The Grinch Can't Cancel Christmas

For Orthodox Christians, the second Sunday of Advent is almost here (we celebrate 40 days of Advent, with six Sundays as opposed to four), so we started our journey well before Thanksgiving! 

Across the U.S. we are still in various stages of COVID and feelings regarding lockdown.  Especially here in California, where cases are up and deaths are way down, we are sadly expecting not to be allowed to gather in our homes with large extended families and friends for Thanksgiving, or in our churches for our Advent and possibly even Christmas services - even if we are healthy, wear masks, and practice physical distancing of six feet, as we've been asked to.

But even if our governor(s) make these decisions and end up cancelling Christmas services, this time of continued isolation is a good reminder that our homes are all little domestic churches, and there are so many things you can still do to make this a joyful season for your children!  

If you haven't had time in the past to make an effort for family Advent traditions at home, this is definitely the year to start! So, what can you do to help your kids enter into Advent and the Incarnation of Christ?

MAKE AN ADVENT WREATH:

Last week, I gathered candles for my six-candle Advent Wreath [Note: a seventh white candle will be placed in the middle of the wreath, to be lit on Christmas Day.] 

This is a tradition I learned from a book by Fr. Anthony Coniaris (of blessed memory), Making God Real in the Orthodox Christian Home. I highly recommend the book, which is in its 13th printing.

"The circle (wreath) is a symbol for God who is eternal. The evergreen branches symbolize eternal life, or the life of God, of which Jesus came to make us partakers. The candles represent Christ who is the light of the world. The color of each candle expresses something special that will be discussed each week of Advent as the family celebration unfolds. One candle will be lit each week by a different member of the family." 

Father Coniaris outlines a family devotion time for each of the Sundays of Advent, including Scripture readings, prayers, Christmas carols, and topics for discussion, all based upon the meaning of the candle colors. 

The basic meaning of each candle color follows, together with a brief statement for the head of the family to read when lighting the candle - you can find this adapted here if you need the Sunday Advent readings (but I highly recommend the book for great ideas all year long):

https://www.st-philip.net/files/Bulletins%20plus/Advent-Wreath.pdf .

MAKE AN ADVENT CALENDAR OF BOOKS:

Go to my Advent and Christmas Resource Page for lots of ideas of how to make your family reading time special for all 40 days of Advent (or you can simplify the idea to all 25 days of December). 

http://goodbooksforyoungsouls.blogspot.com/2012/11/advent-christmas-resource-page.html

Need Christmas book recommendations?  You'll find all mine here, 

http://goodbooksforyoungsouls.blogspot.com/2011/11/christmas-book-resource-page.html

I pray you have a blessed Advent. Stay healthy: pray, sing, exercise, breath fresh air, take your vitamins, eat right, keep washing those hands, hug your kids. And if you are high risk, health-compromised, or have been exposed to sickness, be safe and stay isolated to avoid - or avoid spreading - illness (Covid included) this holiday season.  

On My December Bookshelf: Some New Additions to My Christmas Favorites Book List

I should have actually titled this: "Books Strewn Across My December Hearth".  I love collecting children's books, and I'm always excited about sharing my Christmas favorites with you!

You can read about many of the books shown above on my Christmas Book Resource Page (a page where I've listed my favorite Christmas books and my reviews. The list can be especially helpful if you want to make an Advent Calendar of Books!)  

But today I'm recommending some new favorites, that I've discovered since I made my original list.  So here they are, the...

NEWEST ADDITIONS TO MY CHRISTMAS BOOK LIST:

When It Snows
Read my post "A Snowy Book that Will Warm Your Heart" here.

Woodland Nutcracker
Read my post "SWEET FOR THE SUITE": An Award-Winning Canadian Nutcracker Story Inspired by Bears!" here.

A Christmas Carol 
Read my post "How Dickens Helped Saved Christmas", here.

Hans Brinker
Read my post "The Beautiful, Frozen World of Hans Brinker (From the Hand of Gifted Artist, Laurel Long!)",  here.

St. Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins
Mentioned in my post, "A Giveaway for St. Nicholas Day", here.










The Night Before Christmas, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
Read my review here.

Let it Snow, a Toot & Puddle story.
My Review: here.

Little Grey Rabbit's Christmas (reminds me of Peter Rabbit!)
Read my review.

Little Porcupine's Christmas. Go to my review here.

The Christmas Angels, a sweet book (first published in Germany in 1933!). Read my review.

Advent Book Calendars!

It can be challenging to find ways to help children keep their focus on the birth of Christ during the annual "Countdown to Santa and Christmas Presents" that our frenzied culture of consumers gets so caught up in. Well, thank goodness for another kind of countdown: Advent, a time of joyous expectation.

An Advent Calendar of Christmas Books: I'd like to share some ideas for incorporating beautiful Christmas picture books into your family traditions during this time of anticipation. It takes a little planning, but it's worth the forethought and effort...

photo - detailgalblog

1- You need to determine how many books you need - this will depend on how many days leading up to Christmas you'd like to do this activity (during all of Advent - from November 15, if you're Eastern Orthodox, or the 25 days of December - or maybe just the last week leading up to Christmas).

2- Need book recommendations? Click here for my Christmas Book Resource Page, if you need book recommendations.

here

3- Choose the books. Gather Christmas books you already have. This is also a nice way to start collecting Christmas picture books - buy a few a year to add in!  You can also do what my daughter does: add library books - just be sure to label and read the ones from the library first, so they won't be overdue.

here

4- Decide how you want to display your Advent Calendar of Books.  Some families put them in a basket, wrapped or unwrapped; others wrap them up and number them so their children can open one each night.  Either way, it's a fun read aloud activity for the whole family!

5- Challenged for time? If you don't have time to get all these books, you might be interested in one Advent Storybook, with a reading for each night of December, or The Story of Christmas, a book set and advent calendar.  You can find both on Amazon - pictured below.

Whatever you choose to do, I pray you have a blessed Advent, in preparation for the coming of our Lord at his Nativity!

Library Book Advent Calendar

Hello there, Mary here again--I'm WendyLady@Good Books for Young Soul's daughter, and mother of her grandchild! Over the weekend, I shared my reflections and memories of observing Advent in my childhood Orthodox Christian home.  Today, I'll be sharing about a new tradition that I'm hoping to make an annual undertaking as my own family observes Advent: making an Advent Book Calendar! For this my first attempt, I used mostly library books from two local libraries, and also a few books from my own stash. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll leave a comment on today's post, my previous post, or Good Books for Young Souls' Advent book giveaway post for the chance to win the beautiful book Can It Be True? by Susan Hill and illustrated by Valerie Greeley! Entries via comment must be made by 12pm noon Pacific Standard Time today, Monday November 17. 11/17 update: Giveaway over. Congrats to my winner was TawniM!

Now, onto the tutorial:

Step one: get some good tea--this project does take time! But is well worth the effort!

 

My son absolutely loves to read (though I understand that this is not so typical of a barely-two-year-old). He can sit with me reading to him for an hour if he's focused enough, but he also enjoys "reading" to himself. SO, making him an Advent Book Calendar seemed like the perfect way to really introduce him to the Advent season of anticipation, and especially to the story of what we are waiting for: the Nativity of Jesus Christ! We are Antiochian Orthodox Christians, and so observe a 40 day Advent from November 15-December 24. But whether you observe a 40 day Advent season or a 25 day Advent season in the month of December, this is a wonderful project and a great tradition to share with your family!

As I said about my son, he's barely-two-years-old, so for our first Advent Book Calendar this year, I tried to get a mixture of books. Finding nearly 40 GOOD Nativity and Christmas books at my local libraries--I felt like I was on a treasure hunt! Of course, I chose many books about St. Nicholas and different tellings of the Nativity story. Grandma gifted us with two wonderful Nativity books, Room for a Little One and Christmas in the Manger last year. But my local libraries provided other great versions in The First Night,  The Donkey's Christmas Song, Little Bunny Finds Christmas, The Friendly Beasts, The Story of Christmas, We Three Kings and a lovely 1952 vintage copy of Christmas in the Barn! I did also get some "seasonal" books that are by some of our favorite authors and illustrators...Jan Brett, Olivier Dunrea, Nancy Tillman, Jean de Brunhoff, Richard Scarry, Karen Katz, and Alexandra Day, to name a few. 

Gennady Spirin's ethereal illustrations depict the lyrics of the well-loved song in We Three Kings.
This might be the book I purchase this year! It looks like a medieval masterpiece!

I was so pleased to find this lovely book, Jane Ray's The Story of Christmas, at my local library!
The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and captivating, and the text is adapted directly
from the Gospel texts about the Nativity. A real treasure!



The Spirit of Christmas by Nancy Tillman.
Am I the only one who wishes my dreams were Nancy Tillman illustrations?!?!
So beautiful, I just want to jump into the book!

Here's how I did it:

Step 1 - Compile the books!

I am on a Budget (with a capital "B").  Advent is 40 days long, and buying 40 books is just not something I can afford to do right now. So I headed to my local library, and while my son played and looked at books, I went to the "Christmas" shelf in the Children's section. I found some books that were favorites from my childhood, but also some "new" treasures. Lucky for me, my library does NOT have a limit as to the amount of books I can check out (woohoo!), and I can also renew online twice (woohoo x 2!) so long as no one has requested one of my books. So off I went to the checkout with 22 Christmas books...in the second week of November. I had a couple books of my own at home, and the rest I got from another local library (I didn't want to "hog" all the good ones at the nearest library. SHARE the bookwealth, by all means!!) *NOTE: My mommy has listed some FANTASTIC Advent and Christmas books on her blog in past years, which you can see here and here and here!

Step 2 - Get organized!

Since I checked out SO many books, I needed to make a system to be sure I returned the right books to the right places. I didn't want 40 wrapped packages and then to get a notice that I had to return some due to requests and have to unwrap them all to figure out which one. I organized the books into categories: Nativity books (a big stack!), saints books (St. Nicholas, St. Lucia, the Magi), Toddler/Concept books (counting, alphabet books), and "other" (where I threw in The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers and How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss). I kept my receipt printouts from the checkout so I could reference the titles and due dates to easily renew the books online.

Step 3 - Wrapping the books!

Plan ahead--this step takes time! I bought a giant roll of Kraft Paper at Michaels that cost $5.99 but I had a 40% off coupon for the WIN! Once I wrapped each book, I lightly wrote in pencil on the back the title and author/illustrator for each one, so that in CASE I need to return one, I know exactly how to find it. 

It saved time and paper to wrap books of the same size at the same time!
I just sliced the paper between the books and voila!

Step 4 - Number the books!

I went through and compared the books to my calendar...the first books I numbered were those surrounding feast days (St. Nicholas books were the week around his feast day on Dec. 6, St. Lucia book on her feastday Dec. 13, etc). Next, I knew we'd be out of town for a few days at Thanksgiving and did not want to risk losing library books during the weekend, so I made sure to number those books from my own stash. Finally, I chose my favorite Nativity books for the week leading up to Christmas. The rest of the books, I spread out across the remaining days using my "categories". Phew-that was hard to explain, but really quite easy to execute! I'm SO glad I wrote the names in pencil on the back!!

Step 5 - Display the books!

Pinterest search for "Advent Book Calendar" and you'll be amazed at some of the cute and creative ideas that comes up! As for me, I'm all for cuteness, but let's be practical--my kid is two. I decided to try to make part of this project reusable: I made 40 felt ornaments for a felt Christmas tree for him (so cheap and very easy!) Each package has an ornament attached, and so each day he gets to fill up his tree a bit more. And I stuck with some sticker numbers leftover from another project to number the packages. I displayed them with my son's manger scene, which is great because then it's right there to reference and re-tell the story whenever we read a Nativity book!

Step 6 - Enjoy the books!

I think that my son will really love this tradition, and I can't wait to recreate it every year as my family grows.  I hope that it will help to teach him the anticipation and even fasting that we practice during Advent. We limit ourselves to one a day, but as we open each book, we get one day closer to the Nativity! My plan is to buy my children one or two books each year for our Advent Book Calendar, so that by the time they've "outgrown" this tradition, they'll have a wonderful arsenal of Advent and Christmas books to pass along to their children! I think that using library books is GREAT for this idea because it's a FREE way to discover what books your family will love most, and to THEN make the investment into those books.

Here is Peter, opening his first book, Christmas in the Barn by Margaret Wise Brown.
He so enjoyed reading it and putting his little felt ornament on his tree!!

Other Ideas:

So thank you for letting me share my thoughts! Here are some additional thoughts I have that I wanted to share that might tailor better to your needs. If you've done an Advent Book Calendar with success in the past, please feel free to share your ideas in the comments section below!
- If you don't like the idea of wrapping, try a large box or chest with a lock (or without and trust your kids not to open it!) and let them choose one book each day!

- If you want to be even more "economical" with this project, in addition to using library books, why not wrap them in newspaper, last years' wrapping paper, Trader Joes bags (seriously, I could write a book about things I've made with these!), or even cloth! 
- If you are looking to buy books, consider buying used books online, at thrift stores, garage sales, or (my personal favorite!) find a fantastic Library Used Book Store!

- For older children, why not print out the lives of the saint(s) of the day for them to read? There's a great resource on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Website for this!

Memories of Advents Past

Hello there! My name is Mary, and I am daughter of the fantabulous Good Books Lady, Wendy. Nice to meet you! Today I'll be sharing a post about some of my childhood memories of the Advent season that we celebrated in our Orthodox Christian home (on the "new calendar," from November 15-December 25) and about how I'm now the mommy of a sweet two-year-old-boy and working to keep the Advent season a special time in my own home. I'll also be guest posting next week when I'll share with you about the Library Book Advent Calendar I'm making for our son! These posts are specifically about my experiences and ideas, but I've tried to include lots of hyperlinks to past posts and external sites for your reference. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the journey! Blessed Advent!

*Don't forget to check out Good Books for Young Souls Giveaway on the beautiful book Can It Be True? by Susan Hill, Illustrated by Valerie Greeley. Comment on today's post or yesterday's post for a chance to win this beautiful book!*GIVEAWAY OVER!

This is me...25 years ago in our church's Christmas Play!

Childhood memories and the foundations of faith during Advent

I remember Advent from my childhood. Advent was a time of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, but also of great blessing and anticipation! In the Eastern Orthodox Christian Faith that I practice, Advent is a 40 day observance as we journey to be with Christ when He comes, glorified in the flesh, born of the Virgin in a humble manger.  Advent means “coming” or “arrival”, especially of something important or anticipated: in this case, the Incarnation of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  

We would light the candles of our Advent Wreath each night, and sit around the table in the darkness, save for the flickering flames. My dad was usually the one to read the scriptures for the day, and we would each get to build our own advent chain with illustrations based off of what we listened to.  We would sing an Advent hymn. My brothers and I especially loved the journey of Advent through the Old Testament, beginning at the beginning with creation, and then on through the stories of the prophets and saints who were awaiting the coming of the Messiah. As children, you don't really understand all of the imagery and prophecy and foreshadowing and perhaps don't quite grasp what it means that Jesus is coming to be born among us as the incarnate God, but WOW, looking back, when I hear these verses as an adult and hear the genealogy read on Christmas Eve, I think back on these childhood memories, and appreciate how those times laid the foundation for a faith that has become my own.

Me and my brothers with our godparents and godbrother around my mom's
German Christmas Pyramid, fondly known to us as "the whirligig."
It has beautifully carved nativity scenes displayed on each of three tiers!

The Advent Season also meant the celebrations of two of our favorite saints: St. Nicholas of Myra and St. Lucia of Syracuse! These feast days were landmarks of the season, and brought more church services with beautiful hymns. And as the Nativity drew closer and our Advent candles burnt lower, it meant our parish's annual St. Lucia procession and Christmas program! Things we loved; things I still love!  

My parents seemed to strike a healthy balance of helping us to keep focus on the season of Advent in the midst of the consumerist “holiday season” all around. They didn’t expect us to be monastics, and we still had our fair share of cheer, a Christmas tree, and did activities that helped us to anticipate the Nativity! 

Me and my younger brother, Jonny, making gingerbread to give to friends and family on Christmas

But we ended our days with our thoughts turned heavenward, to the Christ who was coming to save us. For 40 days we fasted, and once us kids were old enough, we participated in abstaining from meat and dairy products together with our parents. We gave charitable donations as a family, whether we gave away clothes and toys and food, or gave financially to organizations. And of course, we attended church services that helped us to maintain focus on the season of Advent!

I am so blessed to now be a wife and mother, raising my son in the Orthodox Faith and in an Orthodox Christian home. I have been married to my wonderful husband for almost 7 years (we met at my home parish 11 years ago!) and our sweet son was baptized into that same parish that I was baptized into 27 years ago. I find such guidance and peace in the wisdom of our Mother the Church, and the beautiful faith we practice there! I remember last year when my son was just 15 months old at Christmas, I would show him an icon of the Nativity at church and he would say "Jesus!" "Baby!" and "Tokos!" (for "Theotokos"). I thought How incredible! Even in infancy he has a frame of reference and is learning his faith through looking at icons! This Advent, he is just over two, and is quite the talker. He absolutely loves going to church, will make almost anything he finds around the house into a censer, and prays daily for our clergy. He already has his manger scene out and it is one of his favorite storytelling toys (though we try to treat this toy with the special respect it deserves)! 

For myself, I have found that the blessing of motherhood has challenged and increased my faith, and being equipped with the tools and pillars of the Church (scripture, services, prayers, sacraments, feasts, saints, etc) I feel so blessed to hold my son's hand as he learns his faith and learns to love God on his own. Advent is such a rich time to help to teach him the beginnings of that faith as we anticipate the birth of the Godman Jesus on Earth, come to save us from our sins. So as we await this coming, I hope to teach him to the best of my ability, as I learn anew myself! There's a saying in Orthodoxy, that you cannot and should not ever "know it all" in regards to faith. We are always learning! So I learn humbly to stand in awe before Jesus our Lord alongside my little ones, my husband, and the Body of Christ--His Church.

The "whirligig" Nativity is still captivating, all these years later!

Next week I'll be sharing a "how to" post about how I made a Library Book Advent Calendar for my little guy! In the meantime, my mama has compiled a helpful list of Advent and Christmas Resources you can take a look at. And here are a few additional Advent ideas that I remember our family carrying out in my childhood...

- Wake up at dark-thirty on St. Lucia's day (Dec. 13) and dress up like this amazing saint to bring coffee, cocoa and Lucia buns to your family!
- Make a tradition of giving gift-filled stockings or shoes on St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6--since really, Santa has nothing to do with the Nativity, but coincidentally the feast of St. Nicholas falls during the time of preparation for Nativity, and he's famous for giving gifts!) Just a note since I know some families are hesitant about this...my brothers and I never once thought it was odd that St. Nicholas visited us on his feast day, while Santa visited most other kids on Christmas. :)
- Spend the day and evening on St. Nicholas Day doing charitable works in secret. We would sometimes donate clothes or toys to a needy family at church or in the community, and it was such a joy for us when we pulled it off without them knowing!
- Minister to the homeless and the elderly. For years, our family regularly visited a sweet wheelchair-bound elderly woman, Margaret, who was paralyzed from MS. She was a treasure! We would spend extra time with her during Advent!
- Give charitable contributions as a family. My parents used to sit us down with a stack of Monopoly money (representing our available funds) and a stack of donation letters to various organizations and let us help decide what to give where. They'd encourage us to give from our own allowances!
- Go to church, celebrate the feasts, fast and pray and sing together! Your Nativity celebration will be much the richer when the time finally comes to say "Christ is Born! Glorify Him!!!"

An Advent Giveaway: "Can It Be True?" YES!

Just like opening windows on an Advent Calendar, your children can open books each night during Advent until December 25. Advent is, after all, about anticipation - it's a time to prepare our hearts and draw nearer to God in anticipation of His coming.

source:  Valerie Greeley

My Eastern Orthodox tradition observes Advent for 40 days before Christmas, with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  That's why I start blogging about Christmas books in November. Hopefully it helps give you a head start in planning a Book Countdown to Christmas for your children (whether you do a 40-day countdown, or just the 25 days of December). 

~~Go here for my recommended Christmas book list Resource Page. (And watch for my daughter's guest post tomorrow - she'll be sharing about the Advent Book Calendar she's making for my grandson.)~~

My Advent Book Giveaway offering this year, Can It Be True (by Susan Hill, with illustrations by Valerie Greeley) is, like Advent, full of anticipation.  And it's just the right size for little hands to (carefully) hold!  

It's small  - only 4 and 3/4" x 5 and 1/4" - and perfect as a stocking stuffer, or for your Advent Calendar of Books.  

Leave a comment here on today's post (and/or my daughter's post tomorrow) to enter to win your signed copy, donated by my blogger friend, artist Valerie Greeley, from Acornmoon (the book is signed by both her and the author.) 11/17/14 Update: Giveaway now over.  Winner:  TawniM.  Congrats!

I know your child will love reading along about a message passed 
from animal to animal...
On Christmas Eve.
And can it be true?
(The animals banter back and forth.)

You'll have to read it, to find out what the animals do...

Valerie's illustrations are, as expected, exquisite and the perfect accompaniment to Susan's engaging prose poem.  This little gem will be appreciated by readers of all ages!

In addition to this special book, I'll also be sending my winner two little Dover Christmas sticker books.

Giveaway winner announced Monday, November 17, 2014.   Leave a comment here to enter!  I'm happy to mail anywhere inside or outside the U.S.

Advent Books and GIVEAWAY

Just like opening windows on an Advent Calendar, your children can open books each night during Advent until December 25.  So I start blogging about Christmas books in November to give you a head start in planning your Book Countdown to Christmas!

Your Advent Book Calendar can be as simple or as involved as you want to make it: you can line up the (wrapped or unwrapped) books across your fireplace mantle, stack them in a basket, or put them under your Christmas tree...

photo - Detailgalblog

GIVEAWAY: I like to choose a theme each year, and this Advent I'll be blogging about Children and Christmas.  The book I'm giving away today is by master storyteller Cynthia Rylant:  Silver Packages, An Appalachian Christmas Story. update: 11/16/13 - Giveaway over.  

With Thanksgiving coming up, I chose this story (based on actual events) because at its heart, it is about selfless giving and being thankful.

A rich man who wishes to repay a debt of kindness begins a tradition: an Appalachian "Christmas Train" that travels through the mountains each year in December.  The man faithfully returns to the coal town where he received help many years before, and tosses silver packages from the caboose to the local town children who wait by the tracks.  Frankie is one of those children.  Year after year, he hopes that one particular gift will be tossed to him.  It is this enduring hope that will guide him to the true meaning of the season.

Leave a comment here (or on my Facebook page) for a chance to win a hardcover copy of this beautifully illustrated book. 

Need help finding good books for your Advent book countdown? Look at my Favorite Christmas Books list.  You can easily supplement books you already have with library books (also try used bookstores).

Be sure to visit my Advent and Christmas Resource Page for more specifics how to make an Advent Calendar of Books.

Silver Packages Giveaway ends Friday at midnight; winner announced on Saturday, 11/16/13. update: Giveaway over (pssst:  I've got a second GIVEAWAY coming next week!)

HOW TO MAKE AN ADVENT CALENDAR OF BOOKS

{source}

There are many creative ways to make your own Advent Book Calendar (for on a mantel, in a basket by the fireplace, or under the tree...)

A QUICK EXPLANATION OF "ADVENT":

Advent means "coming" or "arrival".  In the West, for Catholics and Protestants, it traditionally starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day.  For Eastern Orthodox Christians, Advent - or the "Nativity Fast" -  begins every year on November 15th and, like Lent, is a 40-day period before Christmas devoted to preparation for the coming of the Messiah.  It is a heightened time of prayer, fasting, acts of charity, and scripture reading.  And, especially for kids, a time to learn patience as they anticipate Christmas Day. 

ADVENT CALENDAR OF BOOKS:
THE BOOKS: Looking for book recommendations? Here is my CHRISTMAS BOOK LIST, which features some of my favorite Christmas stories for children.  I plan on adding a few more books that I've come across this year to the list, but in the meantime, take a look at it (HERE).


EASY VERSION OF A BOOK CALENDAR: Some families put Christmas-themed books in a basket, wrapped or unwrapped, by the fireplace or under their Christmas tree, so that one book can be read each night. Determine the number of days leading up to Christmas you'd like to read the books (during all of Advent or just during the month of December) and gather together the appropriate amount of books - library books can be mixed in with your own books (just label them, if wrapped, so they won't be overdue).  Some families like the tradition of putting away the books after Christmas and re-visiting them only during Advent.

photo source: Charlotte Mason Home Education

A LITTLE MORE INVOLVED:
Here is another fun way to make this COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS come alive for your kids. (If "more involved" doesn't appeal to you, scroll down to see my "super simple" options.)

photo source: Babyccino Kids

A blogger mom at Babyccino Kids came up with the idea of wrapping the books in matching paper and lining them across your fireplace mantle. You can number envelopes to go on the front of the packages, and put either an advent activity or bible verse inside for each day (see below).

ACTIVITIES TO GO WITH THE BOOKS:

{source}

Inside a numbered envelope taped to each wrapped book, you could write down an activity that each child will perform that day (or something they will anticipate doing the next day, if you unwrap and read the books in the evening).  Activity ideas can be found HERE, from Kimberly Peterson.  A sweet one she came up with is, "Call Grandma and Grandpa and sing a Christmas song" (skyping would be fun, too!) The activity possibilities are endless (like things your could come up with to do for St. Nicholas Day) - please share your ideas!

photo source: tsj photography

BIBLE READING ACTIVITY:
Another creative blogger mom posted this idea:  wrap the books and put them under the tree.  On the front of each wrapped package, attach the numbered envelope (coinciding with the day of Advent).  Inside is a card with a special Biblical verse or reading on it, that is placed on the tree after reading.  By Christmas Day, you'll have a tree full of Bible verses! CLICK HERE for the texts/readings for the 40- day Orthodox version of this activity. (It includes Old Calendar dates as well).

NEED SUPER SIMPLE?
How about one (1) book!
Don't worry - if this all sounds overwhelming, you can always purchase a traditional Advent calendar, with windows to open for each night of Advent and this one ADVENT STORYBOOK (it has "24 stories to share before Christmas"), by Antonie Scheinder.

... Benjamin Bear is so impatient for Christmas to come. To help the time pass more quickly, his mother tells him that every day when he opens a door on his Advent calendar she'll tell him a story—twenty-four stories all about another little bear and his long, arduous journey to Bethlehem. The little bear, led by a glittering star, meets many others on his travels across hot deserts, snowy mountains, and through dark, lonely nights. His adventures, filled with acts of heroism and kindness and many small miracles, show him the path to the Christ Child. And by journey's end Benjamin Bear—and all youngsters who share the stories and their simple morals along with him—will understand and celebrate the true spirit of Christmas. (Thanks to a sweet mom and fellow blogger, Sylvia Leontaritis for this book recommendation from her post in ADVENTURES OF AN ORTHODOX MOM).

OR this book set advent calendar-in-one option...
I love "The Story of Christmas Book Set and Advent Calendar", by Mary Packard, illustrated by Caroline Croll.  This particular calendar is made up of 24 little books to be read and then hung on the Christmas tree, from December 1st  through Christmas Eve.

Click here for ordering info

FINALLY, ADVENT CALENDARS (minus the books)
I've come across some beautiful 41-day Orthodox Calendars, like the one below, available HERE.

Each window opens to reveal the saint of the day.

I also love this one, with the Madonna and Child, taken from Ruth Sanderson's beautiful cover art from her picture book, THE NATIVITY (yes, it's on my "Christmas Book List" of favorites). Calendar Available HERE (24 windows for December).

Each window opens with a picture and a Bible verse.

AND SOMETHING FOR PARENTS:

THE WINTER PASCHA, by Thomas Hopko. Forty meditations for the season of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany.  (excerpts can be found here).