Christmas Books for Children 2022 // Holiday and Christmas Books
While I have a good number of book-related videos over on my YouTube channel, sometimes it’s nice to have all of the links in one blog post, so that’s what I’ve got for you today!
I’m sharing our collection of special Christmas and winter-themed books with you today! These are the children’s books that we get out year after year – I keep them tucked away for most of the year so that they’re extra special for the holiday season! This was a fun one to film for you all. As a former elementary school teacher, I’m a huge fan of children’s literature! I hope you enjoy hearing what books are in our collection.
*If you’re new here, welcome! I’m Hannah. I’m an elementary teacher turned stay-at-home homeschooling mama. My husband Bjorn and I live in Minnesota with our children, Sophie (5) and Soren (3). I’m passionate about intentional living, motherhood, and homemaking. I’ve blogged for years here at Just Bee and have also added YouTube to my list of hobbies! 🙂
The links listed in this blog post coincide with my “Christmas Books for Children” video (from November 2022) over on YouTube. You can also watch that video to see the cover of each of the books and hear a brief explanation of why I chose each one for our family’s Christmas collection.
Our Family’s Christmas Book Collection
Some links I share are affiliate or referral links, which means I may earn a small commission. All opinions are my own. This video is not sponsored. This video is not for kids. If you do use my links, thank you so much – I appreciate you supporting me, and my channel!
Christmas Trees Are Funny Things – a darling book written and illustrated by a personal friend of mine!! It’s about a little boy, his family, and their Christmas tree.
An Amish Christmas – I grew up with this one. If you know me well, then you know I love learning about the Amish, so I love having this one in our collection.
Dasher – one of my favorites in our collection! It’s a wonderful story about one of Santa’s reindeer, with an interesting plot line (it’s actually partly about her life before she became one of his reindeer). We don’t do much with Santa in our family – just a personal choice we’ve made – but we still enjoy reading books and singing songs that mention Santa. This is a great story with beautiful illustrations.
The Christmas Promise – this is a new one for us this year. We are familiar with this type of book, though – I think it’s the author/illustrator combo – and we’ve really enjoyed other books in the “series” that go through different Bible stories.
The Twelve Days of Christmas – I couldn’t find our exact one (it must be an older version) but there are so many versions out there so I linked one with gorgeous illustrations!
The Story of Holly and Ivy – this one is a new addition to our collection. I love Barbara Cooney’s illustrations so much, so I decided to go for it and snag this book this year! I look forward to reading this one with our kids – it’s about an orphan, a couple wishing for a child, and a doll who wishes to be brought to life.
The Polar Express – a great classic book to have in any Christmas collection!
Little Blue Truck’s Christmas – we love the Little Blue Truck in our family! The illustrations are so cute, the truck is so kind and generous, and the Little Blue Truck books always have a great rhyme scheme. This book is no exception. Little Blue Truck delivers Christmas trees to his friends in this story – and the back page lights up!
Christmas in the Big Woods – this is one of many “My First Little House Books,” a younger picture book version of the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Night Tree – this book has beautiful illustrations, and tells the story of a family who goes out to the woods every Christmas to decorate a tree with edible goodies for the forest animals!
Kiri: A Christmas Kitten – this was a gift for my son from his great-grandma. We look forward to reading it together!
Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree – we love this one! It’s definitely one of our favorites! Told in a rhyming format, this book is about a man who has the top of his tree cut off so it fits in his house, and the top gets passed off to the next person, and the next, and the next – and each person saves part and chops off the top again! The tree top gets smaller over time and even goes to some little animal families for their Christmas decor! It’s hilarious and we love having this book in our collection to enjoy every year.
When It Snows – a sweet book with beautiful illustrations.
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – this is the Coca Cola edition of the story (in terms of the illustrations).
The Legend of the Candy Cane – a great book that gives you things to think about, regarding faith and regarding where the candy cane came from!
Winter Days in the Big Woods – another one of those “My First Little House Books.”
Snowflakes Fall – a tribute to children everywhere (and snowflakes too) – how unique and special each one is. This book was actually written after (and was inspired by) the events in Sandy Hook in 2012.
The Mitten – my children really like this one. It’s a whimsical tale about forest animals that find a lost mitten in the woods and try to squeeze into it!
Jingle Bells – this book has great illustrations to go along with the favorite Christmas song!
Christmas Farm – I love books by Mary Lyn Ray. (I like buying her book “Go To Sleep, Little Farm” as a baby shower gift!) This is a sweet story about Christmas trees growing on a tree farm.
The Night Before Christmas – I love the illustrations in this one! It’s the classic poem “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
Christmas Day in the Morning – this one isn’t well-known, but it’s one of my very favorite Christmas books! It tells the story of a farm boy who gives his father a special surprise gift – getting up extra early to milk the cows on Christmas Day. It makes me cry every time. What a beautifully told story of thoughtful love between family members.
There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve – I like this one because it really makes the reader think and reflect upon what the first Christmas truly was like. There wasn’t any snow that night! Beautiful descriptions for children to ponder.
The Christmas Wish – the photography in this book is so beautiful! It’s a lovely little Scandinavian story of a young girl’s winter adventures.
Winter Friends – a cute, simple board book showing real photos of animals out in the snow!
Song of the Stars – we love books by Sally Lloyd-Jones (especially The Jesus Storybook Bible – if you don’t have that one already, get it!). This is a great book about creation’s anticipation of Jesus’ birth.
Stranger in the Woods – this one has beautiful photographs of animals in the woods who find an edible snowman surprise!
A Farmer Boy Birthday – another one of those “My First Little House Books.” I included it in our Christmas collection because of its winter theme.
The Little Fir Tree – this was actually written by Margaret Wise Brown, the author of “Goodnight Moon!” It’s a sweet story about a lonely tree that stood away from the others in the forest, and longed to be something special.
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree – this one is new to us this year. It’s also illustrated by the wonderful Barbara Cooney!
Room For a Little One – this book has such beautiful, dreamy illustrations!
Apple Tree Christmas – one of my favorites! I love this story. It’s about a family long ago, whose little girls adore their apple tree, but it gets struck down during a big blizzard. It’s so sweet how their father thinks of the perfect Christmas gifts to give his daughters that year.
The Crippled Lamb – here’s another one that makes me cry! I grew up with this one. It tells the tale of a little crippled lamb named Josh, who is always left out and wonders what his place is in the world. He has to stay back in the stable with his friend the cow while the other sheep go away to the next pasture. He feels so discouraged until a young family comes to his stable that night, and has a new baby that he can snuggle with to keep warm!
The Little Snowplow – a cute story about a little snowplow who has an important job to do!
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey – a moving story about a woodcarver who never smiles and has experienced loss, and how joy enters the picture once again.
Red and Lulu – this is one of our very favorites in our Christmas collection! Red and Lulu are two cardinals who love living in their huge pine tree…until one day, the tree is cut down and taken away and they get separated. It has a happy ending, beautiful illustrations, and some neat history about NYC’s Rockefeller Center tree.
The Nutcracker – this version of the classic tale has lovely, detailed illustrations by Susan Jeffers.
Lucia Morning in Sweden – I bought this one this year because for the past couple of years, we’ve been celebrating Santa Lucia Day (my husband comes from a very Scandinavian family) and I thought it’d be special to have a picture book explaining it!
The Tale of Three Trees – we have the board book version. It’s about three little trees that grow up wondering what they’ll be turned into someday. (One is made into the manger, one into the cross, etc.) A neat perspective!
Who is Coming To Our House? – we have the board book version of this one, too. This is new to us this year and Soren (age 3) has really loved it, both for the cute pictures and the rhymes. It’s about the animals in the stable preparing for and wondering about the birth of baby Jesus.
There you go! Those are the books in our (current) Christmas picture book collection! I love bringing this special collection out every year, and it’s so fun that the kids are now old enough to start remembering and anticipating these favorites.
What’s your favorite Christmas/holiday children’s book? I’d love to hear!