoemaker Martin *Christmas Mosaic – modify/use discussion questions for The Shoemaker’s Dream, discuss corporal works of mercy, plan gifts for others
December 5: St. Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins – write letters to Christ Child/Saint Nicholas, bake Speculaas or St. Nicholas Cookies, and decorate St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins to give to others
December 6 – St. Nicholas: Santa’s Favorite Story *Christmas Mosaic -Discussion Questions
December 7 – St. Ambrose: The Christmas Candle – *Christmas Mosaic -Discussion Questions, bake Honeycomb Cake, decorate Christmas Candles
December 8 – Immaculate Conception: The Donkey’s Dream *Catholic Mosaic – pray Litany of Mary from which the names of Mary used in this book were taken
December 9: The Nutcracker – take the kids to see the Nutcracker performance this weekend
December 10 – 2nd Sunday of Advent: Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree – pick out a Christmas Tree
December 11: The Christmas Cookie Spinkle Snitcher
December 12 – Our Lady of Guadalupe: Our Lady of Guadalupe (also love this awesome pop-up)
December 13 – Santa Lucia Day: Lucia: Saint of Light
December 14: Angela and the Baby Jesus
December 15 – Rose’s Birthday: The Christmas Cat
December 16 – Las Posadas: Nine Days to Christmas (republished this year!)
December 17 – 3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete Sunday – O Sapientia: Bambinelli Sunday
December 18 – O Adonai: The Miraculous Child
December 19 – O Radix Jesse – Bud’s Birthday: My Wonderful Christmas Tree
December 20 – O Clavis David: The Little Shepherd’s Christmas
December 21 – O Oriens: Christmas in the Trenches
December 22 – O Rex Gentium: The Christmas Horse and the Three Wise Men
December 23 – O Emmanuel: The Miracle of St. Nicholas
December 24 – 4th Sunday of Advent / Vigil of Christmas: Bethlehem (Catholic edition)
* = Study Guide Available in Christmas Mosaic or Catholic Mosaic
Here’s the link to my Christmas Mosaic Review and the Featured Booklist.
.: GIVEAWAY :.
I’m hosting giveaways every weekend of November this year, leading up to the first Sunday of Advent. This weekend I have four Advent themed prizes to give away!
Prize #1: Christmas Mosaic and The Seasonal
sponsored by author Cay Gibson (value $39.99)
Prize #2: Nativity Fabric Advent Calendar
sponsored by Catholic Child (value $39.95)
Prize #3: MISSION:CHRISTIAN December-January, Lectio Divina for Teens: Reading God’s Messages to You, and The Children’s Little Advent Book
sponsored by Peanut Butter & Grace (value $38.00)
Prize #4: Our Lady of Fatima Graphic Novel & Coloring Book
sponsored by The Deo Gratias Co. (value $26.98)
sponsored by Saong Jai (value $5.00 each)
There is still time to enter the St. Nicholas Giveaway if you haven’t already!
For additional Christmas book suggestions you can find some of our lists in the archives:
You can find the rest of our booklists here.
For More Details About Christmas Mosaic:
Christmas Mosaic :: A Review & Featured Book List
Christmas Mosaic :: A Review & Featured Book List
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