The Advent Season in our home includes so many lovely traditions that have slowly grown over the years including our Advent Wreath, Advent Calendars and Jesse Tree, but one of our favorites is counting down the days with our annual Advent Book Basket. Over the years, we’ve built an incredible home library, including many books in Christmas Mosaic and from our children’s ever-growing list of favorite Christmas picture books. Each year, we add new treasures, especially on the feast of St. Nicholas. (Check out this year’s St. Nick books here!)
The length of Advent ranges from 22 to 28 days, beginning on the Sunday closest 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 to as late as December 3rd. This year Advent begins on Sunday, December 1st- I really love it when that happens!
Some new carefully chosen additions to our collection!
I love mixing old favorites with new finds as I decide which books to wrap up each year for our Advent Book Basket. The kids get just as excited as I do, especially when they unwrap their favorites or discover a carefully chosen addition!
As for those “carefully chosen additions” (we’ll just call it that because it sounds better than my inability to resist beautiful books!), I can’t help myself! Advent is a perfect excuse to stock up on rich, faith-filled, and heartwarming stories. You can never have too many books to help prepare our hearts for Christmas!
Here’s what made the cut for this year’s Advent Book Basket:
2024 Advent Book Basket
Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
To use all season: All About Advent & Christmas: Sharing the Seasons of Hope & Wonder with Children
- December 1 – 1st Sunday of Advent: (NEW) Season of Light
- December 2 – (NEW) A Very Merry Christmas Prayer: A Sweet Poem of Gratitude for Holiday Joys, Family Traditions, and Baby Jesus
- December 3 – Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree
- December 4: (NEW) The Little Red Sleigh
- December 5: The Miracle of St. Nicholas – 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 – Feast of St. Nicholas: The Legend of St. Nicholas
- December 7 – Feast of St. Ambrose: Santa Mouse – Bake a Honeycomb Cake
- December 8 – 2nd Sunday of Advent: The Queen and the First Christmas Tree: : Queen Charlotte’s Gift to England
- December 9 – Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (Holy Day, transferred from Sunday): The Blessed Virgin: Mary our Mother from St. Augustine Academy Press – Decorate Christ Candle for the Immaculate Conception
- December 10 – The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher
- December 11: Hanna’s Christmas (OOP – You can watch author read it here)
- December 12 – Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Our Lady of Guadalupe Pop-Up Book (Review here – Caution: Very fragile! I keep our pop-ups on a top shelf and don’t let little ones handle them by themselves) – Our Lady of Guadalupe Brunch
- December 13 – Feast of St. Lucy: Lucia, Saint of Light
- December 14: Bambinelli Sunday (New Edition available from Ignatius Press!)
- December 15 – 3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete (JOY) Sunday: (NEW) Sounding Joy
- December 16: – Las Posadas – Nine Days Till Christmas: A Story of Mexico
- December 17 – O Sapientia: Jolly Christmas Postman
- December 18 – Ember Wednesday – O Adonai: (NEW) The Night Before Christmas Holly Hobbes
- December 19 – O Radix Jesse: The Poorest Shepherd
- December 20 – Ember Friday – O Clavis David: ‘Twas the Day Before Christmas in Bethlehem Town
- December 21 – Ember Saturday – O Oriens and Winter Solstice: (NEW) God’s Christmas Promise: A Lighted Pop-Up Book
- December 22 – 4th Sunday of Advent – O Rex Gentium: ‘Twas the Evening of Christmas
- December 23 – O Emmanuel: (NEW) Silent Night
- December 24 – Vigil of Christmas: (NEW) The Mass and the Manger
December 25 – Christmas – (NEW) My True Love Gave to Me: A Children’s Catechism for the Twelve Days of Christmas (A new release available directly from TAN Books – I’m planning to wrap this up as an O Antiphon Treat this year.)
Years ago, I traded our original purple and pink wrapping paper for brown paper decorated with reusable purple and pink ribbons (saved annually). I occasionally repurpose brown paper bags or opt for a roll of brown craft paper from the craft store, pairing it with the ribbon and homemade labels.
We’ll unwrap and read one book each night during Advent, following our family rosary. The rest of our book collection will be placed in additional baskets, ready to be enjoyed throughout the seasons of Advent and Christmas.
Let me know if you want to hear more about any specific book on this year’s list! I’m hoping to blog a few reviews and share some inside pictures soon. It’s always fun to give you a closer look at the stories and illustrations that make these books so special. Stay tuned!
If you’d like to use my little labels too, you can download my Advent Book Basket Labels for 2024 over at Dropbox.
I took the picture above before updating and moving the Immaculate Conception. As Our Lady Immaculately Conceived is the patroness of the United States of America, this is a holy day of obligation in the United States. The Solemnity was transferred from the 8th because of the Sunday Liturgy of Advent.
This year I also made it to where they could be printed on Avery 5294 High Visibility Round Labels if you’d rather not have to cut them out! Planning to get them wrapped this afternoon!
Advent Book Basket Giveaway
And now for our annual Advent Book Basket Giveaway! I’m have four prize packages this year featuring books and music from four generous Catholic businesses. Enter below for a chance to win!
St. Paul Center
Prize #1 – Saints Around the World for Little Ones Collection sponsored by St. Paul Center ($52.95 Value) – Also available at Amazon here
Sophia Institute Press
Prize #2 – Includes Christmas in Heaven and Already There sponsored by Sophia Institute Press ($35.90 Value) – Also on Amazon here and here.
(You can see pictures from inside Christmas in Heaven here.)
Shining Light Dolls
Prize # 3 – Includes Three Shaped Books: The Interior Castle of St. Teresa of Avila: A Mini Catholic Primer, The Canticle of the Sun: Of St. Francis of Assisi and The Little Flower – A Spring Stroll inspired by St. Therese of Lisieux sponsored by Shining Light Dolls ($26.97 Value)
Save 10% at Shining Light Dolls with Coupon Code: SHOWEROFROSESBLOG
Ignatius Press
Prize #4 – Includes: Bambinelli Sunday: The Most Wonderful Surprise of All sponsored by Ignatius Press ($14.99 Value)
ENTER THE GIVEAWAY
Please leave a comment on this post and then enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter Box below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Note: If you have any trouble with Rafflecopter just send me an email or message with your name/email address (and required comment for the blog post if you are unable to add it yourself) and I can add you manually. I haven’t been able to figure out why it doesn’t work for some of you, nor have I found another free alternative to hosting the multi-prize giveaways.
Over the years, our annual Advent Book Basket has included titles from Christmas Mosaic and a collection of our children’s 35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books—at least those were their picks back in 2014! One year, I selected twenty-six favorites (with that personal favorite list growing every year), while another time, I handed over the reins to my husband and our oldest daughter for a delightful surprise. For additional inspiration, you can explore more curated lists from previous years: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 or scroll through all past Advent Book Basket posts.
More From the Archives:
The Advent Season in Our Catholic Home
Feasts & Seasons :: Advent & Christmas Collection
Feasts & Seasons :: Our December Book Basket
35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books for Children
December :: Month Dedicated to the Divine Infancy
Christmas Mosaic :: A Review & Featured Book List
You can find the rest of our booklists here.
P.S. Enter this year’s Christmas Giveaway here! (Ends 12/2/24)
Click here if you are on the home page to get to comment box: Leave a Comment
Thank you for this year’s labels!
Thank you for the labels!!
Love the list! The new books look great especially The Mass and the Manger and Silent Night!