My favourite Christmas countdown tradition! We have started preparing ours, and are popping this here as a little reminder to anyone who usually intends to do this and leaves it too late. 

There are so many gorgeous Christmas books, but simply getting them out and putting them on the shelf once a year means they don’t really get the time and love that they deserve. Instead, why not turn them into a Book Advent? 

Wrap each one individually (I promise it is worth the effort), and number each from 1-24. Every evening, at bedtime, take turns to choose and open a story. It is my favourite part of each day!

We don’t buy new books every year. We simply put them away until the following year, ready to be opened again. The kids have little recollection of the stories that haven’t been enjoyed for a full year and, for them, it’s like receiving them for the very first time. 

If you don’t have 24 Christmas books, you can still do this! Simply wrap some non-Christmassy stories that they haven’t seen for a while – they will get the same delight and enjoyment from rediscovering them. This is more about the time spent together as a family, reading and getting excited for Christmas, than it is about the books themselves. 

There are so many books to choose from, but these are our absolute favourites: