Christmas Book Advent idea/plan/list

I saw this idea some time last year and loved it. A Christmas Story Advent. Brilliant. As I had put away our 7 Christmas books I got them out on December 1st last year and we read them ALL December. Every. Day. Every. One. So the more I thought about it the more I loved the Christmas Book Advent idea. Hence I've tracked down a few (lots) of probably good Christmas books. I don't actually know they are good but other people say they are. 

image via babyccinokids.com

Here are most of the books from babyccinokids blog's advent. 

1. Mr Snow – Roger Hargreaves

2. Little Elephant’s Christmas – Heluiz Washburne & Jean McConnell

3. Madeline’s Christmas – Ludwig Bemelmans

4. Petunia’s Christmas – Roger Duvoisin

5. A Star So Bright – M Christina Butler & Caroline Peder

6. Mog’s Christmas – Judith Kerr

7. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey – Susan Wojciechowski

8. One Snowy Night – Nick Butterworth

9. Lyle at Christmas – Bernard Waber

10. Letters from father Christmas – J.R.R. Tolkien

15. Little Rabbit’s Christmas – Harry Horse

16. Albert le Blanc – Nick Butterworth

17. Bear Stays Up For Christmas – Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman

18. Paddington and the Christmas Surprise – Michael Bond

19. Mr Willowby’s Christmas Tree – Robert Barry

20. The Little Fir Tree – Margaret Wise Brown

21. One Thousand Christmas Beards – Roger Duvoisin (out of print)

22. Christmas Day in the Morning – Pearl S. Buck

23. The First Christmas – Jan Pienkowski

24. ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas – Clement C. Moore (Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith) 

Some other ideas also from babyccino:

•  The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
•  Olive the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh, J.otto Seibold
•  Dream Snow by Eric Carle
•  Lucy and Tom's Christmas by Shirley Hughes
•  How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss

All these winter/snow Christmas books made me search for New Zealand Christmas books (you know where Santa has a black singlet and everybodies at their bach at the beach). I found what I'm guessing is a great list on the Christchurch Libraries website. Here it is:

• The Christmas Caravan by Jennifer Beck
• Harvey Slumfenburgers Christmas Present by John Burningham
• Merose and Chocolate by Clark Chichester
• Mrs Wishy-Washy's Christmas by Joy Cowley
• Cowshed Christmas by Joy Cowley
• Slinky Malinki Christmas Crackers by Lynley Dodd
• The little reindeer by Michael Foreman
• Wombat Divine by Mem Fox
• Toot and Puddle I'll be home before Christmas by Holly Hobbie
• Two cans of corn beef and a manulele on a mango tree: a Pacific Christmas by Sarona Aiono-Losefa
• The watchmaker who saved Christmas by Bruce Whatley
• The road to Bethlehem by Brian Wildsmith
• A Christmas Story by Brian Wildsmith
• The Christmas mirace of Johathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechourski

So my plan was to use the books we had. Namely,

• Dear Father Christmas by Alan Durant
• Twelve hidden days of Christmas by Macky Pamintuan
• A Kiwi Night before Christmas by Yvonne Morrison
• 'Twas The Night Before Christmas' by Clement C. Moore (Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith).
• Room for a little one: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddel 
• Christmas by Dick Bruna (in dutch) 

Plus go to the library and maybe put some books on hold. That was the plan. But trying to get these books at the library turned out harder than it sounds. I did find a few but most where out and really too expensive to put holds on them when most people would keep them most of this month anyway. So reading the books we have and some from the library at the moment and kids still loving so not disappointed as it wasn't for a lack of trying or time spent finding good books. And now I've created this list for future use.  
(Maybe libraries outside of ChCh where lots of books aren't still lying on the floor might be better. I kid you not the city centre library still has lots of its collection on the ground within the red zone.)

So again another lesson for me: BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU HAVE