25 Favorite Christmas Stories

It seems that it has been all food all the time lately. Truthfully, I have been pretty inspired to create new recipes and they just keep coming. I hope that you have been enjoying them and have tried a few. But, back when I conceived this little blog, it was a lifestyle blog which was supposed to include posts about reading. So I can’t resist the urge to share 25 Favorite Christmas Stories.

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25 Favorite Christmas Stories

I want to share a few new stories here, but the truth is that our favorites are still our favorites, so a few might just be repeats from my previous Christmas Picture book posts (Favorite Christmas Picture Books & Read Christmas Books Together).

Our Favorite Chapter Books for Christmas

So new to our list this year are the novels of Matt Haig. Last year we listened to The Girl Who Saved Christmas during our Christmas travels. We got the CDs from the library not realizing that it was actually the sequel to A Boy Called Christmas which comes highly recommended by Sarah McKenzie of the Read Aloud Revival.

The Girl Who Save Christmas is one of our absolute favorite audio book listens. We still joke about “Uuuuurgula (and Joe).” So when we realized that The Girl Who Save Christmas was actually the sequel, I made plans for A Boy Called Christmas to be our Christmas season listen this year. We purchased it with our Audible subscription. It’s just as good. So when you are ready to move into chapter books for your read alouds, these are THE BOOKS. The audio is amazing. The narrator, Stephen Fry is spectacular.

Children of Christmas is a collection of short stories by Cynthia Rylant for older children. These are a little bit longer than the typical picture book and have only one or two pictures to several pages of text. The stories are heart warming tales of discovering the light in Christmas.

Our Picture Book Christmas Tradition

We have a tradition of purchasing beautiful Christmas picture books for each of our children. Over the years, I spent a lot of time curating the perfect books for each child. And they have all become truly beloved stories for us to curl up and read together.

Last year’s selection for The Boy was The Christmas Ship by Dean Morrissey. He LOVES this one. I think I have read it almost every night since we pulled out the Christmas books this season. A toy maker is about to lose his shop until Santa calls on him to help out.

Last year’s selection for Sunshine was The Legend of the Candy Cane. Another beautifully illustrated tale. It explains the origin of the candy cane.

This year, I actually purchased the books sight unseen based on the recommendations of Sarah McKenzie (Readaloudrevival.com) whose opinion I trust wholeheartedly. Her recommendations are always spot on. They arrived yesterday and I am already smitten. Too bad we will have to wait until Christmas to read them together.

So this year, for Sunshine, I have purchased An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco. I thought a tale about giving rather than receiving might be in order for our 10-year-old who has asked for an ipad for Christmas.

For The Boy, we are getting The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. Jonathan Toomey is a wood carver who carries great sadness that a widow and her son are able to turn to joy through their request that he carve a nativity for them. This book seems perfect for a family who has taken up wood carving ourselves.

18 More Favorite Christmas Stories

As for the other books we love, I thought for our 25 Favorite Christmas Stories, I would highlight the books that are the first one pulled out of our two bins of Christmas books each year even if they are ones that I have shared in the past.

Our Favorite Whimsical Christmas Stories

The first book that our kids pull out EVERY year is Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight by Jerry Pollata. This was a gift from our friend Joyce (hi Joyce!) a number of years ago now. And the kids love it. We have read it so many times that any time we see a snake, we say “Snakes, snakes! I don’t like snakes” because apparently Santa doesn’t. This a humorous tale of Santa experimenting with the animals who can pull his sleigh. It’s a super read aloud.

Olivia the pig (in book form only!) was one of Sunshine’s first literary loves, so obviously for one of her early Christmases, her Christmas book was Olivia Helps with Christmas. Ian Falconer has created such a delightful character in Olivia with all her quirkiness and good (albeit unhelpful) intentions.

Fancy Nancy was also an early favorite for Sunshine. Again long before she ever appeared in video form we were learning fancy vocabulary from Nancy. Fancy Nancy’s Splediferous Christmas touches on the superficiality that sometimes is our modern Christmas and brings it back to the heart of things.

We definitely have our favorite authors around here and one of them is Doreen Cronin. We love Click, Clack Moo and Dooby, Dooby Moo and if your haven’t check out her early reader chapter books The Chicken Squad, you are M I S S I N G out! For our Christmas pick, we must talk about Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho!. Duck is at it again as he gets stuck in the chimney right before the arrival of Santa. Don’t worry, Santa never gets stuck.

Our Favorite Stories about Waiting for Christmas

Among The Boy’s first literary loves were the Gossie and Friends by Olivier Dunrea.  As a result, his very first Christmas gift was was Merry Christmas Ollie!  This little book is for even the youngest of listeners.  It’s all about how hard it is to wait for Father Christmas Goose.  These little goslings are so sweet that it is easy to empathize with the difficulty of waiting.

Llama Llama was also an early favorite around here. Who can resist those rhymes? So Llama Llama’s impatience for the Christmas is right on the money in Llama Llama Holiday Drama.

The very humorous story Horseplay was our introduction to Karma Wilson unlike most who probably discovered her through the Bear stories. We love the Bear stories just as much, especially Bear Stays Up for Christmas. And, staying up is hard for a Bear who hibernates in the winter. This is about the joys of friendship and a little bit about being patient in the wait for Christmas day to arrive.

Our Favorite Stories about the Meaning of Christmas

Cobweb Christmas by Shirley Climo is probably my personal favorite because it is actually part of the reason that we have our tradition of giving Christmas picture books each year. (You can read about that in my original Christmas Book post here.) Tante makes Christmas special every year for everyone she knows except the spiders who just want to share in the joy. With a little help from Kris Kringle, they do leaving a sticky, webby mess that only a miracle can fix.

The Lost Gift was one of Sunshine’s Christmas books a few years back.  The animals of the forest see Santa flying overhead and realize that a gift has dropped from the sleigh.  They realize he won’t becoming back to get it. So, they make it their job to get it the appropriate recipient:  “The Baby at the Farm.”

The Message of the Birds touches on the notion of peace on earth through the words of the birds. This was a gift from my grandmother to the kids, one of the last ones she was able to give them and we cherish it for that reason and because the story really gets to the heart of Christmas.

Our Favorite Christmas Stories About the Perfect Gift

This lovely book, Just Right for Christmas, is the story of how a red piece of cloth purchased by the king is actually made into gifts for the princess down to a little field mouse.  As each new person or animal sees the scraps left behind he or she figures out how to make a beautiful red gift for someone they love.  It highlights the joy of being able to demonstrate love through simple means.

A new one to our list, but not a new one to our family is Apple Tree Christmas. To be honest, I don’t know how this book joined our collection. It was just there which means it must have come from my parents’ house. It probably actually belongs to one of my sisters. But they’re not looking for it (haha). Apple Tree Christmas is another story about adjusting to the world you are given. When Katrina’s favorite apple tree is destroyed in a storm she is must learn to live without her favorite spot to draw. Or does she?

Our Favorite Baby Jesus Christmas Stories

It is safe to say that The Boy is obsessed with foxes, so we read stories about foxes on a regular basis. So, it is not surprise that one of his favorite stories is The Christmas Fox which is a story much like the little drummer boy except with animals. The illustrations are beautiful and the story touches the heart.

Mortimer’s Christmas Manger is definitely one of my favorites and the kids love it too. Mortimer is a mouse in search of a cozy winter home and doesn’t that manger look just perfect. It’s perfect until he hears the story of the baby Jesus and then he realizes that it is perfect for someone else. An excellent reminder of the real reason for the season.

Santa’s Favorite Story is the story Santa tells the woodland animals that is HIS favorite Christmas story. And it is not a story that includes him. Instead, it is the story of the first Christmas.

Our Favorite Christmas Stories for the Illustrations

Truly this category sub heading could belong to many of the books I have included in our list of 25 Favorite Christmas Stories, but Jan Brett is the Queen of Illustrators. Her Christmas books are just spectacular. Check out any of her Christmas books, but we especially enjoy The Night Before Christmas and Who’s that Knocking on Christmas Eve. Oh and don’t miss The Twelve Days of Christmas.

In other years, I have purposely left The Polar Express off of the list. When my now 17-year-old niece was much younger (lets say first grade?), she questioned the existence of the St. Nick because there were so many books out there about the need to believe. But the truth is my kids watch The Polar Express movie every last day before break in school since they started kindergarten, and it hasn’t impacted their belief. And, the illustration by author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg are stunning.

Get Reading

There are so many amazing stories to share with your little ones, or even your bigger ones during the Christmas season that it’s a shame there aren’t more days between Thanksgiving and Christmas! Enjoy your Christmas stories and let us know what your favorites are in the comments.