The 12 Books of Christmas ⋆ Growing Up Kemper

I’m such a sucker for Christmas traditions, and add that up with a countdown to build anticipation for the big day, and I’m 1000% in. When I was a little girl, I used to take one of my mom’s calendars and write in all of my important or exciting days on the months to come. Then I’d of course color code the events (because I’m Rachel) and write little numbers in the corner of every box with how many days were left until each one came. A little OCD? Or Type A? Or crazy? Yeah, all of the above. BUT it’s led me to make some killer countdowns for my kids. My psychosis= their fun! 🙂

One of the fun *and budget-friendly* ideas I do with my kids leading up to Christmas is to have a 12 Days of Christmas using our favorite holiday books. Each night before bed the last 12 days before Christmas, we get a new holiday book to read together as a family.

Want to go above an beyond? Wrap all 12 books and each night the kids get to unwrap the present to build the excitement.

Want to keep them a secret but save some time? Find a shoe box that fits all 12 books and just wrap the box so you can take the lid off each night for the next book.

Want to be extra fun? Hide the book somewhere in the house and make it a fun scavenger hunt each night.

The possibilities and the fun tradition you can make with this is absolutely endless. And one of my favorite parts of this one? Once you buy the books and find 12 great ones your family loves, you never have to buy them again. The tradition in and of itself is reading your family classics every single year. They don’t have to be new. Repeating them is what makes them special.

And to help you find some of your special ones, I’ve compiled a list of my 12 very favorite holiday books for you! Click on the title or the photo to be taken straight to Amazon!