Faith-Filled Books for the Holiday Season

I'm a big fan of Christmas books.  I use the phrase, "big fan," to minimize the level of obsession I have.  We are a book family, and no season shines as brightly for book families as does Christmas.

My kids are getting older, they range in age from 5-13, so we have to include picture books in with the more mature books.  Last year we mixed "Gift of the Magi" in with some faith centered Christmas books and the old classics like Twas the Night Before Christmas.  One of my deepest hopes is that my children will look back on these times decades from now with a sense of nostalgia and a reminder of feelings of peace and belonging.

With all of this as the background, I was very excited to receive some new books to add to our Christmas collection.

The Light of Christmas Morning

This book is a delightful step into the Christmas traditions of one family.  After the children go to bed on Christmas Eve, the parents unwrap the stored away Baby Jesus and secretly place Him beside the bed of one of their children.  When they wake up, the whole family gathers together with lit candles, and they place Jesus by the Blessed Mother who resides inside their Advent wreath.  

I've been reading a bit this year about the development of traditions.  When my husband and I first married, our traditions felt a bit awkward.  We have grown as we have added four beautiful daughters to our family, and now some of those traditions that seemed awkward 18 years ago feel comforting to us and feel like home to our daughters.  

This is a great book for younger school age children about traditions.

How the Saints Saved Christmas

This book is a delight.  It turns out that on one particular Christmas Eve, Saint Nicholas couldn't perform his present delivering duties.  That's okay because he has the whole communion of saints to help him.  All of the saints decide to deliver gifts in their own unique fashion to their own homelands.  Christmas has been saved.  There are quite a few little clever illustrations in here for those paying attention.  My 5 year old daughter laughed out loud more than once.

Home for Christmas: Stories for Young and Old

Arguably, this is the book I'm most excited about.  This is an anthology of 20 different short works centering around the idea of Christmas.  There are some well known authors like Madeleine L'Engle and Pearl S Buck as well as some lesser known authors.  My daughters and I love short stories on cold winter evenings, and I have a feeling this will become one of our favorite anthologies.

We all have Christmas traditions.  Books play a large role in ours.  I love how some books have been family favorites since my oldest was a toddler and some have more recently come into rotation.  I hope one day to pass along these books to my daughters so they can share the same memories with their own children.  There's something priceless about knowing the same books and stories that shape my children's lives and views will hopefully shape my grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well.

I did receive these books for free as review copies, but all views and opinions are my own.