December and Advent and Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  We've been doing a little decorating. We won't get our tree for a couple more days, but it's still looking pretty festive around here. The kids are super excited. Nearly every day Levi tells me that he can't wait until Christmas. I feel like Advent is more than half the fun, though. We kicked it off with a little party complete with Christmas tree shaped pizza, hot chocolate, and new Christmas books. My brother and sister-in-law sent the kids a nativity set of their very own, and they opened it that same evening. A few days later we celebrated St. Nicholas day with more gifts and cookies (craft supplies and books). This month is full of so much goodness and fun....the tree farm, drive through nativities, Christmas lights, the kids' very first ballet experience: The Nutcracker, parties, hot chocolate, ornament making, and lots and lots of snuggling and reading.

  Each Advent we pick a kiddo devotional to read through, and we add a few books to our growing Christmas book collection. It's always hard for me to choose which new books to buy. All year I add books to an Amazon Christmas book wish list. Then, in November I spend way too much time looking over the list and trying to decide which ones to get. This Advent we chose to read through Ann Voskamp's Unwrapping the Greatest Gift. It is, of course, beautiful and inspiring and has the added benefit of appealing to all ages. Okay, so my two year old isn't very impressed, but that's to be expected. She does like the pictures, at least. The Advent Storybook is another one of our daily reads. It was the very first advent book that I ever read to my little ones. It's not a devotional, but it is a sweet story (broken up into 24 stories) about a little bear traveling to Bethlehem to meet the baby Jesus. It's become a much anticipated tradition, and we read a story from it each evening leading up to Christmas. Legend of the Christmas Stocking was a St. Nicholas Day present. I wanted a book that focused on the generosity of the real man behind the caricature of Santa. This one delivered. I failed at choking back tears when I read it to them. I am a total sap when it comes to Christmas stories. This Is the Stable and  Something for Christmas were also added to our shelves this year. They are both super sweet reads for the younger crowd. So, what are your favorite Christmas reads?

Yarn Along

I'm joining Small Things' Yarn Along today. (I've been blog stalking over there for a month or so...love it!)

Soakers for Fi are on the needles yet again. Are you shocked? Yeah. Me neither. She's beginning to outgrow all the medium sizes, so here we go with knitting larges. I'm using the Frantic Mama Soaker pattern. It's still my favorite and very easy to customize. I've begun to change it up a bit so it doesn't get too dreadfully boring. When I'm done with these, I have some lovely purple wool waiting in the wings and some bigger revisions I want to make. Eeek. We'll see.

As far as reading, I'm pretty far into Attached at the Heart. Until now I've been winging it on the whole attachment parenting thing. I've read articles and blog posts on the subject, but (Gasp!) very few books. This is a good basic primer with many great resources. It has me excited about some other books on my "to be read" list.

"Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!" has been Levi's most requested book this week.  The kid's got good taste for sure. :) It's a fun read and the illustrations are beautiful and funny.

 

So are you reading and/or knitting anything wonderful this week?

A Christmas Video

Awhile back I happened across a couple of blog posts about The Jesus Storybook Bible.  It came so highly recommended that I decided to buy one for Levi.  I am so glad I did.  It's our favorite children's Bible.  This morning I found a video that is based on the Christmas story from The Jesus Storybook Bible.  I just had to share it.
Y'all, I can't wait until Levi wakes up!  He's going to love this.  I have a feeling we will be coming back to it often.

Hope your Christmas preparations are merry and blessed!

Levi's Favorite

He brings this book to me every day...many, many times.  Yesterday he woke up half an hour earlier than usual.  He lugged the book up and plopped it next to me while I was crocheting.  "Wead dis, Mama.  Wead it now."  I cringed and really didn't want to read it to him because sometimes I just want a few more minutes for me.  And, sometimes, in the morning I don't feel like figuring out how to pronounce words I've never laid eyes on before....like Greater Malay Chevrotain...I mean, really, they lost me at greater. 
So, yesterday, in an effort to keep crocheting, I said, "Bear, why don't you read it to mama?"  To my relief he consented, opened the book, and started talking.  "Dis is a rhinoceros beetle." (Which he says perfectly despite his general mispronunciation of r's.) "De hyenas need to be nice to dat antelope." (re: a picture of hyenas eating an antelope)  "Dese are marsupials."  On and on.  Stopping at a few to ask me about them. What he knew surprised me, and I was reminded how quickly and easily these little ones learn...without forcing or cajoling...just with interest, curiosity, and a whole lot of answered questions. 

Last Day to Win!!

If you haven't entered my Barefoot Books giveaway, this is the last day!!

Barefoot Books...A Giveaway!!

 Contest is over.

Winner to be announced.

The gals from Barefoot Books were sweet enough to send me four incredible children's books from their collection.  I am thrilled to be able to share them with you.  Levi immediately became smitten with these reads, and two of them in particular keep popping into my face followed by a sweet little voice saying, "Read dis!  Read dis!!".  Here they are with Levi's two absolute faves on top...
 

The Gigantic Turnip

I Took the Moon for a Walk

Jack and the Beanstalk

Starlight Sailor

It's probably no surprise that I am really picky about children's books.  But, I too am smitten with these lovely reads.  They've left me wanting to order more Barefoot Books. . .like this one and this one and this one.  Don't those just look magical?  The illustrations are imaginative and charming, and the stories are so delightful.

My personal favorite is the Gigantic Turnip.  This tale of an old man, an old woman, and a whole lot of animals trying to harvest a very large turnip is simple but engaging.  Levi is enthralled with each reading, and, thankfully, this is one of those rare books that I don't mind reading again and again and again. 

Barefoot Books is a wonderful publisher of books for children of all ages.  Their stories inspire imagination, give glimpses into other cultures, and even encourage healthy living.  You'll love their great book selection, and while you're there check out their many award winners.

As if there weren't enough reasons to love Barefoot Books, you must read about their work with the Books for Africa program.  If you'd like to get involved, then check out their Books for Africa Collection.  Each book purchased from this section is sent directly to children in Africa.  Now whats not to love about a company that gives back?

On to the best part...Barefoot Books has been kind enough to offer a book of the winners choosing (up to a $25 value) to one of my readers!!  Pretty fabulous, huh?  :)  All you have to do to enter is...

Main Entry: Visit Barefoot Books, and leave a comment on this post, telling me the title you are most interested in.  Please, leave a way for me to contact you!!!

Extra Entries:  You can tweet (once daily) or blog (once total) about the giveaway.  Be sure to link back to this post.  Leave separate comments with urls for each of those entries.

Contest is open to U.S. and Canada.
Contest will end Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. central time.


 

A Bookish Kind Of Advent

When I went on a search for Christmas books for Levi, I expected the selection to be...how shall I put this?  Cute but limited in scope.  And, it was.  There were piles upon piles of adorable books, but to read them you would think that Santa and loads of presents were the only reasons for this beautiful season.  Now, I'm not knocking the big, jolly guy in red, but I'd like for Levi to know how much more there is to the story. Heck, after flipping through Santa book after Santa book, I was pretty much ready for anything but.  Towards the end of my search, I was thrilled to run across a wonderful little gem...The Advent Storybook  is perfect for this season.  It has 24 stories...each one a page long...and each one a piece of a larger story about a little bear (which I think is kind of perfect because I call Levi "Bear").  Benjamin the bear can't wait for Christmas to come.  So each night his mother tells him a story about a little bear who is on a journey to Bethlehem.  According to the dust jacket description, "The little bear, led by a shining star, meets many others on his travels across hot deserts, snowy mountains, 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."
Of course I bought it.  We began reading it on Tuesday, and Levi wants to hear each day's story over and over and over.  By the end I'm fairly confident that I will be able to recite this entire book verbatim.  It is destined to become one of our annual Advent traditions...it really is that good.  And, just because I'm reading it to a two year old...don't go thinking you couldn't read it to your older children...you so could!

Lately, I've been browsing the web for more Christmas book ideas...some for now and some for when the munchikin is a tad older.  A few of them struck my fancy.  Have you read any of these?
~ Christ is Born
~ Christmas Farm
~ A Treasury of Christmas Stories
~ Christmas Day in the Morning
~ Gifts of the Wise Men: A Treasury of Christmas Stories
~ A Wish to be a Christmas Tree
~ A Christmas Treasury of Yuletide Stories and Poems
~ The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story

What are your favorite Christmas stories?  I'd love to know.  In case you can't tell, I'm trying to grow a collection.  : )

Story Time

On one of my many thrifting adventures I ran across this adorable book...
I paid a whopping few cents for it. When I pulled it off the shelf, the charming little ghost seemed so familiar. Later, I was sifting through some books at my parent's house and found another Georgie book...apparently it's a whole series. Levi is absolutely crazy about them, so of course Georgie books will now be on the "Oh, I So Hope I Find One" thrifting list. I was delighted to find out that Georgie the Ghost books can still be bought via Amazon. If my thrifting doesn't yield anymore Georgie finds by next Halloween, I think I'll be giving in and getting this one and maybe even this one. To those who celebrate, Happy Halloween! And, to those who don't, Happy Day!