We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

There are only a few more days until Christmas -- only a few more days for some of our favorite Christmas stories . . .

Samurai Santa: A Very Ninja Christmas by Rubin Pingk
Yukio wants to have a snowball fight but all the other ninjas want to stay good for Santa. So Yukio decides to sabotage Santa.

Christmas in the Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
A simple retelling of the Nativity story.

Have You Been Naughty or Nice? by Ethan Long
The duck is sure he has been nice, not naughty, and to prove it he makes a plate of home-made cookies for Santa, only to end up eating them all himself, and he must come up with a way to get himself off of Santa's naughty list.

Uncles and Antlers by Lisa Wheeler
Each year, all seven of Octavia's unique uncles gather from far and near to join their favorite niece in a very special job.

Babushka by Sandra Ann Horn
While traveling, Babushka gives her gifts for the Christ child away and thinks she has nothing left to give the baby, only to discover that everything she gave away, she also gave to him.

Merry Christmas!

Here are a few of my favorite Christmas picture books . . . .

The Three Bears' Christmas by Kathy Duval
A retelling of The Three Bears with Santa in the role of Goldilocks.  I discovered this book this year.  The children love it.  Even though I don't share the cover of the book the children usually figure out that Santa is the visitor a few pages in.

Have You Been Naughty or Nice? by Ethan Long
This is one of the simplest Christmas picture books for kids.  It is very sparse with one line of Duck's dialogue per page.  Yet it punches a lot into its 28 pages.  It also leads to discussion about being good and forgiveness.

Babushka by Sandra Ann Horn
This is a retelling of the Russian folktale Babushka.  It has a different ending that the version I had heard before.  Babushka is a women preoccupied with cleaning.  When she hears of a new baby born in a "dirty" stable without even a blanket to keep him warm she sets out with gifts for the baby.  Along the way she gives away all her gifts yet the mother welcomes her to see the baby forever changing Babushka's life.  This is a great book to share about the Nativity.